On July 6, 2024, I went online to purchase ptr.co.zw. It had always been a passion of mine to own it, and I was so close to obtaining it. I *know* I will get it eventually, but the reason I couldn't get it this time was that the payment service only accepted Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) — Zimbabwe's somewhat new currency. Since I didn't have ZiG, I moved on to attempt to acquire ptr.org, but when I found out that GoDaddy charged around $50 just for the agent fee, I was disappointed. Afterward, I discussed the situation with some of my online friends on Discord, and they recommended that I get __ptrfs.org__. It's a cheap domain, especially for a website with only 8 characters. However, the price becomes more reasonable when you realize that it's not a common word but rather just an extended version of my name — ptr.
ptr.co.zw was meant to be a passion project: A place where I could write articles without relying on third-party services, a platform where I could host my Git repositories without worrying about keeping them up-to-date, a Wikipedia clone for a server I play on, and, of course, a blog. Unfortunately, this idea became increasingly unfeasible because I lacked the time and budget to manage everything. I eventually gave up on that plan and came up with a new strategy, which I will explain later in the article. I've wanted a domain of my own for a long time, and when certain things have been overdue for me, I tend to jump at them, regardless of whether it's a good idea or not. My list of such things is quite small, but it may shrink in the future — maybe the same will happen for things I want now.
Before I explain my new plan, I need to provide some context about the old one. My original goal for the website was to run various services. However, all of these services required a Virtual Private Server (VPS). In simple terms, a VPS is a server where you host everything for your website. Web hosting is quite expensive, and Namecheap’s Stellar plan — their entry-level option — costs $22 per year. While this doesn't seem like a lot, as someone with virtually no income streams, I try not to put all my money in one place. The next step was setting up internal services, which require a lot of time — time that I don't have due to exams and extracurricular activities that demand significant research. Taking on another project seemed less than ideal.
bl, the page you are currently reading.nw.Most of this content will be sporadic, but I will try to provide regular updates unless major life events prevent me from doing so. The blog will have a more informal style, while the news page will adhere to a stricter set of rules.
But why have two different pages? This is mainly due to my perspective on how the media should operate. I believe there should be a clear distinction between news — actual stories that have been fact-checked and scrutinized — and opinion articles (often referred to as think pieces), which typically offer subjective commentary on current events. In essence, the blog is for opinions, while the news page is for factual reporting. That said, I promise that any news articles I write will be as neutral as possible. It shouldn't be too difficult, as I mainly cover parliamentary issues.
Why .org? When I think about the reasons to use a .org domain, I associate it with organizations that aim to do good, whether profit-driven or not. They usually don’t feature ads and are less sensationalist, offering more balanced content. For example, stallman.org is often considered a personal blog for Richard Stallman. It doesn't sell any products or push any agendas; it's simply Stallman sharing his thoughts on issues he cares about. I admire that approach, although I don’t necessarily agree with all of Stallman’s views. I simply appreciate the way he runs his website.
My goal is to create an online soapbox where I can voice my opinions freely, without feeling pressured. I want ptrfs.org to serve as a platform where I can share my ideas and a repository of information too obscure for larger websites like Wikipedia to focus on. This site will allow me to post whatever I want, with very few restrictions (other than GitHub's Terms of Service).
One of the major goals for ptrfs.org is to provide a neutral source of news about Zimbabwe. Almost all Zimbabwean news outlets are either biased toward the government or anti-government (I'm looking at you, The Herald and NewsDay). This leaves very little nuance in the political discourse, and it's detrimental to our democracy. What I aim to provide is a balanced news source that doesn’t cater to any particular party or political group, but rather focuses on delivering factual and unbiased news, especially regarding parliamentary affairs.
The future of this project depends entirely on the level of interest it garners. If enough people show interest, I may scale it up and make it bigger — though not this year, and likely not much of next year, as I am focusing on my studies. If the site doesn’t attract much attention, it will probably remain a small passion project hosted on GitHub Pages. It will serve as my online journal where I can freely express my opinions and document the oddities of Zimbabwean government affairs.
If you ever want to see what's going on, you can always check out my GitHub.