I’ve been going through this period these days that can pretty much be summed up as nothing is the same…
I spent from2003 to December 2021 at a website as a “regular poster” until I really couldn’t take it much more. it had been ok for a while and then it just started getting kind of intolerable. there was a hidden section of the website that was never moderated or patrolled by bots where people pretty much said anything they wanted, and some of it was pretty terrible. I’m not really a shirker when it comes to people speaking their minds but this one guy, announcing death by cyanide to people he didn’t agree with him, and it was a bit much. it’s not like the staff didn’t know what he was saying, he was right there in the thread with him .. I just left, but. … It’s hard to stay away from a place went to frequently so I’d lurk, eventually a couple of weeks ago ( 5 going on 6 months) i decided to try going there again so I did, the trolls were unbearable. I mean speak your mind, free speech, whatever, it gets tiring defending myself when it was insinuated that my personal experiences were made up, or didn’t count, I mean this said by retirees who are armchair experts about every subject, never post any images, are belligerent. too bad things ended up like that for the site, the owner seems like a nice guy and doing his best to make the place pretty wonderful but unfortunately his most vocal and obnoxious clientele, over run the place and his one moderator doesn’t really seem to hold down the fort. it seems inhospitable for a lot of people, not sure how he’s going to fix things, but they sure are broken, hope it works out for the best..
I’ve been coating paper and making cyanotypes pretty often agein, and they aren’t the same anymore either. I mean for years, nonstop I was doing all sorts of cyanotypes, on glass, on metal, black paper, white paper, thin, thick paper, clay board, canvas, you name it, and now well, nothing is quite were I want it, and it’s frustrating. even the papers I had as my go to papers that I used for years don’t seem the same, my cyanotype formula doesn’t seem the same either. .. not sure how I’m going to fix things but they sure seem broken …
at least its springtime and the garlic is growing and asparagus grew and was delicious, sadly outside of my slice of paradise everything’s a mess … hope this cyanotype chemistry starts working again …