I am xero333, hello everyone!

Hello all! I am xero333. I am 32 years old, and have been using the internet since around 1999 when I was allowed to use my mum's PC at home. I was instantly blown away by the world wide web and have been fascinated with it ever since. I have fond memories of the early to mid 2000s, browsing Newgrounds, early YouTube, forums, using Kazaa and Limewire, finding random personal and quirky sites.

I have found over the last decade or so, the internet has become overly corporate, with advertising, tracking and god knows what else shoved down our throats. It has lost the edginess, the quirk, the chaos. I can't remember the last time someone said to me "hey check out this cool website", because everything boils down to the same handful of enormous social media sites. I have been desperately searching for somewhere that I feel like I fit in, where there's a group of like-minded individuals who have similar interests, where the feeling of the "old web" still exists.

Today I stumbled upon this forum and also signed up to Neocities, and I'm blown away. I'm still waiting for a Neocities verification email, but as soon as I receive it, I'll be starting my personal website. This is something I have thought about doing for years but never bothered to do. I still have no idea what I will include on it, but I do know I want to keep it simple.

I have been lurking on this forum for a few hours, and I am loving the discussion that i've seen. Especially in the "Life on the web" subforum, which scratches the exact itch i've been trying to scratch for years. The amount of creativity here is insane, and I just love that people are creating personal sites and sharing them with others.

I have created websites before but never a personal one. I have a lot to learn, but I can't wait to begin this journey and hopefully soon share with you all my own personal website!

Thanks for accepting me, mods! I'll be sure to be an active forum member!