Behind the build · what we figured out on May 4

We had two meetings today, back to back, and they both changed something about where this site is going.

The first one was about how artists get profiles. The link tree is fine — everyone has a link tree. What we want is closer to the old MySpace feeling, where the page bends to the artist's aesthetic, but without losing that you're inside the collective. So: templates. Five of them in this build (Forest, Solar, Mosaic, Zine, Glow), with five more slots scaffolded for when we open it up. You pick one, your story, links, and tracks slot in, and it's still recognizably the same site at the top.

We also pulled out of the Discord conversation with no real answer. Discord is great until it isn't, and the ownership question is real. For now we're keeping the link to it, but the Playhouse is where the real "hangout" energy will live for us long-term — somewhere we control.

The second meeting was about the Playhouse itself. Two specific upgrades came out of it. One: the stage is now a DJ booth. Click on it, see the artist roster as discs, click a disc, the track plays — and "plays" means it sends you straight to that artist's YouTube. No middleman. The whole point is that the platform is a promo tool that drives money to the artist, not a label sitting in between.

Two: Inga is going to draw the hairstyles. Not us, not AI. She's about to be on a long road trip and she works fast, so we'll have a real asset pack inside a week. The placeholders in the wardrobe right now are clearly labeled — they're structural stubs so the state shape and the picker UI work. When her drawings land, we drop them in.

We also added a desert world variant alongside the forest. You can flip between them in the wardrobe. Same room logic, different vibe. More worlds will follow.

And the anonymous handle thing — "Catnip" — is real now. If you want to be in the room without your real name on, toggle it in the wardrobe and pick a handle.

This post is the first thing in this section. The plan is that approved members can write here when something interesting happens. Keep it short, keep it real. People who want to know how this is being built can read along.