How I Ended Up on the Irreversible Path of Independent Blogging

Two or three years ago, when I still wasn’t used to using QQ, I was writing blogs on Baidu Space. Back then, I didn’t have a computer, only a Motorola phone. Its functions look like a knockoff phone by today’s standards. When I was bored, I’d use its built-in browser to open Baidu Space and casually write a few words on the 2-something-inch screen. At the time, I didn’t feel the slightest bit uncomfortable because I only wanted to record some joys and frustrations I encountered in life. When it rained, I’d write a couple sentences; when the sun came out, I’d write a couple sentences too. It was similar to writing Weibo today, and there were even over a hundred Space friends commenting back and forth. Back then, I was still a good young man, and the things I could encounter were all things I could see with my own eyes, so I never complained about any dissatisfaction with society. Those Space friends were the same. Now, whenever I think back, I feel that the hazy, vague time before was the purest period, and this purity came from my ignorance and dullness.

Later, when I got a computer, I’m glad I never got addicted to any games. After roughly experiencing their clearance modes, I abandoned them. But I was still depressed that I couldn’t clear a church in Devil May Cry 4—I couldn’t find the exit there and didn’t want to look up game guides. After countless confidence collapses, I finally got tired of this game. When one window closes in life, God opens another for you. In my online life, I encountered some other things—the ubiquitous social chaos today. The ugliness they nakedly displayed to you couldn’t help but make one angry. I wanted to record some of my views on these things on Baidu Space, which naturally couldn’t avoid being extreme. But as you can imagine, according to relevant laws and policies, it was impossible to publish any disharmonious voices there.

In 2009, CN domains had a big promotion—one yuan each, and registration conditions were extremely loose. I followed the trend and registered a CN domain. At that time, I was still completely clueless about the internet. I had a domain but didn’t know how to turn it into a website. Seeing some network links ending in .html, I assumed that all websites on the internet were written in HTML language. So I downloaded Dreamweaver, wrote a few HTML pages, found a free hosting service, and uploaded them via FTP. After carefully typing the domain into the browser, I saw the page I had written, and my mood was extremely excited—happier than finding a dime as a child. I wanted to announce to everyone that I was fucking starting to do IT too! I still feel ashamed now because I really did that later. I asked friends one by one to open this domain and take a look. I don’t know what they were thinking at the time, but looking back now, it was really dumb.

Not long after, I realized that the internet was definitely not just HTML’s world. Then I learned about ASP, ASP.NET, PHP, SQL, MySQL, and a bunch of other messy things. At the same time, I came into contact with open-source programs and understood that you could build a website without learning any language. In December 2009, I bought my first .com domain on GoDaddy. In May of the following year, I bought another .com domain and spent fifteen yuan to file it, pointing it to domestic virtual hosting. I installed WordPress via FTP. From then on, my independent blog officially began.

Like most independent blogs when they were first established, I focused my attention on the internet. I was the same, writing about Google, GAE, domains, hosting, open-source programs, and so on. Soon I started getting tired of these things, and I still feel the same now—I don’t like independent blogs that are all about technology. Personally, I don’t have much real technical skill worth mentioning. Besides, this kind of technology is everywhere on Google and not worth spending too much effort on. Therefore, it’s better to return to the original intention of establishing an independent blog. It’s precisely because one place doesn’t allow you to write articles that you move to a free environment. Now it’s time to continue the purpose that couldn’t be achieved before—appreciating life, writing what life makes you think.