backstory
it really bothered me that i was still stuck with my old username on fedi, it again made me not want to post or interact. i was going to just move to a new account on the same instance, but of course the domain name is also still the old username. i’ve been wanting to get a new domain ever since i decided to use the name lily but i couldn’t come up with a domain that sounded perfect. and also the plan with my misskey instance has been from the start that i would only temporarily use it until gotosocial gets out of alpha. so i thought i could combine switching from misskey to gts and switching to a new domain. but i didn’t want to wait any longer to get a new domain, and then i saw that in the meantime one of my potential domain ideas had been registered by a domain hoarder who registers domains to then resell them for huge amounts of money. so i thought i might as well get a new domain now and if it turns out i won’t like it i’ll just switch yet again.
new domain
the domain i decided to get was, as you can see, lilyb.it. it’s very short (only longer than the old one by one character) and again a domain hack, this time based on my unique username aLilyBit (a username that i didn’t use on fedi but in other places like youtube). the domain has “bit” in it which can stand for my interests in 8-bit music, pixel art and (especially with just the .IT part) computers, so it unites the main things i do and my name. and saying it like
“lily bee
dot eye tee”
sounds really nice, i think. two sets of three syllables that both end with -ee. i’m still not 100% sure it’s the perfect domain just like how i’m not sure if i like my unique username aLilyBit enough but it’s the best i’ve come up with in the past 1.5 years and i can always change it again, as i have done multiple times before. and i really wanted to change it now to get away from the old one. will i ever find the perfect domain and username?
(thinking about the digital things that don’t support changing your (user)name (acnh where the regular villagers call me lily but not my beloved sable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and the miraculous people who are forever fine with the username they came up with ages ago and the people who ask why anyone would want to change their username when you say you want the ability to change it somewhere)
username
right now i quite like the new domain but not really the unique username anymore i think. maybe if i get rid of the “a” like in the domain? the idea of that username was turning the phrase “a little bit” (because i am and do just a tiny cute little bit and because “bit” is associated with the aforementioned things i like) into “a lil’ bit” (although according to wiktionary, lil’ is a misspelling of li’l or lil and then into the final “aLilyBit”. i’ve been using that username for a lil’ bit (the apostrophe at the end looks right to me so i refuse to put the apostrophe in the middle) on the youtube website which i occasionally use and on a few other sites that i don’t actively visit, but this was enough to quickly make me not like it anymore. i don’t know, it’s not bad, but it somehow doesn’t feel right. so i tried to get new ideas again and gathered words i like, and there was one word i like because it feels nice (although not as nice as others) and i associate it with the quietness, peace, creativity and loneliness of the night: moon. so i tried to add it to my name: MoonLily. that looked and sounded kind of nice. and then i realised that that’s already what i call my protagonist from pokémon moon and i had to laugh because i didn’t realise that at first and because i didn’t think of using this as a unique name for me earlier. it could fit and i already have a very important history with that name that gives it a lot of meaning for me. but i also wasn’t 100% sure if this name would be what i want. and i had also already assigned that name to a fictional plant species that would be important to my (wip) persona and that she would wear as a hair pin. of course none of this has to mean that i couldn’t also use it as a unique (user)name for myself. but LilyBit without the “a” also looks kind of nice. i don’t know. it also feels a little too sterile and not as creative and nice and cute as i would like, but then again i think the word “bit” in combination with lily does sound at least somewhat cute. i guess i can only try new things and then i’ll eventually see if i like them in practice. and continue to try coming up with new ideas in the meantime. so i’ve decided to get this domain and to change my username on places like youtube to just LilyBit. or variations of it with underscores for unique @usernames because every conceivable combination of letters is already taken.
name
but one thing i’m 100% certain of is the name lily itself. after 1.5 years of using it for myself i can only say that it sounds and looks and feels absolutely perfect. it’s the name i was destined for. i really have to pay attention not to call myself lily in front of irl people that aren’t supposed to know and it’s not easy. it just feels so natural while my (il)legal name feels more distant and wrong than ever.
i’m lily, and i love my name :)
and of course, a big thank you to everyone who has called me by that name! it may be a small thing but you’ve made me very happy :)
gotosocial
initially i was going to set up another instance of misskey or possibly a sensible fork this time for at least receiving post edits but then it seemed like gotosocial added the last important major features that i would need for daily usage, so i shut down the sharkey instance i had already been messing around with and set up gotosocial instead. from what i can tell, the philosophy and functionality of gotosocial is exactly what i’m looking for. and resource-wise, misskey might be lighter than mastodon but my tiny little raspberry pi 3 b+ was struggling with it, which of course also meant it affected the other things running on it. but even while misskey is still running and using resources, gotosocial already runs very well. it’ll probably be even better once i shut misskey down. and there are config file or gui options for any change i need (except for the number of bio fields) and many more which is amazing. i had to maintain and compile my own misskey fork for a lot of things like changing the post character limit, adding a like button and lots of other interface fixes and customisations. that was really annoying. but at least so far, gotosocial seems great, fast and simple. i really like it. but it is not quite out of alpha yet, so if you notice any issues when interacting with my instance, you can let me know :)