29 August 2025 — Posted in Cornerstones by Jojo • 7 min read

Our philosophy: Own your ground

We believe in the quiet confidence that comes from owning your digital ground. It’s a feeling that defined the soul of the early, hand-built web—a time when we built our own spaces, one <HTML> tag, one pixelated GIF, one personal homepage at a time. It was an era of digital homesteading, where a corner of the internet could be truly, unalterably yours.

This isn’t just business for us. It is a deeply held conviction, a return to the first principles of digital identity. In an age of borrowed spaces, rented platforms, and fleeting algorithmic trends, we champion a more resilient and human-centric way forward: a future built on the bedrock of true ownership, intentional connection, and radical self-agency.

Three pillars of digital identity

Long before "personal brand" became a buzzword, the builders of the early web practiced a raw and essential form of identity management. It wasn’t a marketing strategy; it was an act of pure expression. This practice, often forgotten but more vital than ever, rests on three foundational pillars.

1. Declaration: "I Am" (or "I'm")

In the nascent web, launching a personal homepage was an act of pure self-declaration. It was a flag planted in the vast, uncharted territory of cyberspace, a clear and sometimes quirky statement: “I exist. This is me. This is what I care about.” From the sprawling, chaotic communities of Geocities to the stark academic elegance of a ~tilde directory, these spaces were expressions of an individual will. They were, in the truest sense, declarations of being.

Today, this simple act has become a form of quiet resistance. We live in an age of templates, where platforms increasingly lock users into standardized profiles, reducing the vibrant complexity of human identity to a series of pre-approved fields and tags. This is the digital equivalent of a cookie-cutter suburb, a flattening of the landscape of the self. Technologist and philosopher Jaron Lanier identified this danger early on, warning that our digital tools were subtly encouraging a "hollowing out of the self," where we contort our personhood to fit the limited models of the machine.¹

The “I am” pillar is a direct response to this hollowing. It is the conscious choice to define yourself on your own terms. It means:

Carving out your own sovereign space, free from the design constraints and character limits of a corporate-owned template.
Defining yourself on your own terms, choosing what matters to you, not what a platform’s algorithm deems relevant for data collection.
Speaking in your own, unmediated voice, knowing that your words, your art, and your ideas are housed in a space that you alone control.

It is the difference between filling out a profile and building a home.

2. Connection: Instant Message ("IM")

Identity is not forged in isolation; it is sharpened and refined through connection. The early web understood this intuitively. Networks were not passively accumulated; they were built with intention and care. We connected through the thoughtful act of signing a guestbook, the curated discovery of a webring, or the personal correspondence of an email list. An “instant message” was precisely that: an immediate, synchronous, and unfiltered line to another human being. It was a conversation.

This stands in stark contrast to the curated, asynchronous, and often performative nature of modern social media. The "like" button, the passive follow, and the algorithmic feed have created a system optimized for engagement metrics, not for genuine human communion. As MIT sociologist Sherry Turkle observed, this has led us "from conversation to connection," a subtle but profound shift toward a form of communication that can feel less authentic and more transactional.² We are more connected than ever, yet we often feel more alone.

The “IM” pillar is a call to re-humanize our digital relationships. It is a philosophy that prioritizes:

Intentional meetings over algorithmic suggestions, seeking out communities and individuals based on shared values, not on what a platform believes will keep us scrolling.
Meaningful, real-time conversations, creating spaces where direct, spontaneous, and unpolished dialogue can flourish.
Direct relationships instead of passive follows, building a network of peers, collaborators, and friends who are truly invested in one another's work and well-being.

It is the belief that the quality of our connections is infinitely more valuable than the quantity of our followers.

3. Ground: Digital Real Estate (`.im`)

Identity and connection need a place to live. They need stable ground on which to build. For the past decade, most of our digital lives have been built on rented land. Our professional identities live on LinkedIn, our creative portfolios on Instagram, our community discussions on Facebook or Discord, and our businesses on marketplace listings. These are borrowed spaces, subject to the whims of their digital landlords. They can be altered, deprioritized, or taken away at any moment.

This "re-centralization of the Web" into a handful of powerful, corporate-owned silos is a direct and existential threat to the original vision of an open, decentralized space where individuals control their own data and their own digital destiny.³ Building your brand entirely on these platforms is like building a house on a fault line. The ground beneath you is not your own, and it is not stable.

The “Ground” pillar is a call for digital sovereignty. It is the foundational act of owning your own domain and your own website. This ownership provides two critical forms of security:

Technical Stability: Your life's work, your content, and your community are safe from the unpredictable winds of platform changes, algorithmic shifts, and corporate acquisitions. You are the master of your own domain.
Emotional Security: You have the deep, quiet confidence that comes from building something permanent. Your efforts are invested in an asset that you own, an asset that will endure, an asset that can become a true legacy.

It is the only way to ensure that what you build today will still be standing tomorrow.

Our mission

The mission of unearth.im is to restore these foundational practices. We are digital archaeologists, dedicated to unearthing the timeless principles of the hand-built web and providing the tools for a new generation of builders. We empower founders, creators, and communities to build lasting, resonant brands on a foundation of real identity.

The .im domain, from the Isle of Man, is the perfect vessel for these three pillars. It is a TLD that is both a place and a statement, a technology and a philosophy.

It’s a declaration of being: I'm
It’s a mandate for connection: IM
It’s a deed to your own digital ground: a piece of lasting real estate from the Isle of Man.

Why this matters now

In a world of rented land and borrowed identities, owning your ground is the only truly defensible position. Without a sovereign space of our own, we risk becoming the product, not the user. As media theorist Douglas Rushkoff famously commanded, we must "program or be programmed."⁴ We cede our agency, our data, and ultimately our identity to the platforms we inhabit.

Real agency, real creativity, and real community begin the moment you decide to own your ground. It begins when you:

Declare yourself authentically, beyond the limitations of an algorithm's template.
Connect intentionally, building networks that are based on trust and shared purpose, not metrics.
Own your ground, finding your permanent place to build for the long term.

This isn’t nostalgia. This is a strategy for survival. It is a blueprint for building brands that are cared for, authentic, and true in an age of digital disposability. Every domain we unearth, every project we support, must be a tool that empowers people to declare who they are, foster the connections that matter, and secure true and lasting ownership of their digital ground.

Lanier, J. (2010). You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto. Alfred A. Knopf. ↩︎
Turkle, S. (2011). Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Ourselves. Basic Books. (Quote from p. 190) ↩︎
Berners-Lee, T. (2010). Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality. Scientific American, 303(6), 80-85. ↩︎
Rushkoff, D. (2010). Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age. OR Books. ↩︎