About

Herding Bobcats is about coming home. It’s a return to the Internet before it got enshittified (sorry, Mum. It’s a real word. I didn’t make it up. I promise). It’s a return to the magazine before it became 90% advertising. It’s a return to the news before it got taken over by billionaires who used the platform of unbiased media to coerce journalists into abstaining from the truth.

Full confession: As entertaining as it sounds, we don’t actually herd bobcats. It just feels like it, sometimes. Especially for Steph, the herd manager of a husband, teenage twin boys, and a goldendoodle who doesn’t realize he’s not a puppy, anymore.

There’s a good chance that even if you don’t live in Connecticut, you feel a little like you’re herding bobcats, too. Work life, home life, social life… and the current dumpster fire that is the wider world… it can all feel a bit much.

Herding Bobcats is comfort… with a touch of sauciness. Your stalwart leaders are, after all, a couple who on the spur of the moment caught three flights from Auckland to Helsinki to watch the Red Hot Chili Peppers play at Kaiserfest. (If anyone from Finland is reading: We love you guys! One of the best trips of our life.) We’re aiming for the style and feel of Magnolia Homes meets The Onion… or if we can’t manage to be as cool as The Onion, we’ll try instead for a bit of Rolling Stones magazine before it made you trawl through excess page crashes of songs no one likes and guitarists no one’s heard of to find which ones made the top 10.

Remember the Internet before it got (cough) Enshittified?

We do, too. We miss the Internet (capital I). We want it back. And the best way to start is with websites that reject the trend of making a quick buck at the expense of its audience.

We want our words, our articles and our photos to come from our hearts and minds, not from what some stakeholder wants us to think or say. We don’t want to influence others to buy products we don’t like and don’t use, just because we’re an affiliate or receiving some incentive. We’re not opposed to advertising, but if we do advertise, it will be through a mutually beneficial agreement with companies that align with our mission and purpose (REI, Darn Tough Socks, we’re looking at you).

We want to protect your privacy, not sell it for our own profit.

We do not want to litter your experience with pop-ups and animated advertising, so you can’t even view and use the website.

Be the change we want to see in the world

Let’s give the power back to the moderates. Let’s return to talking about issues and listening, even if we ultimately decide to disagree. Let’s spite the autocratic bastards and choose to celebrate joy, passion, kindness, humor and compassion. In other words, spread love, not verbal gonorrhea.

Pour yourself a cup of tea, pop your feet up on the sofa

Welcome to Herding Bobcats