I know, there’s confusion. “Wait, didn’t you say you were going to retire?” Yes. Yes I did. Those 18 months of me no longer being a content creator was a much-needed break. As time went on, however, and I started to feel better, I could think a little more clearly. As I had alluded to on my sister site, The Outcaster’s Notebook, the lack of social media consumption, as well as the lack of association with certain individuals, has paid off. I’m in a much better mental state now than I was in before.

Today marks four years of LGC. Well, four years since I founded the site, anyway. So, what made me want to return?

Why the Return?⌗

Well, truth be told, I miss you guys.

I missed getting the feedback. There were some articles here that generated some interesting discussions. And, if you thought you liked some of my articles, know that a lot of your comments have lifted my spirits up just as much as yours. I don’t get that in the real world. Not in my day-to-day job or my other routines. So, founding LGC was sort of discovering this little gold nugget amidst a haystack. Even if I don’t know any of you personally. Even though I haven’t seen most of your faces. It let me know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

That, and a lot of rad projects had been coming to the surface that the reporter nature in me just could not resist to talk about. The foremost example being Kazeta. When Alkazar had been talking about this with me several months ago, it was love at first sight. The idea of having physical “cartridges” for your games, the replication of the simplicity of gaming consoles of the 90s, the retro sound effects of the user interface…I needed it in my life.

Another reason, is it just seemed a little silly of me to throw all of my hard work out the window. This website contains over two-and-a-half years’ worth of content. The interviews in particular I wanted to preserve. Not only do they age a lot better than most articles; it would be a disservice for those who I had interviewed to no longer have their responses recorded.

Looking back, I realize at the time I made the announcement post that I was going to shut down, I was frankly self-centered. I had wanted to earn just a little something back for all that hard work I did, as far as monetary compensation was concerned. But, alas, that would take the fun right out of being a content creator. Being paid for it would make writing a job. I don’t need to have the added stress of feeling like I got another job aside from the one I’ve got now. I want to go back to the way LGC was when I found it back in 2022: just a fun, part-time hobby. Without all the complications that come with trying to chase algorithms, clicks, and pennies.

What’s Changed?⌗

You might have noticed, however, since the time I re-launched the site back in September, the pacing of article releases has slowed down drastically. I intend to keep it that way. I’ve finally managed to overcome the urge to just write out everything that I see, whether it be a software update that 500 other media outlets have already talked about, or something a person said on X. Writing at my own pace has made it a lot less stressful for me. At the same time, it also gives me an opportunity to focus on topics that no one else covers. I will still likely talk about and review games once in a while.

There is a bit of a catch though. LGC was using Cactus Comments as the commenting system for a while. I used this to make commenting as humanely easy as possible, and it did its job. After some time, it just wasn’t working anymore. Turns out, according to one of the developers from the Matrix server, it’s a Synapse database issue:

It would appear the only solution to this would be to a self-hosted Matrix server. While it is possible, and I have attempted it myself a few months ago, unfortunately I haven’t had any success. Frankly, the process is very complicated. Which sucks. Because a lot of you put much of your heart into your comments that you’ve left me in times past, and, until I can figure this out, I have no way of recovering those comments. I can only hope that, in due time, I will retrieve those missing pearls. I read every single comment you all had left me in my retirement post. They may not physically be there right now, on the page, but I still have them committed to memory.

In the meantime, I’ve incorporated a different commenting system: Isso. Like Cactus Comments, this system doesn’t require anyone to register for an account: just leave your name, your comment, and click Submit.

Since I’m no longer using social media, if you want to keep up-to-date with articles that are posted here, the old-fashioned RSS feed is your best bet. I may occasionally post some of my articles over on Reddit.

A Thank You to…⌗

Of course, as I had mentioned earlier, I thank those of you who always had something interesting to contribute toward whatever discussion I had created through your comments. But, more specifically, I wanted to thank the following:

• Alesh Slovak (aka Alkazar). For his Kazeta project. For providing the foundation that many other gaming-oriented distros, including SteamOS, followed suit: ChimeraOS. For lifting my spirits up during the times I needed it the most.
• Luke Short Cloud. Luke hasn’t changed at all since the time we first knew each other. He’s always composed some of the most beautiful, heartfelt, encouraging comments to me, and that despite his crazy work schedule, he still finds the time to send me that occasional DM that gets me out of my deepest pits. You should really show some love to his winesapOS project; it’s a niche distro that deserves to at least get checked out for its unique “portability” factor.
• Eamonn Rea (aka sonic2kk). Eamonn works on steamtinkerlaunch, ProtonUp-Qt, and several other software projects. They’ve (usually) been the first one to comment on most of my posts. They’ve always been positive, and I greatly appreciated them.
• Stelios Tsampas (aka loathingkernel). Stelios was one of the first people that reached out to me when I wrote my retirement post and let me know I wasn’t alone in my struggles. If you’re looking for an alternative to Heroic Games Launcher, you should give one of the projects they work on, Rare, a shot.

Am I missing someone? Please let me know! I strongly dislike anyone being left out. You can either let me know here in the comments, or use the old-fashioned email. If any of you still use Discord, I tend to hang around a lot on the Kazeta Discord server, so you can reach out to me there too.