What's Happening

 

Friday night, 19 September—
I was buried in my site, pulling code apart and stitching it back together until dawn.
Saturday bled into the same rhythm, the glow of the screen the only witness.
By Sunday, I had to deal with the mundane: changing my banking details at Amazon KDP.
Tyme Bank had slammed the door on international payments, and I needed the channels open again.

In the middle of all this tinkering, I added a link to Plarium’s Raid: Shadow Legends. 
Seemed harmless enough. But almost instantly, Google’s cold machine-voice rang out like judgment: 
“Unwanted Software Policy violation.” My site—my space—was branded dangerous.

It rattled me.
I tore out the offending link, yet in the confusion, I thought maybe my WhatsApp Channels or
Communities were the problem.

So I shifted the furniture of the site again, rearranging pieces that had already been carefully placed.
I filed a security review, holding my breath.

Then came the email:
“Google systems indicate that https://www.othelloverrocchio.co.za/ 
no longer contains links to harmful sites or downloads.
The warnings visible to users are being removed. This may take a few hours to happen.”

And there it was: reinstated, but not before I had worn the scarlet letter of
“unsafe” for hours that stretched too long.

That’s when the voices of my IT saints rose from memory.

Bill Gates, polite and pragmatic, almost businesslike:
“It’s fine to celebrate success, Otto, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.”

Steve Jobs, impatient and sharp-edged, cuts in:
“Don’t let the noise of other people’s opinions drown out your inner voice.
Focus on what matters—the site is your canvas, not Google’s.”

But it’s Linus Torvalds who spoke the loudest in my head. Blunt, almost amused:
“Nobody gets it right the first time. The point is to build, break, fix, and keep going.”
And again, sterner:
“Talk is cheap. Show me the code.”

Their words mix with the static of the past weekend, as if to remind me that:
 The bruises of building online are the same as the bruises of life.

By 22 September 2025, my site was safe again
—though flagged and shamed in the digital square for those brief hours.
I wear it now as a kind of badge.

Sincerely,
Dei Interretialis