I collect too much. I'm letting things go. — Joe English

Joe EnglishMy linksWorking notesNC Pottery

Joe English / October 27, 2026

I collect too much.

I'm letting things go.

I am a collector. Pottery, files, apps, conversations: the habit travels. Keep it, save it, there might be something in it. And sometimes there is. An old message or a surviving document can hold something that never made it into a neat summary.

But I have also said it plainly: I collect too many things. I asked for help thinning the herd. Some apps earned their place back because they actually did something useful. Others went. A cleanup that destroys the things I care about would miss the point. So would keeping every useless thing just because it was already there.

The same curiosity has taken me into an experiment with AI and personal data. I use different tools, ask them questions, compare their answers, and push back when their accounts of me don't fit. A browsing record can show a page visit. It cannot, by itself, settle who I am. A confident profile still needs its evidence.

And I do want to be seen. I want someone to find the right Joe English: the person connected to North Carolina pottery, trying these tools, collecting too much, and trying to make something useful out of the collection. I am interested in what sharing makes possible, including how systems categorize and value the traces people leave.

That is why this page exists. Less accumulation for its own sake. More material with my name on it, saying something I actually mean. The experiment is unfinished. I want the record to show both the curiosity and the questions.

Written with AI assistance from my descriptions and directions. This is an edited personal essay, not a verbatim transcript.

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Joe English · Durham, North CarolinaPersonal essay · October 2026