Three pieces from the 2008 blog that turned out to be worth keeping. The shorter link-share posts from the same era are collected on the Linkblog (2008) page instead.
The one to read first is Underappreciated Talent, which turns out — eighteen years later — to be the clearest piece of writing I have explaining what the Stalefish Labs name (already six years old by then) had always been pointing at.
Hatin' on Puzzles
August 24, 2008
A 2008 piece on crossword puzzles, solitary games, and online discourse. The 'keyboard warrior culture' observation about online polarization is preserved, looking less prescient and more documentary every year.
Unconventional Passwords
August 15, 2008
A 2008 blog post wondering whether songs or movies could replace text passwords. Aged in interesting ways — passkeys mostly went the biometric direction the post called for, not the media-signature direction it weighed.
Underappreciated Talent
July 27, 2008
The 2008 blog post that turned out to be the origin document for both the Stalefish Labs name and the philosophy behind the ILYM romance series. Eighteen years between recognizing the thread and acting on it.
Using Fun to Repair the American Family
October 1, 2002
An unfinished 2002 manifesto from the founding year of Stalefish Labs, arguing that the answer to technology pulling families apart isn't nostalgia but using technology better — and that social games are one of the best tools for it. The earliest statement of the philosophy the company was built on.