Jared White Photo of Jared

Expressively publishing on the open web since 1996.
Entranced by Portland, Oregon since 2017.

Hello and Welcome!

I’m Jared, an award-winning essayist, Rubyist, and podcaster who’s been commenting on and building for the web since Mosaic was a thing. (Yup, it’s true! 😆)

In my spare time I travel around Portland 🌲 and the Pacific Northwest and shoot cinematic-yet-quirky vlogs. 📹 📺  In addition, I compose and produce 80s-flavored retro electronica. 🎹 🎶

This is my home base on the internet. I hope you enjoy browsing around! 📍

P.S. What am I doing now? That’s what the Now Page is for! ⏱

P.P.S. What’s my favorite (fill-in-the-blank)? Find out in About Me. 😃

Things I Do

It would seem I’m always but one step away from reaching for an endeavor to occupy my time with at any given moment. Besides what’s obviously available on this website…from Bridgetown, a Ruby-powered site generator, to Yarred, my musical alter-ego, there’s something for…well…somebody.

Welcome to the Jaredverse! 😌

Newest Posts

Support Structures for the Extremely Online

I am what some folks might call Extremely Online. I’ve certainly wrestled with this at times, and there have been moments when I feel the need to pull back from incessantly scrolling through whatever timeline is in vogue (for me these days that’s Mastodon) and commenting with meme GIFs.

But I’ve come to accept my fate. Furthermore, this is something I’m good at. Yes that right, I’m good at internetting (for better or worse). What I’m not so good at is occasionally dipping my toe into the water of being Extremely Offline.

Intentionally going offline is vital to my mental health (and yours too). For some people that might not prove such a huge issue as they have family ties or other social commitments IRL to attend to. For me though—except for the times I’m actively involved in playing with/supervising/teaching/going on adventures with my kids—I’m basically a single (divorced) dude who remote works, quit attending church years ago, and whose extended family all live out-of-state.

If I’m going to have a social life apart from opening up yet another chat window, I need to wrangle my own support structure out of thin air.

And so that’s exactly what I’ve been doing this spring and summer. I’ve had to push myself—force myself some days—to get out there and Meet Real People. It doesn’t always come naturally to me, but I’m always glad when I do it.

Shout out to Meetup which—despite a rocky road these past few years first being acquired by WeWork and then being let go among all the zaniness there—still seems to be going strong and providing an excellent way of discovering groups of people IRL doing interesting things.

I’ve gone on hikes, focused on writing alongside fellow artists and creatives, laughed it up playing a wacky party game at a dinner event, and, yes, hung out with some local techies too. I’ve also been keeping an eye out for festivals or other fun community activities I might participate in. What will I be up to next? Who knows!

Having the sense of a local support structure apart from pixels on a screen, being able to look fellow humans in the eye and make a genuine emotional and intellectual connection, is something I simply don’t take for granted. Having lived through a pandemic and been Extremely-Extremely Online for weeks or even months at a time (most of 2020 is simply a blur to me, I can’t remember WTF I was even doing), a couple of hours of levity over a beer or walking along a forest path pointing out a grand vista or a word of encouragement from another creator in the room…these are moments I treasure. And I can’t wait for more.

If you feel like you need more of a support structure where you live, what’s that single first step you might be able to take today?

#lifehacks

Surprise Surprise! Reddit Was Unethical from the Start

As Reddit radically implodes (8000+ subreddits have gone dark as of the time of this writing!) due to the hubris and nearsightedness of its leaders, it’s worth considering what really goes into the DNA of an online social platform.

I once worked on an industry-specific social platform of sorts at a (now defunct) startup. They came up with the brilliant strategy to invent a bunch of randomized nonsense visitor stats for “claim this!” profiles of various people in their industry (scraped from god knows which email/phone databases) to get people to join the platform. I pushed back on the idea of essentially bald-face lying to everyone as a wise marketing strategy, but I was overruled. If memory serves, I ended up building this feature. Yup, I just went along with it. Hey, a fella (and relatively new dad!) has to make a living! 🫠

It remains one of my biggest regrets of all time. I think about what I did often. I was one of them! One of “those programmers” who produces bullshit at the behest of faulty biz dev asshattery. Never again.

Which is why this story about Reddit founders making hundreds of fake profiles so site looked popular from all the way back in 2012 is so enraging (and I rather wish I’d known about this already). Reddit quite literally faked its popularity in order to become popular. Yes, it’s true that jumpstarting large online communities is super challenging, and one can be forgiven for giving into a certain bit of temptation to mask any whiff of appearing like a ghost town. Yet I’m certain Reddit could have found a more ethical route than simply seeding their database with fake users…even all the way back 11 years ago. (And before a reply guy waltzes in to tell me that well actually all the big social platforms seeded their communities/content like this, I really don’t give a shit. It’s wrong when Reddit does it. It’s wrong when Facebook does it, or Twitter, or whoever. Don’t do it.)

Words matter. Intent matters. Artistry matters. Integrity matters. And karma’s a, well, you know. I think Reddit’s seeing the “comes around” end of the cycle playing out right now, and—though I wish otherwise—I doubt we’ll witness a sudden illumination and genuine display of repentance at Snoo HQ. Expect even more #enshittification in the days ahead.

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Stay in the Loop

Look, I get it. You already subscribe to too many newsletters. So much to keep up with. But guess what? I only send out a newsletter once a week. And if you‘re feeling curious, peruse the Creator Class archive. You might find something that resonates with you! It’s a great way to stay current with what I’m publishing, and newsletter recipients always get some extra insight just for them. So what are you waiting for? Let’s roll!

black and white photo of Jared White

I promise to treat your inbox with the utmost respect and maintain your privacy.

Podcast

Fresh Fusion

A weekly show where we discuss the business, the art, the ethics of content creation on the open web. Hosted by Jared White.

Passions from a Common Spring

I’m a die-hard Ivory for Mastodon user and “ambassador” of the Fediverse. So then, why am I on Threads? Well, it’s all about who you follow, and you can follow many interesting sorts of accounts there which aren’t all on Mastodon. In this episode, I break down the various categories of accounts I follow, as well as talk about some of the other social media news of the day.

Listen to Episode 103

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Popular Essays

The Three Vital Landmarks Along the Road to Success

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There was a time not long ago when my life was in a major upheaval. Signs of online success were slim to none. I wasn’t sure if anyone out there would really care if I were suddenly Thanos-snapped out of existence. Yet the valuable lesson I came to learn during that dreadful time was how to become intrinsically motivated, the significance of value creation, and the trick of cultivating T-shaped skills.

Read Essay