Note: I decided to get significantly inebriated on moonshine for this post because I write like a real stick in the mud. Hope it helps.
One of the things that has consistently bothered me about Lain.la is the domain name I chose. To be frank: It sucks! Here's why:
- I am no longer basing my entire identity around Serial Experiments Lain, and haven't been for several years now. I have enough ego, talent, and goodwill to be able to stand on my own two feet.
- Honestly, Lain fans have descended into extreme cringe. What the fuck is a "Lainpilled Femcel" anyway?
- The idea behind the domain and TLD was purely to make it seem like a continuation of the name Lain. Lain.la -> Lain.lain. See? Problem is, people just think this is either the Los Angeles version of a Lain domain or the Laos version. Los Angeles is a dumpster fire, and what's in Laos anyway? This was a significant slipup.
- It doesn't even roll off the tongue. Lain.L.A.? Lain.Laaaaa? It's hard to even say in person. And then I have to explain what a "Lain" is...
To expand more on why I chose Lain as a theme - I have known about and watched Serial Experiments Lain since at least 2015. This is over eight years that the show, its concepts, and its aesthetic has been a core part of my life. I still appreciate it immensely, and consider it a truly bright gem in a sea of shitty anime. If I hadn't found Lain, I wouldn't have found Lainchan (of which I consider myself only a very small part of these days), and that would have led to me never finding some of my closest friends and even an incredible relationship that truly changed who I was for the better. But these days, it just doesn't pay dividends to be part of that fanbase or community anymore, and I don't find my behavior or beliefs conducive to promoting the positive qualities of the show. I'm kind of an asshole, and Lain isn't.
So, dear reader, you may ask - What do I intend to do about it? Nothing really. There's way too much invested in this arguably cosmetic issue to abandon ship and swap everything out. There's no reason to do that to soothe my gripes. I still respect and appreciate SEL as a formative component in who I am and the experiences I've endured, I just seem to have outgrown the hype. I have some other domains that I haven't done much with yet that I find more aesthetically pleasing (7666.io, Iwakura.systems) but they have no longevity or "name recognition" currently, so migrating is simply not worth the time and effort.
So, case in point. The branding of Lain.la is really just not my taste anymore. I like the favicon though, it's a nice little subtle reference.