Summary
From the README file uploaded to the GitHub repository:
“I mostly designed this out of spite for I Am Sober, which monetizes addiction recovery. This started as something I just wrote in the time I had between classes for a friend who was struggling with addiction and couldn’t get an I Am Sober subscription to track all the things he was struggling with, and I really just decided to publish it because I didn’t see a reason not to”
“I’m only half joking when I say I hate I Am Sober. It has several trackers and requires far more permissions than is reasonable for the features it provides, and the fact that a subscription is required to track more than two individual addictions is just horrific to me. Displaying the time since a given date, and allowing that date to be reset to the current time, are such simple features to implement that I genuinely cannot fathom how they can in good conscience monetize them, especially when their target audience is people struggling with addiction.”
“I just find the whole concept somewhat upsetting. For that reason, Sobriety will never have any trackers or anything of the sort, and will always be completely free. I want to help people, not profit off of their struggles.”
The project appears to have been started by Katherine Isabella Del Toro, going by the handle seaglade on GitHub, while a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The most recent update appears to have been in 2024.
Notes
I love this README.
That’s more or less the rationale I had before launching this site. It started out of spite for The Four Agreements, and in the process I ended up putting together notes that could pass for articles. I couldn’t think of a reason not to share it with others who have a deep-seated disgust for the way the New Age self-help and happiness industries monetize addiction recovery while discouraging collective action and systemic reforms. Also, I am not joking in the slightest when I say I think the world be on balance better off if every copy of The Four Agreements was burned.
So, I’m biased, but I like the cut of this dev’s jib. Fight the power, my friends.