My first WordPress blog on dltq.org was in 2005, or perhaps even late 2004? I don’t know, I get confused. Let’s just say that it was in 2005, and leave it at that. I think that in 2004 I was still on Typepad.
It is now 18 years later. Not 2005, but 2023. I am 18 years older than in 2005. 216 months. That’s weird, to look at it that way.
In November 2022 this website – dltq.org – became a Mastodon server, and I had my own Mastodon instance there. Or, rather, the dltq.org domain pointed to the IP address of my Mastodon server, which was hosted in Finland; but you get my point anyway. Anywho. Anyhow.
In 2005, I was experimenting a lot with videoblogging. I did that for a few more years. The last time I co-organized VlogEurope was in Amsterdam in autumn of 2009. In 2009 I also started working at a company where I worked until 2021. In 2021 I first changed work to another company in the same sector (IT), and then in January 2022 I joined my current workplace. It is now May 2023; May 10th 2023, and I went from – yesterday – thinking that I would let dltq.org lapse – let the domain name registration expire; to this morning thinking that no. No. I want to renew the registration, and I want to use the website again, differently. Or the same way as in 2005. I don’t know which is which; cycles cycling, turning to the same spot. Or the solar system planets cycling our local star; our sun, but that sun also moving through our galaxy, and then of course that galaxy also moves in relation to other galaxies. And the further you zoom out, the more dizzying it gets. And the further you zoom in, the more dizzying it gets. And whether I scrub back in time; until 2013 or 2005 or 1999 or 1986; I get dizzy. And whether I project forward in time; until 2029 or 2035 or 2050; I also get dizzy. I get dizzy whatever direction I take within the context of my own life.
It is a Wednesday. A Wednesday belonging to the date May 10th 2023. It is a Wednesday, my son who is now 12 (not 22 as in 2033, or 2 as in 2013) years old is out playing soccer, with the others. He is almost home. And I am writing this while I am cooking dinner in the oven, and a pot of rice cooking in the rice boiler. I am writing this; it is now 18:23 CEST. Summer time here in Oslo, Norway, where I am now. It is a Wednesday, and this Wednesday belongs to a day where I reboot DLTQ.org. A new iteration, a new cycle, a new exploration of – what exactly? I think the following are my themes moving forward:
1) exploring the limits of online media
2) not losing sight of those core questions in our global society.
3) exploring the limits of my own creativity or lack of it
4) not losing sight of my own core questions
A few words about DLTQ. Don’t Lose the Question. I came up with the name in the spring of 2002. I was living in Brussels then, doing work as the President of the Student Wing of the Coimbra group of universities. I was living in Brussels, and I kept on telling myself one evening – I think it was a Wednesday, but it could also be any other day in the week; not the weekend, because then I took the train from Brussels to Konstanz am Bodensee. Anyway: It was evening, and I was asking myself questions in my diary; it was a physical diary then. And I also thought about things online. I had blogged on LiveJournal since 2000, and in 2002 I think I was mostly active on TIG. Anyway: It was evening, I was asking myself questions, and I thought about moving on from my Ehich nickname.
The Ehich nickname was something I came up with in the spring or early summer of 1998. I know it was before October 1998 because in October it was that I asked a silly question to Neil Gaiman during an online Q&A. Here is my question and the answer:
<Puck> First question is from Ehich. Ehich, go ahead.
<Ehich> On the event horizon chat you talked a bit about your interest in finding out the relationship between fairy tales, myths and religion. How do you think that this is related to philosophy? I mean; do you think there is any bridge between Mythos and Logos; litterature and Philosophy? and if so; how do you think this bridge can be explored?
<NGaiman> Ah, right. Let’s start with the small ones… (er, typed with a small amount of irony, that). Honest answer, I don’t know. And as an addendum… I try not to think about it too much. Especially when I’m writing. Mostly what I’m doing is telling stories, which is a strange sort of occupation — it’s part instinct, part craft, part skill and part luck. There are places I sometimes think that it’s wisest not to go… or rather, not to go on purpose. I was fascinated when Zelazny pointed out that the first books of Magic followed the traditional Cambellian Heroes quest pattern, as it was not designed or intended to go that way: it was just where the story went. As a final note on that… I’d hate to pretend to be unconscious of the craft. But when it comes to the relationship between myth and philosophy, hell, I’m still trying to figure out why we need fairy tales.
Source
Anyway. In 2002 I had used Ehich for about 4 years, and I wanted something new. I came up with DLTQ. Don’t Lose the Question. Because I wanted to remind myself to not lose my questions. Not lose my core questions. Not lose what drives me; moves me forward.
DLTQ has been with me since 2002. In late 2004 (December) I started videoblogging, and in 2005 I turned my blog from TypePad to my first WordPress blog. Here is a WaybackMachine snapshot of dltq.org in July 2005.
DLTQ became my twitter handle in 2007, and in 2011 when Google+ launched, I went sort of different and called myself Raymond K (here is a PCMag article about my early Google+ work). I had moved slightly away from DLTQ in those years. It became a stressful thing for me – being reminded to not lose my questions. I did not see the warning signs. I also registered rmnd.org as an alternative domain name at some point (I let that domain name slip, and I only registered it again in late 2022).
What’s the question?
OH. Yes. My online persona. In 2009 I decided to start my “stabilization project”, and that project led to other things, including marriage, a kid, and staying at the same company for 12 years. 2021 I left that company, and had shit in my private life (my wife and I divorced in 2020, pandemic divorce yay). In 2022 I had a new company, and had shit in my private life. 2023 was pretty shitty as well, until I on Friday March 24th 2023 decided to make a move. Back then, it was simply to go to Denmark that evening and to spend two full days in Copenhagen. But that move signalled a new era. And here we are. Hello 2023.