10 ms·

Host Your Own Content

138 points by nbrempel 10y ago

NeutronBoy 10y ago
Four upvotes and the page is already Slashdotted... I guess this is why people don't host their own content! (I think that's the point of the article, not having read it)
- tomfluff 10y ago
  He just seems to be talking about not letting other people make money off your content. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TSfwlWulR2QJ:https://rempel.world/posts/host-your-own.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TSfwlW...
  - purrcat259 10y ago
    Maybe there's space for a "shadow-HN" which just mirrors current HN links but through google's caches...
  - nippples 10y ago
    He's definitely also talking about having control over your own content, which seems to be a big issue with huge sites, such as Facebook or YouTube. > Hosting your own content means you have control over it and the reader’s attention. By writing, you are creating value so harness it instead of giving it away for free. Not to mention that by hosting yourself, you're not subject to "changing at our discretion" terms of service.
- omgtehlion 10y ago
  Wanted to recommend putting cloudflare (or another cdn) in front of the site. In the meantime page finally loaded with Cloudflare's Always Online™ Error 522 Ray ID: 34dc60943d004f26 • 2017-04-11 07:54:20 UTC Connection timed out
- merb 10y ago
  well hn is a pretty good scale indicator. best thing to make a performance test is getting the hn crowd on your site ;) "pre production test"
  - purrcat259 10y ago
    I was about to comment the same... "Host your own content!" keels over with HN weight
    - 6stringmerc 10y ago
      Meanwhile I've seen the HN pop over on my Medium writings and it can be minor or major. Stats are interesting like that, because I do a minimum of targeting submissions / referrals and have a general idea of what places have driven traffic. Getting 1-2K views in 24 hours is easily possible, which might not sound like much, but I'd say it's pretty decent for Amateur Hour Writings of mine.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- srikz 10y ago
  The author is basically saying 'Own your content' Goes on to say 'And when I say host it yourself, I don’t mean you need to run the server yourself or be a programmer. I mean, host it somewhere where you control the domain, the content, and the experience.'
- nbrempel 10y ago
  Haha, how comedic... At least I can point the finger somewhere else https://status.digitalocean.com https://status.digitalocean.com
owenwil 10y ago
The 'host your own content' argument is a good one, but also a tired one. It depends what you're trying to achieve! Medium is a great way to grow your audience, particularly if you're looking for reach but aren't looking to make direct money off your writing, for example. If you're going to argue that others are making money off your writing while you could, I'd argue that it's hard to make any money just from blogging now, and few do it correctly. If making money is why you blog, that's pretty difficult these days. My advice to most these days is still to host your own blog, but if anything to avoid the commoditisation of your words. Medium is great, but it treats your writing like everything else, and can't really leave a lasting impression of you or your brand/personal brand. I think there's value in posting there, but posting on your own platform first, then re-sharing to Medium later. Content is a weird world right now, and blogging has become something of a pain in the ass for most people to self-host, and generally the experience ends up being sub-optimal (kind of like reading this post that's linked) because the person setting it up doesn't know design/typography/whatever. I think better advice is simply this: who cares where you write, as long as you do it and don't let the platform stop you.
- jrimbault 10y ago
  > The 'host your own content' meme is a good one Replace "meme" with "argument" or "advice". As you justly put it in your last sentence.
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    I think GP intended it to mean something more along the lines of "cliché".
im_dario 10y ago
Host your own content or at least pay the hosting. There is nothing wrong about being hosted by a third party if its business model isn't exploiting your data.
joaodlf 10y ago
This can be applied not just to writing... Making videos? Host them, why let Youtube monetise you? Steaming your video game playing? Host the streams, why let Twitch monetise you? People use these services for 2 reasons: * Ease of use (and typically free, unlike Ghost - which the author linked) * Audience reach I don't use Medium for my own writing, I guess my goals towards my writing aren't to reach as many as possible, but for many that is one (if not the most, even if subconsciously) important reason to write/create videos/stream/open source software...
- merkaloid 10y ago
  Hosting a blog and put a couple of ads on it is one thing, it's practically free if you just put your static content on S3. Hosting videos or streams is a whole other world, you need actual infrastructure and a lot of bandwidth.
  - z3t4 10y ago
    you can get 1 TB for 1 usd/month if you look outside aws
    - ChefDenominator 10y ago
      Link? I have to admit it has been some time since I compared services, but that sounds like the first TB, a highly unreliable CDN, some stupid low number of simultaneous connections, or some other such lame artificial resource limitation.
      - nisa 10y ago
        If you are in Europe, scaleway.net has a 200Mbit flatrate - for 3$ if you take the cheapest offering.
      - z3t4 10y ago
        Where I live you can get dedicated GBit transit for ca $310 /month. If my calculations are right, that would be ca $1 per TB of monthly data transfer. You can probably get it cheaper, but these prices do not leave much margin for the hosting provider, and are basically "self hosting" prices. You should look for unmanaged VPS's and don't expect much support.
onion2k 10y ago
If the content you write has inherent value, why not host it yourself? Because of the risk. A 100MB video file that "goes viral" and gets 5,000,000 downloads in a month would cost approximately $30,000 hosted on S3 (calculated using https://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html https://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html). I can't afford that. Obviously I could take the content offline if it suddenly blew up, but instead if I put it on Youtube it would cost me nothing (less in fact; they would pay me.)
- loup-vaillant 10y ago
  Get rid of HTTP, then. The web doesn't scale, and that makes it the great centralizer. If publishing ran on peer-to-peer protocols from the beginning popularity would never be an issue. There is this slight problem about asymmetric bandwidth and ISP-wide NAT, though…
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    Would be great. I've been toying around with IPFS lately, but I still haven't figured out how me getting the repo leads to me joining a global network of peers, with data travelling seamlessly between us. I want the latter, just don't know if it's even supported now.
    - atrus 10y ago
      Unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean, the easiest way would be to just add the browser plugins. Then you can use ipfs just like the 'normal' web.
      - TeMPOraL 10y ago
        What I mean is this: IPFS is meant to enable a p2p data network (web and beyond). How do I become a part of such network after I download IPFS from the project page? I haven't figured this out yet.
        10y ago
majewsky 10y ago
I don't think there's an inherent problem with other people making money out of your content, as long as the playing field is fair. But I still self-host for control over how much bullshit (ads, trackers, etc.) Is tacked onto my content.
mycloud 10y ago
I think ownership here is not always bound to making money off it or a third party making money off my content. There are various reasons like control over content as well as privacy aspects, which all play into ownership. So the Author only really does not like someone else making money off of his work it seems. I have my own reasons (lesser around monetization) and thus I'm hosting some of the webservice I depend on on my own for some time now. Since I am not very much into sysadmin things, I found https://cloudron.io https://cloudron.io recently which has served me quite well thus far. Looking forwards to eventually get my email on that as well :-)
drdaffey 10y ago
This post makes no sense to me. Ghost offers paid hosting, Wordpress, for example, can be self-hosted, but self-hosting is almost never SELF-hosting, as in having your own actual servers at home. It's almost always a case of you using a hosting company...this post just makes no sense to me.
- tomhoward 10y ago
  The writer means you should publish your content under your own brand/identity. That is, your own domain name, website design/branding, etc. The point is that if you create popular content but host it on Medium (or Facebook, or LinkedIn, or Google Plus, or any other branded content platform), you are giving that platform's brand free promotion, when you could be using that exposure to better promote yourself. The trade-offs are the cost of professional hosting, ensuring that the platform you choose has enough capacity to handle any traffic spikes, and designing/maintaining a site design that is as readable/usable as the established platforms.
- qznc 10y ago
  Ghost is just like Wordpress in terms of self-hosting: http://support.ghost.org/getting-started/ http://support.ghost.org/getting-started/
- banachtarski 10y ago
  yea you didn't get it. the author is talking about self-publishing, not self-hosting.
- CM30 10y ago
  The difference is that if you host with an actual hosting company, you can move your content if/when you grow dissatisfied with it and lose no traffic or rankings. If you're on something like Facebook, YouTube or Medium and don't have a custom domain... well you're just screwed if things don't work out.
austenallred 10y ago
I used to host my own content, now I point my domain at Medium. I get more than 3x as much traffic there, and I really enjoy the editing experience so I publish more. Their design is certainly more beautiful than anything I would ever create in the couple hours of spare time I have. I don't have total control, but it's a trade off I knowingly make. I can still own my own site and redirect the URLs if I so choose.
- detaro 10y ago
  > I can still own my own site and redirect the URLs if I so choose. IMHO that is the most important bit. As long as you have a backup of all the important content (relatively easy with a blog that's mostly text) and own the domain, you can always pack up and leave if the platform you are using goes away or doesn't fit your needs anymore. (Related: I wish more services allowing you to bring your own domain would also allow to setup flexible redirects for old URLs, but I can understand that would be a relatively complex feature)
- z3t4 10y ago
  you get 3x more traffic. but do you also earn 3x as much !? or how do you know that extra traffic is not fake ?
  - austenallred 10y ago
    I'm not doing it to generate direct revenue, but I do see more sales coming through the products I have linked, though it's small sample size
trengrj 10y ago
I find it slightly amusing that there is far more content in the comments here on HN than the post itself.
- corobo 10y ago
  I'm amused that it's an article about hosting content yourself and it went offline when the HN audience tried to view. > Hosting your own content means you have control over it and the reader’s attention goes offline
pharrlax 10y ago
>If the content you write has inherent value, why not host it yourself? Well for one thing, "inherent value" is never what attracts readers/buyers/whoever, marketing is. So putting your content on a platform that makes people more likely to see it is much more in alignment with certain goals. And if you're considering putting articles on Medium, I'm guessing ad revenue is not one of your goals.
elnygren 10y ago
In other words: suffer from NIH and DIY because you are so butthurt that someone makes money with you in a symbiotic relationship. yeah, this is how I see it: Most of the time when you write something, it's because you are either promoting something (directly or indirectly), building a brand (your or your company's) or because it makes you feel good to "spread the word" on something. Whatever the reason, you gain some value out of this. Platforms provide you with tools and audience so that you can create that value. In return, they want something too. Is this really so bad? I'm a quite a capable web developer, but I'm not going to host or build my own blog. That time is better spent on actually figuring out what to write (and writing it).
- VT_Drew 10y ago
  >building a brand (your or your company's) This is exactly correct. It is "Hey potential employer, check out my Medium articles." Sure you could host it yourself, you will probably pay a monthly fee for this. Also people you are marketing to would most likely go "Oh hey, this guy is Medium, I have been on that site before." Opposed to "Oh this guy is on some blog platform I have never heard of."
- Udo 10y ago
  > suffer from NIH and DIY because you are so butthurt that someone makes money with you in a symbiotic relationship It's regrettable that this inflammatory and one-sided language is one of the top-voted comments on this thread right now. Not that the article is doing a whole lot better in this regard, but there really is some need for nuance here. NIH and DIY are not necessarily bad words. Personally, I believe the federated concept of the web could benefit from some major de-siloization, as could certain content creators and users. In an era where the vast majority of all user-produced content is owned by Facebook and Google, plus some minor players like Medium, at least consider going with a more independent alternative. However, it's also clear this is not a viable option for most people. But at least people should be aware of the trade-offs they're basing their decisions on. Yes, if you give ownership of your content to a silo, this will make it much easier to attract and keep an audience. At the same time, content creators need to know they're completely at the mercy of changing policies and shifting product focus. Youtubers had to learn this the hard way in recent weeks. It's not a popular opinion to have on HN, but I want to encourage everyone who wants to put the time and effort in to host their own content. Know what you're getting yourself into and make an informed decision.
LambdaComplex 10y ago
I do, but it's mostly just "because I can." I signed up for the GitHub education pack, which provides (among other things) $50 USD in DigitalOcean credit. I spun up one of the $5/month droplets, primarily to use as an IRC bouncer. But, since I now had my own Linux server with a static IP address, I said "Why the heck not?" and bought a domain name for $10. So now I have an IRC bouncer and a personal blog. (And a Quake 3 server...because I can)
VT_Drew 10y ago
In other words: Instead of hosting your content for free, pay Ghost to host it!
- OJFord 10y ago
  Or, instead of being a product, buy a product.
cocktailpeanuts 10y ago
"They monetize your content and you get nothing" is such a cliche and mislead rhetoric that it's kind of annoying. Especially because it always comes with some condescending tone telling people what to do implying they know better than the "dumb public". When people write on sites like Medium or Facebook or Twitter, they know exactly what they're getting into, thank you very much. They're not some idiots who get "tricked" into being taken advantage of. They still do it because they DO get something in return. And guess what? Your content is probably worth shit anyway. Just take a look at some of the popular posts on medium. They're just bullshit content and these people would have had no chance at getting that much attention in their life if it wasn't for Medium. I'm not saying Medium is full of bullshit content (although most of them are), even the better quality content is not worth that much. They probably spent a couple of hours writing that, based on what they heard somewhere else. These effortless content should be taken at face value. They're just expressions. Sites like Medium provide a plaza where you can express yourself and get attention, but not all expressions are worth money. In fact most expressions are not worth it. Do you really want to make money with content? Stop whining about how you can't make money with blogging, just think of blogging as a way to gain attention, and do something that's much more high value with the attention you aggregated, such as writing a book, building some tangible thing, or anything that deserves to be not forgotten. Otherwise your content deserves to be forgotten.
- spdegabrielle 10y ago
  > they know exactly what they're getting into People rarely have any clue what they are getting into. Myself included. Congratulations on having it all worked out.
  - cocktailpeanuts 10y ago
    If you keep a blog on Medium and you really had no clue that Medium makes money from user generated content, then it's your fault. Welcome to 2017.
toomim 10y ago
Ironically, the author's self-hosted website went down while trying to get out his self-hosting message. He should have just posted on medium.
franciscop 10y ago
Because it's not a zero sum game. The value of your content in a blog no one will see is lower than the value of your content in a distributing platform like Medium. I'll even say it can even be negative taking into account setup/maintenance time.
- z3t4 10y ago
  you could do some advertising to get more readers.
racl101 10y ago
Doesn't work for YouTubers.
6stringmerc 10y ago
Medium might be "selling" my work in a grand scheme, among the thousands of articles that get recognized in any given week, but the site is an even trade to me. I know what it costs in time and effort to host Creative Content and to me it's one of many trade-offs in independence. Medium doesn't "own" my work by Publishing it, and I can simply focus on composing things worth writing and know that the platform will just work. Also worth noting Medium is putting out feelers to start paying Writers directly for Content. Based on certain terms. It appears to be part of an attempt at a pay-subscription service model / experiment. So, even in some respects, investing early on in my Medium profile (1.5 years or so) and using it frequently, conveniently, has allowed me to grow into some occasionally big view/read numbers. I know this because Medium has a good stat tracking system, which, as a self-directed Writer, can give perspective on Topics That Interest Me That Also Interest Other People. That's not monetary value, but it's Content-related value I receive at this point. The more important point would be "Own Your Own Content" which is a different discussion. Middle-men and service providers can have a role. There are reasons for me to pick DistroKid versus pursue a Major Label deal that would probably include 360 provisions for a decade. And along the way they'd own all my content. Sites are cyclical from my perspective. Platforms come and go. Most simply crumble under the weight of their own success because their great idea of Free sometimes can't turn the corner to Profitability. Sometimes, heh.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

138 points by nbrempel 10y ago

Four upvotes and the page is already Slashdotted... I guess this is why people don't host their own content! (I think that's the point of the article, not having read it)

tomfluff 10y ago
He just seems to be talking about not letting other people make money off your content. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TSfwlWulR2QJ:https://rempel.world/posts/host-your-own.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TSfwlW...
- purrcat259 10y ago
  Maybe there's space for a "shadow-HN" which just mirrors current HN links but through google's caches...
- nippples 10y ago
  He's definitely also talking about having control over your own content, which seems to be a big issue with huge sites, such as Facebook or YouTube. > Hosting your own content means you have control over it and the reader’s attention. By writing, you are creating value so harness it instead of giving it away for free. Not to mention that by hosting yourself, you're not subject to "changing at our discretion" terms of service.
omgtehlion 10y ago
Wanted to recommend putting cloudflare (or another cdn) in front of the site. In the meantime page finally loaded with Cloudflare's Always Online™ Error 522 Ray ID: 34dc60943d004f26 • 2017-04-11 07:54:20 UTC Connection timed out
merb 10y ago
well hn is a pretty good scale indicator. best thing to make a performance test is getting the hn crowd on your site ;) "pre production test"
- purrcat259 10y ago
  I was about to comment the same... "Host your own content!" keels over with HN weight
  - 6stringmerc 10y ago
    Meanwhile I've seen the HN pop over on my Medium writings and it can be minor or major. Stats are interesting like that, because I do a minimum of targeting submissions / referrals and have a general idea of what places have driven traffic. Getting 1-2K views in 24 hours is easily possible, which might not sound like much, but I'd say it's pretty decent for Amateur Hour Writings of mine.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
srikz 10y ago
The author is basically saying 'Own your content' Goes on to say 'And when I say host it yourself, I don’t mean you need to run the server yourself or be a programmer. I mean, host it somewhere where you control the domain, the content, and the experience.'
nbrempel 10y ago
Haha, how comedic... At least I can point the finger somewhere else https://status.digitalocean.com https://status.digitalocean.com

owenwil 10y ago

The 'host your own content' argument is a good one, but also a tired one. It depends what you're trying to achieve! Medium is a great way to grow your audience, particularly if you're looking for reach but aren't looking to make direct money off your writing, for example. If you're going to argue that others are making money off your writing while you could, I'd argue that it's hard to make any money just from blogging now, and few do it correctly. If making money is why you blog, that's pretty difficult these days. My advice to most these days is still to host your own blog, but if anything to avoid the commoditisation of your words. Medium is great, but it treats your writing like everything else, and can't really leave a lasting impression of you or your brand/personal brand. I think there's value in posting there, but posting on your own platform first, then re-sharing to Medium later. Content is a weird world right now, and blogging has become something of a pain in the ass for most people to self-host, and generally the experience ends up being sub-optimal (kind of like reading this post that's linked) because the person setting it up doesn't know design/typography/whatever. I think better advice is simply this: who cares where you write, as long as you do it and don't let the platform stop you.

jrimbault 10y ago
> The 'host your own content' meme is a good one Replace "meme" with "argument" or "advice". As you justly put it in your last sentence.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  I think GP intended it to mean something more along the lines of "cliché".

im_dario 10y ago

Host your own content or at least pay the hosting. There is nothing wrong about being hosted by a third party if its business model isn't exploiting your data.

joaodlf 10y ago

This can be applied not just to writing... Making videos? Host them, why let Youtube monetise you? Steaming your video game playing? Host the streams, why let Twitch monetise you? People use these services for 2 reasons: * Ease of use (and typically free, unlike Ghost - which the author linked) * Audience reach I don't use Medium for my own writing, I guess my goals towards my writing aren't to reach as many as possible, but for many that is one (if not the most, even if subconsciously) important reason to write/create videos/stream/open source software...

merkaloid 10y ago
Hosting a blog and put a couple of ads on it is one thing, it's practically free if you just put your static content on S3. Hosting videos or streams is a whole other world, you need actual infrastructure and a lot of bandwidth.
- z3t4 10y ago
  you can get 1 TB for 1 usd/month if you look outside aws
  - ChefDenominator 10y ago
    Link? I have to admit it has been some time since I compared services, but that sounds like the first TB, a highly unreliable CDN, some stupid low number of simultaneous connections, or some other such lame artificial resource limitation.
    - nisa 10y ago
      If you are in Europe, scaleway.net has a 200Mbit flatrate - for 3$ if you take the cheapest offering.
    - z3t4 10y ago
      Where I live you can get dedicated GBit transit for ca $310 /month. If my calculations are right, that would be ca $1 per TB of monthly data transfer. You can probably get it cheaper, but these prices do not leave much margin for the hosting provider, and are basically "self hosting" prices. You should look for unmanaged VPS's and don't expect much support.

onion2k 10y ago

If the content you write has inherent value, why not host it yourself? Because of the risk. A 100MB video file that "goes viral" and gets 5,000,000 downloads in a month would cost approximately $30,000 hosted on S3 (calculated using https://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html https://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html). I can't afford that. Obviously I could take the content offline if it suddenly blew up, but instead if I put it on Youtube it would cost me nothing (less in fact; they would pay me.)

loup-vaillant 10y ago
Get rid of HTTP, then. The web doesn't scale, and that makes it the great centralizer. If publishing ran on peer-to-peer protocols from the beginning popularity would never be an issue. There is this slight problem about asymmetric bandwidth and ISP-wide NAT, though…
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  Would be great. I've been toying around with IPFS lately, but I still haven't figured out how me getting the repo leads to me joining a global network of peers, with data travelling seamlessly between us. I want the latter, just don't know if it's even supported now.
  - atrus 10y ago
    Unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean, the easiest way would be to just add the browser plugins. Then you can use ipfs just like the 'normal' web.
    - TeMPOraL 10y ago
      What I mean is this: IPFS is meant to enable a p2p data network (web and beyond). How do I become a part of such network after I download IPFS from the project page? I haven't figured this out yet.
      - 10y ago

majewsky 10y ago

I don't think there's an inherent problem with other people making money out of your content, as long as the playing field is fair. But I still self-host for control over how much bullshit (ads, trackers, etc.) Is tacked onto my content.

mycloud 10y ago

I think ownership here is not always bound to making money off it or a third party making money off my content. There are various reasons like control over content as well as privacy aspects, which all play into ownership. So the Author only really does not like someone else making money off of his work it seems. I have my own reasons (lesser around monetization) and thus I'm hosting some of the webservice I depend on on my own for some time now. Since I am not very much into sysadmin things, I found https://cloudron.io https://cloudron.io recently which has served me quite well thus far. Looking forwards to eventually get my email on that as well :-)

drdaffey 10y ago

This post makes no sense to me. Ghost offers paid hosting, Wordpress, for example, can be self-hosted, but self-hosting is almost never SELF-hosting, as in having your own actual servers at home. It's almost always a case of you using a hosting company...this post just makes no sense to me.

tomhoward 10y ago
The writer means you should publish your content under your own brand/identity. That is, your own domain name, website design/branding, etc. The point is that if you create popular content but host it on Medium (or Facebook, or LinkedIn, or Google Plus, or any other branded content platform), you are giving that platform's brand free promotion, when you could be using that exposure to better promote yourself. The trade-offs are the cost of professional hosting, ensuring that the platform you choose has enough capacity to handle any traffic spikes, and designing/maintaining a site design that is as readable/usable as the established platforms.
qznc 10y ago
Ghost is just like Wordpress in terms of self-hosting: http://support.ghost.org/getting-started/ http://support.ghost.org/getting-started/
banachtarski 10y ago
yea you didn't get it. the author is talking about self-publishing, not self-hosting.
CM30 10y ago
The difference is that if you host with an actual hosting company, you can move your content if/when you grow dissatisfied with it and lose no traffic or rankings. If you're on something like Facebook, YouTube or Medium and don't have a custom domain... well you're just screwed if things don't work out.

austenallred 10y ago

I used to host my own content, now I point my domain at Medium. I get more than 3x as much traffic there, and I really enjoy the editing experience so I publish more. Their design is certainly more beautiful than anything I would ever create in the couple hours of spare time I have. I don't have total control, but it's a trade off I knowingly make. I can still own my own site and redirect the URLs if I so choose.

detaro 10y ago
> I can still own my own site and redirect the URLs if I so choose. IMHO that is the most important bit. As long as you have a backup of all the important content (relatively easy with a blog that's mostly text) and own the domain, you can always pack up and leave if the platform you are using goes away or doesn't fit your needs anymore. (Related: I wish more services allowing you to bring your own domain would also allow to setup flexible redirects for old URLs, but I can understand that would be a relatively complex feature)
z3t4 10y ago
you get 3x more traffic. but do you also earn 3x as much !? or how do you know that extra traffic is not fake ?
- austenallred 10y ago
  I'm not doing it to generate direct revenue, but I do see more sales coming through the products I have linked, though it's small sample size

trengrj 10y ago

I find it slightly amusing that there is far more content in the comments here on HN than the post itself.

corobo 10y ago
I'm amused that it's an article about hosting content yourself and it went offline when the HN audience tried to view. > Hosting your own content means you have control over it and the reader’s attention goes offline

pharrlax 10y ago

>If the content you write has inherent value, why not host it yourself? Well for one thing, "inherent value" is never what attracts readers/buyers/whoever, marketing is. So putting your content on a platform that makes people more likely to see it is much more in alignment with certain goals. And if you're considering putting articles on Medium, I'm guessing ad revenue is not one of your goals.

elnygren 10y ago

In other words: suffer from NIH and DIY because you are so butthurt that someone makes money with you in a symbiotic relationship. yeah, this is how I see it: Most of the time when you write something, it's because you are either promoting something (directly or indirectly), building a brand (your or your company's) or because it makes you feel good to "spread the word" on something. Whatever the reason, you gain some value out of this. Platforms provide you with tools and audience so that you can create that value. In return, they want something too. Is this really so bad? I'm a quite a capable web developer, but I'm not going to host or build my own blog. That time is better spent on actually figuring out what to write (and writing it).

VT_Drew 10y ago
>building a brand (your or your company's) This is exactly correct. It is "Hey potential employer, check out my Medium articles." Sure you could host it yourself, you will probably pay a monthly fee for this. Also people you are marketing to would most likely go "Oh hey, this guy is Medium, I have been on that site before." Opposed to "Oh this guy is on some blog platform I have never heard of."
Udo 10y ago
> suffer from NIH and DIY because you are so butthurt that someone makes money with you in a symbiotic relationship It's regrettable that this inflammatory and one-sided language is one of the top-voted comments on this thread right now. Not that the article is doing a whole lot better in this regard, but there really is some need for nuance here. NIH and DIY are not necessarily bad words. Personally, I believe the federated concept of the web could benefit from some major de-siloization, as could certain content creators and users. In an era where the vast majority of all user-produced content is owned by Facebook and Google, plus some minor players like Medium, at least consider going with a more independent alternative. However, it's also clear this is not a viable option for most people. But at least people should be aware of the trade-offs they're basing their decisions on. Yes, if you give ownership of your content to a silo, this will make it much easier to attract and keep an audience. At the same time, content creators need to know they're completely at the mercy of changing policies and shifting product focus. Youtubers had to learn this the hard way in recent weeks. It's not a popular opinion to have on HN, but I want to encourage everyone who wants to put the time and effort in to host their own content. Know what you're getting yourself into and make an informed decision.

LambdaComplex 10y ago

I do, but it's mostly just "because I can." I signed up for the GitHub education pack, which provides (among other things) $50 USD in DigitalOcean credit. I spun up one of the $5/month droplets, primarily to use as an IRC bouncer. But, since I now had my own Linux server with a static IP address, I said "Why the heck not?" and bought a domain name for $10. So now I have an IRC bouncer and a personal blog. (And a Quake 3 server...because I can)

VT_Drew 10y ago

In other words: Instead of hosting your content for free, pay Ghost to host it!

OJFord 10y ago
Or, instead of being a product, buy a product.

cocktailpeanuts 10y ago

"They monetize your content and you get nothing" is such a cliche and mislead rhetoric that it's kind of annoying. Especially because it always comes with some condescending tone telling people what to do implying they know better than the "dumb public". When people write on sites like Medium or Facebook or Twitter, they know exactly what they're getting into, thank you very much. They're not some idiots who get "tricked" into being taken advantage of. They still do it because they DO get something in return. And guess what? Your content is probably worth shit anyway. Just take a look at some of the popular posts on medium. They're just bullshit content and these people would have had no chance at getting that much attention in their life if it wasn't for Medium. I'm not saying Medium is full of bullshit content (although most of them are), even the better quality content is not worth that much. They probably spent a couple of hours writing that, based on what they heard somewhere else. These effortless content should be taken at face value. They're just expressions. Sites like Medium provide a plaza where you can express yourself and get attention, but not all expressions are worth money. In fact most expressions are not worth it. Do you really want to make money with content? Stop whining about how you can't make money with blogging, just think of blogging as a way to gain attention, and do something that's much more high value with the attention you aggregated, such as writing a book, building some tangible thing, or anything that deserves to be not forgotten. Otherwise your content deserves to be forgotten.

spdegabrielle 10y ago
> they know exactly what they're getting into People rarely have any clue what they are getting into. Myself included. Congratulations on having it all worked out.
- cocktailpeanuts 10y ago
  If you keep a blog on Medium and you really had no clue that Medium makes money from user generated content, then it's your fault. Welcome to 2017.

toomim 10y ago

Ironically, the author's self-hosted website went down while trying to get out his self-hosting message. He should have just posted on medium.

franciscop 10y ago

Because it's not a zero sum game. The value of your content in a blog no one will see is lower than the value of your content in a distributing platform like Medium. I'll even say it can even be negative taking into account setup/maintenance time.

z3t4 10y ago
you could do some advertising to get more readers.

racl101 10y ago

Doesn't work for YouTubers.

6stringmerc 10y ago

Medium might be "selling" my work in a grand scheme, among the thousands of articles that get recognized in any given week, but the site is an even trade to me. I know what it costs in time and effort to host Creative Content and to me it's one of many trade-offs in independence. Medium doesn't "own" my work by Publishing it, and I can simply focus on composing things worth writing and know that the platform will just work. Also worth noting Medium is putting out feelers to start paying Writers directly for Content. Based on certain terms. It appears to be part of an attempt at a pay-subscription service model / experiment. So, even in some respects, investing early on in my Medium profile (1.5 years or so) and using it frequently, conveniently, has allowed me to grow into some occasionally big view/read numbers. I know this because Medium has a good stat tracking system, which, as a self-directed Writer, can give perspective on Topics That Interest Me That Also Interest Other People. That's not monetary value, but it's Content-related value I receive at this point. The more important point would be "Own Your Own Content" which is a different discussion. Middle-men and service providers can have a role. There are reasons for me to pick DistroKid versus pursue a Major Label deal that would probably include 360 provisions for a decade. And along the way they'd own all my content. Sites are cyclical from my perspective. Platforms come and go. Most simply crumble under the weight of their own success because their great idea of Free sometimes can't turn the corner to Profitability. Sometimes, heh.

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