Hello, world! It's a me, Joselito! I make websites. Among other things.

As you may have noticed, this is my GitHub Sponsors. For a long time, I didn’t want to create it, even though close friends suggested it quite often. Part of it was because I didn’t think I deserved it, another part was fear that no one would support it, but mostly because I didn’t want to create an obligation. I’m not a content creator. I don’t want that pressure for myself.

But the fact is — whether I like it or not — I create things for the internet. Especially tools for other people. And texts, like this one.

I’m not an influencer, I don’t do live streams, I don’t ask you to like the video (or you’ll forget), subscribe, or hit the notification bell. I don’t tell you to swipe up or click the link in my bio. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; what’s really wrong is promoting gambling games. But then, how can I justify that other people contribute willingly, without promising more and more content, even if they truly enjoy what I do?

As you might have noticed, I’m not the biggest fan of how social media (and the internet) works as a whole these days. Maybe because I’m a programmer, I don’t want to allow myself to follow algorithms to promote my content. So, for a long time, I felt demotivated to keep creating. Not for lack of will, but because I know my content won’t reach people unless I “dance the dance” (absolutely nothing against people who dance and/or are dancers).

Then Bluesky came along, with its unique sense of community and allowing you to control your own algorithm (including the option to not use any). My desire to create things and put them out there came back. And the platform itself helps a lot, with a spectacular API and, at the same time, many missing features that become opportunities.

I like these things. In 2009, which somehow was already 15 years ago (I did the math), I was already making things like this. Certainly, I was doing it even earlier, but those are the oldest records I found. You know chatbots, the latest trend? I made one for MSN. I even found a tutorial on how to put music on your Orkut profile (“with AUTOPLAY,” as my 15-year-old self wrote).

Bluesky is somehow making me feel that way again. In April of last year, I wrote an article on Medium about how to get “verified,” already fascinated by how the platform works. Since then, I’ve created a series of tools for the platform.

And that’s when I had the idea to finally create an GitHub Sponsors page in a way that feels fair to me and to you, a potential contributor: focused on maintenance.

Instead of promising that next month will only be more amazing than two months from now, I wanted to create an GitHub Sponsors page focused on keeping the things I’m working on alive. Besides my time invested, which is worth far more than money, just like gold bars, these tools have recurring costs attached. So that’s the main focus: covering those costs.

The fact that I’m running a campaign for this purpose reassures me because it doesn’t put pressure on either side. Not on you either! Fortunately, at the moment, these are costs I can cover. It’s true that no one knows what tomorrow will bring, but there’s no emotional blackmail here.

I’ve specified all the costs I have for these “silly things” I do in the goals. I’ve also carefully prepared each reward tier, trying to be fair and consistent, with you and with myself. Just as you’ve read all of this so far, I also hope you’ll read each of them calmly. And, of course, contribute, if you want and if you can.

If not, that’s okay! Everything will continue, as long as I can manage, being simple, free, open-source (printed and auditable), and without handing your data over to anyone.

Once again, thank you, and I apologize for my hair. It’s always been like this.