Declan Chidlow (@vale.rocks.web.brid.gy)

Design Considerations for Moderation Tooling Overview of thoughful and protective design of tooling for moderating user-generated content, placing emphasis on minimising the psychological effects of exposure to heinous content, while balancing efficiency, accuracy, and the long-term wellbeing of trust and safety teams. Covering techniques for the mitigation of impact where applicable.

26.02.2026 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

My Opinionated CSS Reset A CSS reset for modern web development to provide a consistent and high-quality base for projects. Low-specificity and very opinionated to provide a strong foundation allowing seamless use in projects of varying scales and complexity.

22.01.2026 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Experiencing Zen in the Ratz Instagib Meat Grinder A love letter to Ratz Instagib, a breakneck, fast-jazz, neon-laser, and instant-death first-person shooter played entirely on instinct. Discussion of the feeling of playing, the community, the style, the complex simplicity, and the intoxicating flow state one falls into while playing.

13.01.2026 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

You Can't Opt-Out of Accessibility A rant of frustration about accessibility being a undervalued yet critically important part of building digital experiences. Complaining about the industry's apathy and the true human cost of neglecting accessibility.

18.12.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Frequently Asked Unicycling Questions Answers to questions frequently asked of me as unicyclist, including whether it is dangerous, the various parts, how hard a unicycle is to ride and learn, and assorted answers to many other questions.

02.12.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Strongly Worded Emails Discussion of the true wonders of strongly worded emails. The ever-wonderful communication medium that is forever effective and most certainly not flawed or a complete waste of time in any way, shape, or form.

28.11.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

On Writing for Publications Notes on experiences and takeaways from writing professionally for a range of publications. Notes on pitching articles, writing outlines, collaborating effectively, taking feedback, ensuring good work and providing your author details.

24.11.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Nootropical Notes Personal notes on assorted nootropics I've tried and used, including stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine. Anecdotal experiences, musings, and reflections on optimising cognitive performance.

17.10.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Switching to Colemak-DH Details of my choice and experience switching to the Colemak-DH keyboard layout from QWERTY for the purposes of speed and improved ergonomics.

11.10.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Identifying AI Content Is A Fool's Errand AI-generated content is commonplace and largely indistinguishable from content created via other means, such that trying to identify or detect it is largely futile and impossible to do on the whole.

18.09.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Tea Reviews Reviews and thoughts on various teas I've tried and formed opinions on. Covering assorted black teas, green teas, herbal teas, and masala chais.

12.09.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Biological Donation Discussing the donation of material produced by one's body, such as blood and plasma, and my failed attempts at donating due to elevated heart rate.

18.08.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Winter Rhapsody Impassioned discussion of winter and rainy days. The joys of 'bad' weather and bliss of stormy periods. Waxing lyrical on being snugged up with nature takes course around oneself.

01.08.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Allegedly I Have The Mark of the Beast An analysis of the biblical concept of the mark of the beast, how it relates to biohacking implants, and a debunking of the notion that I have been marked by the beast as discussed in the Book of Revelation.

27.07.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Wishes Upon My Demise Publicly available documentation of what I'd like to occur in the event of my death. Includes information about my wishes for voluntary assisted dying.

19.07.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

How I Configure Neovim A full breakdown of my Neovim configuration, including documentation of all my base settings, plugins, and keybinds, as well as why I've configured them as such.

12.07.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Advising Reasonable AI Criticism A loose analysis of the unproductive criticism surrounding artificial intelligence from both pro and anti camps, with advocations for more nuanced, constructive engagement and how that can be achieved to allow more informed and respectful discussions about AI technology and its impact.

29.05.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Creativity Came to Pass A story where human creativity and art disappear as a result of artificial intelligence usage and prevalence. Written from the perspective of someone in the future.

07.05.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

How I'm Using AI An overview of my personal usage of Large Language Models (LLMs) and other generative AI from 2022 onwards. Tracking my experiences with AI tools, specific models (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc), applying them practically, and realistic perspective on their strengths and limitations over time, from coding attempts to language learning assistance.

02.05.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

My Writing Style and Mannerisms A look at the stylistic fingerprints marking up my writing. Covering and vaguely justifying my spellings, use of punctuation, sentence structure, and other prose crimes.

01.05.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Why Video Isn't My Publishing Preference Why I prefer not to publish video, including practical, technical, and personal reasons I find text a more maintainable, accessible, and effective medium for my online content.

30.04.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Why I Write Unpacking my compulsion and will to write, including its benefits in forming thought, letting me express myself, hone in a craft, and publish accessible content.

29.04.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

The Analytics of This Site A look at website traffic to Vale.Rocks and a general analysis of the analytics. Particularly looking at popular referrers and the variance from general web analytics.

25.04.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Airports and Aeroplanes A reflective piece exploring the sensory experiences and unique perspective gained while navigating the liminal spaces between destinations presented by airports and planes.

18.04.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Open-Source is Just That A rant about behaviour in the open-source software community focussing on user entitlement at the expense of developer wellbeing.

04.04.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

An Analysis of That's How I Beat Shaq An in-depth analysis of Aaron Carter's 2000 release That's How I Beat Shaq. Including a breakdown of the legendary basketball showdown and cultural impact of this teen pop masterpiece featuring Shaquille O'Neal.

01.04.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Build, Use, and Improve Tools Why developers should create custom tools for repetitive tasks and one-off needs, with discussion of how LLMs can accelerate tool development, the learning benefits of building utilities, and how personal tools become valuable assets in your workflow and beyond.

21.03.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

AI Model History is Being Lost We're losing vital AI history as properitary, hosted models like the original ChatGPT are retired and become completely inaccessible. This essay examines the rapid disappearance of proprietary AI systems, why preservation matters for research and accountability, and the challenges in archiving these technological milestones. A critical look at our vanishing AI heritage and what it means for future understanding of this transformative technology's development.

16.03.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Respecting User Preference Discussion of why respecting user preferences is satisfying, covering how respecting user autonomy, embracing diversity, solving dual-nature problems, practicing quality craftsmanship, and seeing visible impact creates fulfilling work beyond mere functionality.

07.03.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Strong Opinions on URL Design A collection of strong opinions on URL design and structure covering topics including use of capitalisation, use of IDs, spaces, hyphens instead of underscores, trailing slashes, hierarchy, and other gripes and particulars I hold.

24.02.2025 00:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Declan Chidlow

Latest posts by Declan Chidlow @vale.rocks.web.brid.gy