About This Cemetery
The Problem
I've abandoned dozens of projects. Each one carried shame. The shame accumulated. I didn't talk about them. The pattern stayed invisible.
The advice says "hide your failures." Show only your wins. Curate your portfolio. But that's a lie of omission. The failures are where the learning lives.
The Ritual
This cemetery is a ritualized archive. Each "headstone" is a project that died — but died with dignity. Each has:
- A birth date (when it started)
- A death date (when it ended)
- A cause of death (why it ended)
- What it wanted to be (the vision)
- What it taught me (the lesson)
- An epitaph (the essence)
Why Public?
This is an anti-portfolio. Most portfolios show curated victories. This shows curated failures — but failures as expertise.
It signals: "I know what not to do." It inverts shame into authority. It says I've been in the trenches, made mistakes, and learned from them.
"The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried."
How to Use This
For me: When I start a new project, I visit the cemetery. I remind myself of the patterns that kill projects. I carry that awareness forward.
For you: If you're a solo developer, maybe you have your own cemetery. Maybe naming your dead projects helps you see the patterns. Maybe it doesn't. This works for me.
Click Random Visit to receive wisdom from a project that came before.
The Tech
This site is built with Jekyll and hosted on GitHub Pages. The design is custom — dark, solemn, appropriate for a cemetery but professional.
Each headstone is a Markdown file in _headstones/.
The layout and styling are in _layouts/ and assets/.