Update on my blog and social media accounts after the divorce

I’ve written about the potential harm of the divorce on my housing and healthcare.

What about the blog? What impact will a divorce have on this blog?

This blog has 21+ years of archival content of LGBTQ+ experiences in this region.This includes over 300 first person accounts from LGBTQ+ individuals in the #AMPLIFY archive, dozens of Q&A’s with elected officials about LGBTQ+ issues, and scores of interviews with leaders from the arts and culture communities.

We also have 400 memorials of our trans neighbors whose lives were lost to violence. We documented over ten iterations of the Dyke March, countless endorsement meetings, community events, and Prides. This blog bridges a slice in time before the public embraced social media through the wax and wane of Facebook and Twitter, a time when the blogosphere was insular and rambunctious to the emergence of lifestyle blogs and subscription based newsletters.

The original plan to archive

I had a plan for preservation. With grant funding, I hoped to contract with a queer archivist, a graphic designer, and a web designer to prepare the whole thing for archiving. We had received a grant from the Pittsburgh Foundation in 2016 for a modest version of that project so I have my eye on them for this leveling up effort.

We need to recode, recategorize, and revamp a lot. It will take a year. I thought it best to start now while I’m still blogging so future content will be appropriately managed.

Plus, I’m supposed to preserve my personal papers, physical and digital. Sorting through my email is a daunting task much less the various social media messaging tools. Unpublished photos. Draft email.

I have not yet decided which repository will house this archive. It is a big decision. I am not currently looking for suggestions. I am not looking for an archivist, an intern, or a short cut.

It is an ambitious plan to archive the blog and the blogger/blogging.

So this sitch with divorce, potential homelessness threw a monkey wrench into that plan. I cannot worry about the blog or my social media if I’m not in stable, secure housing with healthcare.

Another plan

There are several reasons why the plan has to change

I have to focus on stabilizing housing and healthcare. The analogy of putting my own oxygen mask on before putting it on kids fits, perhaps awkwardly.
The blog needs to be secure and protected. We’ve had too many previous attempts to hack both the blog and social media. Someone has to monitor.
I can’t assume I’ll have access to Wi-Fi or a cell phone and/or laptop to access it.
All of my devices have to be properly stored so that data can be extracted. I can’t carry a laptop around 24/7.

When I find a stable home, then I’ll focus on the blog’s archival home.

My webmaster and I have a plan.

If I am street or shelter homeless, they will secure the blog and do routine maintenance. The content will be preserved, but it will not be accessible. I’ll have a static page explaining things.
Same with my social media accounts. Webmaster will lock everything down, set them to private, and put a brief explanation in the bio.

This means the #AMPLIFY archive of 300 first person stories, hundreds of other Q&A’s, the detailed documention of LGBTQ+ life especially between 2005-2015, and the Memorials will be unavailable.

I can’t risk the site being compromised. If you offer to help with my blog, but haven’t offered to help me with housing, et al – we are not a good fit. Those are not the right priorities. Also, I won’t be able to pay my webmaster so I need to make their pro bono workload light.

Selling the blog?

The other consideration is selling the blog. While not monetized, a 21 year old archive of many evergreen posts and countless incoming links is an asset.

If selling the blog means a year of housing or health insurance, it’s not really a choice. I can’t martyr myself for a blog.

Why not monetize?

This blog is not and never was about income for me. “Back in the day” we blogged for the glory, not the gain. Then someone invented SEO and it all went to pot. I’m exaggerating, of course. But I’ve flirted with monetization and it took me too far afield from my primary focus.

I have longevity and traffic to monetize, but I don’t have the will. Nor do I have the 12-24 months to do my research, work on SEO, select the best revenue partners, etc. I had to off load some ads because they were interfering with the blog mechanics. So any conversation of this sort would take place as part of the long term archiving discussion.

I do believe content creators should be compensated fairly, but not everyone creates for transactional purposes. One reason I’m so bad at Patreon is my unwillingness to create tiers of access to my content. That’s not why I started back in 2005. This has been a labor of love, a form of community organizing, a unique way to show up for the community.

I’m also a disabled person who does not work for pay. I’ve gone weeks without blogging because of my symptoms and treatment. And that’s fine because of the system in place here. I’m not saying a disability is a reason NOT to be compensated. Rather, that a disability does not require me to change my model of blogging to fit the presumption that content is king. And that suggesting any one particular person ‘deserves’ to be compensated without asking them could be dangerous.

We live in a country where some disabled people cannot get married without losing benefits.

I routinely watch people rip each other apart about compensation on various platforms. I’m exhausted just following the back and forth to figure out the fundamental issue.

I do accept some compensation. When I review a show, play, or other performance, I request two tickets (on the aisle.) That’s it. Averages about $150. My rate is $25/hour (If I had a rate) so that’s six hours of work. Three for the show and three to prepare/write the review. That feels fine for me. I get a lot out of those experiences.

I’m rarely approached for reviews that include financial payment, relying on the free product to entice me. Hardly. The Pittsburgh PR firms aren’t interested.

I used to be invited to more local events, but those promoters have drifted away from me.

I just don’t feel passionate about this. Especially when people expect me to do it for their sake – to set the bar high. Or suggest I should be paid for voicing my opinion. That’s not a good fit for me.

Not helpful

I do not need suggestions of queer archivists or archives. Same goes with referrals to repositories. We’ve already been down that path to create our original plan. Now, that takes a back seat.

I do not need offers to host/store my blog. It is hosted and stored.

I’ve been blogging about this possible outcome for over three years, asking for help. We are now down to fewer than 30 days to the trial. The time to discuss the future of the blog has passed.

You can help save the blog by saving me. You can donate, you can give me a ride, take me out to dinner, or give me a call. But you cannot skip over me and try to save the blog.

Helpful

Subscribe to the blog and/or follow me on social media. Even if temporarily dormant, those numbers will help secure archival funding.

Invest in the blog and/or the blogger

Patreon
Paypal recurring donations
GoFundMe bit.ly/HelpLGBTQBlogger
Venmo @ Pghlesbian
CashApp $Pghlesbian
Zelle sitnscoop@gmail.com

The good news is that I’ve made some time to think this through. There are plans in place. The blog will be safe.

Best care scenario is I don’t lose my housing and The Pittsburgh Foundation says “Of course we want to fund your archive.” Then we are golden.

I really do mean that I do not want outside the box thinking. We have a plan. We need me to be stable, we need funding, and we need you to trust us. Me, I need you to trust me.