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"Prerequisites The officially recommended production installation requires the following stack: Ubuntu 20.04 or Ubuntu 22.04 NGINX (minimum of 1.9.5 for SSL)

"Prerequisites The officially recommended production installation requires the following stack: Ubuntu 20.04 or Ubuntu 22.04 NGINX (minimum of 1.9.5 for SSL) A supported version of Node.js MySQL 8 Systemd A server with at least 1GB memory A registered domain name" Do you think a normal person has any idea what the above is or how to set it up? I like Ghost, but this is like a mechanic saying "bore out the cylinder". Non-developers will have a very hard time setting up a self-hosted Ghost blog. That's why the proprietary Ghost platform exists, which is an excellent choice. Thousands of people run blogs on WordPress, but billions of people express themselves through social media. Because self-hosting is a nightmare unless it's your job to work with sys admin stuff. I will suggest a solution that would let normal people easily host and own their own blog without being sys admins or developers: A "Blog" app that you could get in the App Store on your iPad. Set-up includes deciding a domain name and paying for it with Apple Pay. Then start writing posts and pressing publish, everything taken care of out of sight, with built in hosting that you pay for monthly. If the user so pleases, they could activate features such as paid memberships or publishing to search engines, taken care of in the background by the "Blog" service. It could also include community features like social media, which could be moderated like social media – with the difference that they can't take down your blog. Normal people would be able to use this and focus on being creative and not on lint error or PHP version.

satvikpendem 2y ago
Your arguments are contradictory. Ghost is not proprietary, it is open source, so unless you're using a different definition of the word proprietary, you will have to clarify how Ghost is proprietary. If you mean "hosted," then again your arguments are contradictory. You are asking how the average non-technical user should be able to blog without anything "proprietary" (hosted), without also setting anything up. The contradiction is that you can't want something to be self-hosted and also not expend any effort whatsoever towards it, self-hosted always required some knowledge of time and effort, and thus you correctly say that people should use something hosted. Your example itself is literally what Ghost does, (and you even say yourself that it's hosted) I don't see how it is any different or less "proprietary" than hosted Ghost. Therefore, by the logic laid out by your own stipulations, your initial question actually would not have any logically valid answers. There is simply no platform that is not proprietary (hosted by your definition it seems) that also does not require any knowledge or setup.
- carlosjobim 2y ago
  Go and look at the Ghost website. They offer a proprietary solution where they host your blog, and they offer a self hosted solution. If this uses your own domain, then you are right and it is the exact solution I was suggesting. I will insist that it is possible to make a solution where it's easy for people to host and publish without having to make a big effort and still retaining ownership. Why does no web host offer this as an app for example? Download an app to my iPad, pay for the subscription and domain, start writing. No setting up DNS or SSL, etc. In the old days, hosting would be included with your ISP, and even if it wasn't super user friendly, it was much easier than it is today: Here's your folder, here's your username and password, use an FTP app to upload files to the folder.

satvikpendem 2y ago

Your arguments are contradictory. Ghost is not proprietary, it is open source, so unless you're using a different definition of the word proprietary, you will have to clarify how Ghost is proprietary. If you mean "hosted," then again your arguments are contradictory. You are asking how the average non-technical user should be able to blog without anything "proprietary" (hosted), without also setting anything up. The contradiction is that you can't want something to be self-hosted and also not expend any effort whatsoever towards it, self-hosted always required some knowledge of time and effort, and thus you correctly say that people should use something hosted. Your example itself is literally what Ghost does, (and you even say yourself that it's hosted) I don't see how it is any different or less "proprietary" than hosted Ghost. Therefore, by the logic laid out by your own stipulations, your initial question actually would not have any logically valid answers. There is simply no platform that is not proprietary (hosted by your definition it seems) that also does not require any knowledge or setup.

carlosjobim 2y ago
Go and look at the Ghost website. They offer a proprietary solution where they host your blog, and they offer a self hosted solution. If this uses your own domain, then you are right and it is the exact solution I was suggesting. I will insist that it is possible to make a solution where it's easy for people to host and publish without having to make a big effort and still retaining ownership. Why does no web host offer this as an app for example? Download an app to my iPad, pay for the subscription and domain, start writing. No setting up DNS or SSL, etc. In the old days, hosting would be included with your ISP, and even if it wasn't super user friendly, it was much easier than it is today: Here's your folder, here's your username and password, use an FTP app to upload files to the folder.