I've ported my WordPress site (still hosted at vkc.sh) to Ghost, a newsletter and blogging platform which I've had my eye on for a bit!

Why Ghost?

Well, I've heard from a lot of you who would like to receive alerts via email. Alerts about new videos, new blog posts, and that sort of thing. YouTube is notoriously bad at this, and I guess the inbox has a place. I don't fault anyone for sticking with RSS, that's what I do, but email is nice, too!

Although WordPress can be set up to work in conjunction with an email list, I have not been impressed with my initial experiments in doing so. Ghost, on the other hand, prioritizes email lists from the outset. I still feel like WordPress is fine for the "merch store" aspects of what I do, as WooCommerce is serviceable as a hook for my dropshipper.

A key aspect to Ghost is that it offers memberships, similar to Patreon and Ko-Fi, which I currently use. I would love to be able to offer readers access to the same perks I give my Patreon and Ko-Fi members. It may be a few weeks before I set that up, though.

Another bonus to Ghost is ActivityPub integration. I've enabled it for now, but I don't know how much I'll be posting beyond blog posts. Who knows, if it's great, maybe I'll quit Mastodon and just use this. (A girl can dream!) You can follow this blog/newsletter via Fedi at @veronica@veronicaexplains.net.

Not everything is 1:1 ported from WordPress yet. Tags don't work exactly the same way and I need to update a few of my pages (and add some important new info to others). But for the most part, the site is here now!

Why veronicaexplains.net?

I know, I liked my short URL at vkc.sh too.

I've increasingly run into email delivery issues being at a dot-sh. Nothing major, just some overzealous filtering, but it's enough to be a nuisance and if I'm starting an email list, I don't want to add to that.

My plan is to slowly transition all posts from the old website to the new website, and then use vkc.sh as a URL shortener. The merch store will probably continue on, but on a new domain- I've got plans for it but it's too early to announce anything. Long story short: I don't want to spam my readers every time I change something on my merch store.

Why this ugly theme?

I literally picked the default theme (source v1.5.0 in case you're wondering), tweaked some colors to make it somewhere between "blinding light mode" and "impossible to read dark mode", and published this website. Beyond that, I have not spent time on this task.

You see, off and on over the last year, I have been working on a full rewrite of my WordPress site in Eleventy, my favorite static site generator.

I plan to reuse those assets in a custom theme for Ghost, but that's probably months away. I don't think the default theme looks terrible, but there's definitely some room for improvement. I do not like that the links are just the accent color, and aside handling is virtually nonexistent.

Why now?

Well, to be blunt- I want to start an email list because it might be a better fit for me than Mastodon and its Twitter-like posting.

I've had a rough few weeks using the Mastodon platform, with harassment increasing. Ghost helps fill two needs, should I choose to exit Mastodon: an email list to reach folks who don't like RSS, and ActivityPub options for folks who prefer to use social media to boost, etc.

I'm no longer convinced there's a world for me in microblogging, and I know a lot of women who feel the same way. But I have no intentions on exiting tech, and writing a newsletter/blogging is a natural fit.

Besides, in a space that's increasingly falling under the spell of so-called "AI" hucksters, wouldn't it be nice to get some mom energy in your inbox, from a human who actually enjoys writing? Eh?