Storie's of Mark

One month since the last BPU and I feel like so much has happened since. Personal life of course, but car shows, graphic design, LEGO ventures, Fediverse presence, video content, and filename changes are what have made up my extra time editing the blue space. Writing included. Get tucked in, reader. This is long.

The first grand idea for Space of Mark to shine had to be web buttons. You know, those old-school 88x31 square icons that appear so tiny on 4K monitors nowadays? Almost every domain on Wiby indexed feature them to make a page look flashy and promote some underground fandom or outdated internet browser. What was technically used for advertising then is now kept as a monument for nostalgia and simplicity. I am very happy to have learned using GIMP to create my first ever set of web buttons to display here forever! They can also be displayed on other websites for free.

The concept is the same as many other 88x31 buttons: to promote someone or something in short form. I tried to be as straightforward as possible with each message without speeding each frame too quickly. My intention for each button is to be easy to the eye without being epileptic. Never did I find those particular buttons very interesting after learning the process of making my own. It's easier than you think to make an annoying web button give other visitors a mild episode in a tiny package. There are also other buttons I have uploaded to the space made by other people, which can be seen in the Cool Hall. "Hold on, you mean Appreciation Page?"

The Cool Hall

Appreciation Page but with a better and shorter name. I initially liked having "Appreciation" on the title as I feel every person with a website should promote other people or things that interest them. As time went on with the web button thought, I felt keeping the name wouldn't fit if the entire page is to be turned into my own hype space, so I changed it to Cool Hall. It works given its context, and things or people I like will end up there. Just look at Mr. Louis being the new honorary member of the Cool Hall. He'll teach you to love owning your computer just as much as normies love their expensive cell phones loaded with the proprietary fruit-shaped operating system.

Scale Cars

This is another name change for a familiar page. From Collection Room to Scale Cars. Again, a title I felt was too long for my casual website. The idea early on made this directory sound like the kind of trophy room you'd see with shiny-gold medals and statues proudly shown behind glass cabinets. Even though I only have small metal cars to present to you, readers, the Collection Room name didn't hold my attention for so long. Plus, it is non-specific and misleading to other visitors as one may churn the thought that I collect something like trading cards, or action-figurines. In order to avoid this mishap, Scale Cars had to be the new title representing my small metal vehicles in text-display form. Well, plastic included if you count certain mainline Hot Wheels castings and LEGO sets.

Anything else, Mark?

Other changes I've made around Space of Mark are the naming of certain page HTMLs, directories, and sub-directories. For instance, In the Storie's of Mark section where the most changes have been made, my blog posts are each named by number rather than letter-and-number. So, directory "b2" is now simply "2" followed by the HTML you access to read the post. The HTML files in each directory are named exactly after a corresponding posts' title name. From reading other blogs across the web in my own time, I've noticed other writers will follow this naming convention to make remembering links easier for readers who want to save articles for reference purposes later on. It makes it easier for myself when I now create S'soM posts as I won't have to worry about simplifying a title name for a HTML file, and can simply use dashes to separate the words. Refer to this post's naming convention on your URL bar, reader. It's simplistic from the previous version of my website.

Speaking of S'soM posts, I have considered adding update notes for when I need to correct a statement, or add supporting text on a page I wrote. I've also considered separating update notes from add-ons for reasons of adding bonus content I could not otherwise upload to my small web server in New Jersey. Fortunately, I haven't needed to revisit a post I felt needed clarity from a lack of perspective, but only one is affected in this BPU content-wise. A little while ago, I wrote about my experience going to a Social Sundays car show at the San Antonio Zoo parking lot. In that post, I uploaded nine out of the seventy-eight total photos I shot during the show that I felt relate to showcasing the overall environment of the crowded lot of cars and spectators. However, I did not upload any of the nineteen videos I recorded at this show. The videos altogether are a whopping 2GB that are able to take 8% of my server's total capacity out of 25GB. If I were to host a PeerTube instance where I'd upload every car show's footage on, I'd run out of space on my server quickly. Similarly, uploading every photo I've taken in the past few years going to car shows would eventually wind down on my storage considering how many I shoot. That total set of Social Sundays photos from the Zoo are 25MB. It's not a lot of space being taken up considering each photo is shot in full HD. Imagine producing a similar set of photos I'd have to upload to my server all year long. Hundreds of megabytes worth of photos, and it doesn't stop counting for each passing year unless I upgrade my remote hardware. Given the simplicity of Space of Mark's intent to host on a cheap web server and deliver simple web pages like what you are seeing right now, I had to source a couple of platforms that are each:

In reality, it's not hard to look for alternative platforms in 2026. At least those that don't infringe on someone's work relating to bias. Since my content consists of real-life car shows and not controversial opinions, I probably wasted time worrying about my harmless videos offending anyone viewing them. Instead, I chose another excuse to host my dump on alt-platforms.

pixelfed & Odysee

Did you see each platform linked on the navigation bar, reader? If not for whatever reason, they are present and active for anyone to view. They will serve as hubs for my extra content with each containing a purpose. For photo dumps, I configured my pixelfed page to have them stored in "Collections" that I have laid out for each event I attend. For videos, my Odysee channel hosts megacuts of clips I've personally merged together using ffmpeg, as well as adjusted bitrate quality for a buffer-free experience on both our ends. If any video on Odysee pertains to a S'soM post, the link will be available in the description to bridge my page with the video sharing website's own. Similar to Odysee, my pixelfed page will have a link to Space of Mark. Gotta love when websites give you the option to just paste your own domain.

Each platform is unique in its own way: pixelfed connects to the Fediverse, and Odysee functions via blockchain technology. The Fediverse spreads to other platforms beyond this instance of pixelfed I'm signed onto; Odysee takes advantage of decentralization and crypto, so users can pay a creator over the network in tip form while earning benefits for ones' self for interacting with most functions of the platform simultaneously. Two platforms that are miles ahead of YouTube and Instagram in the generation of Web3. The mainstream platforms may have their own outreach advantage, but the reason I chose pixelfed and Odysee to host my content is to promote outside the system so that those in it can recognize the message I'm spreading here. The internet is a massive universe of computers hosting pages and data, all connected at once. Decentralization fights the claim of big platforms making up the entire internet at surface level, or at the very least, those who believe there's nothing further than the current apps they possess at their fingertips by default.

I recognize there are alternative front-ends for mainstream platforms to sanitize javascript, ads, and tracking. Those I'll take advantage of to follow figures in the system. It doesn't benefit the entire point of using an alternative platform. It reinforces the idea that, to create exposure, the normie should believe, "I have to put myself out there on Instagram to get people to see my shots and my dope edits! Also, like, Insta' is the only place where the car dudes hang out and tag each other. I get DMs from them too for private shoots and grow my photography job that defines me! Nobody's using any other service than IG in this town, bro."

Regardless, I will stand by my choice to promote myself to others who populate alt-media, as well as those who are into technology and the internet. Those I promote in the system who happen to find this post are more than welcome to learn about the Fediverse, Odysee, and alternative platforms as a whole. The message shouldn't be about mocking those souls who thrive on mainstream social media. It's certainly the opposite of a traditional "Welcome!" for those puzzled by hearing about a foreign social media site the very first time. If the conspiracies about mainstream media going down under does age like a Foyt wine in the future, then I'll probably have nothing to worry about. My content will still be available on pixelfed, Odysee, and my own website in the event of a supposed internet "black-out" scenario. Sitting here coping that it also doesn't kill San Antonio's car community.

If you're still reading, BPU2 is ending.

Blue Page Updates have just started a month ago, and this space is taking up more of my time than I thought it would. BPU2 took me three days to complete to make sure all the points I mentioned are related to the sequel Space of Mark update. Finding every single change done here can be daunting if you don't keep a physical notebook for every idea you implement. Then when I do find what I implemented while rewriting the changelog page, it essentially ends up in a digital notebook. Maybe it isn't as bad having a changelog page if my website gets archived on the WayBack Machine. The diary can live on through someone else's web server.

As for what's next? S'soM posts, hyping, more metal cars, and content for alternative social media fill up the pipeline of my consumer feed you view. I'm thrilled to make more content knowing I have three outlets for exposure and minimal upload limits. For Space of Mark however, I'll admit that manually updating multiple pages when putting out a post can be tedious and cause typos somewhere, typically on href links. It's not the biggest bother with three HTMLs to edit every update, but exploring a site generator to manage this nanny could potentially play the elephant in the next BPU. If it comes to fruition, you'll see it on Storie's of Mark as with all other updates. Summer has bloomed here in Texas, and it's hot as hell outside. Drink lots of water if your heatwave is hell too, reader.