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Ask HN: Should I blog on Medium for my open-source project, or self-host?

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Re: Ask HN: Should I blog on Medium for my open-source project, or self-host?

#43
post #12

I believe that self hosting is more inline with open source software principles. Even if it weren't, self hosting gives you control over your content—remember, nothing is really "free." Self hosting takes a bit more time and effort but if you use a static site generator like Hugo or Pelican then the process is more simple.

Another advantage is that you can allow interested readers a full RSS feed. Medium's is just the title and a link, which puts me off subscribing to blogs there.

I think I usually get full articles, but also _all_ comment replies by that author. That gets old quickly as well.

Re: Ask HN: Should I blog on Medium for my open-source project, or self-host?

#44

I recommend a static generator such as Jekyll [1]. If you want a boilerplate to get up and running quickly, i've put the source of my blog [2] on Github: https://github.com/metachris/jekyll-boilerplate [1] https://jekyllrb.com [2] https://www.metachris.com

Does it automatically create an rss feed link also?

Re: Ask HN: Should I blog on Medium for my open-source project, or self-host?

#45

Hugo static site generator (free) + Gitlab CI (free) + custom domain (not too expensive) works great! Just commit posts in Markdown and your site gets updated. Example: http://scripter.co

bump on the github recommendation - Wordpress etc likely too much work for what you need. Also Medium's announcement on staffing doesn't inspire confidence in the mid-term and difficult to export posts from there.

Re: Ask HN: Should I blog on Medium for my open-source project, or self-host?

#47
post #44

I recommend a static generator such as Jekyll [1]. If you want a boilerplate to get up and running quickly, i've put the source of my blog [2] on Github: https://github.com/metachris/jekyll-boilerplate [1] https://jekyllrb.com [2] https://www.metachris.com

Does it automatically create an rss feed link also?

yes, see here: https://github.com/metachris/jekyll-boilerplate/blob/master/...

Re: Ask HN: Should I blog on Medium for my open-source project, or self-host?

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the only important point. The question is 1% technology and 99% audience.

I agree with this, BUT. I think when we say "audience", it can mean different things. For example, Medium has potential to bring a huge "instant" audience, but there's a difference between instant audience and long term audience. I just went and took a look at all the large open source projects, and they all have their own blog on their own domain. AND, what comes next is important. They have: 1. RSS feed button 2. L…

Going back to the original point, we're actually talking about slightly different things: you're talking about audience retention (making sure that someone comes back), not discoverability (making sure they find you in the first place).

Neither an RSS feed nor a subscribe link enable people to find you in the first place. They do, however, make it more likely that they'll come back after finding you.

You should absolutely also build retention techniques into your Medium posts. And your custom blog. And anywhere else where you care about people reading your content, and keeping on reading it.

Re: Ask HN: Should I blog on Medium for my open-source project, or self-host?

#50

Talking about self-hosting blog, I am surprise nobody mentioned Bludit. I left Wordpress for Bludit a while ago and I am really happy. I even wrote an article about it : http://softwarebythomas.com/blog/post/Why-I-left-wordpress-f... !

That link seems to lead to a 404.
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