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Run Your Own Website

zacs.site

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Re: Run Your Own Website

#3
Especially given the number of things platforms like YouTube, Reddit and Medium are cracking down on/demonetising. For instance, your own host likely won't boot you off or interfere if you post cybersecurity related videos/articles, like YouTube started to do a few days ago.

Having your own site provides a backup in case the platforms you use to promote your work turn on/your industry.

And don't worry about the extra traffic a platform may bring. That's why you publish on your own site first, then syndicate your content to other services later.

https://indieweb.org/POSSE

Re: Run Your Own Website

#4
> [...] Medium, for example, because the company owns all the content you publish there.

Is this true? I am absolutely shocked if so.

I would assume Medium might get a license to display your content, but do you actually transfer your ownership to them by posting? If so, that's dastardly wicked.

Re: Run Your Own Website

#5
post #4

> [...] Medium, for example, because the company owns all the content you publish there. Is this true? I am absolutely shocked if so. I would assume Medium might get a license to display your content, but do you actually transfer your ownership to them by posting? If so, that's dastardly wicked.

My guess is the author meant “owns” in the informal sense of “can broadly do whatever they want with it,” not in the formal sense of “possesses an exclusive license to it.” You retain the license to content you post to Medium, while granting them specific non-exclusive usage rights.

That said, if Medium represents the only copy of your work, it should be considered at-risk. They are not obligated to retain or make it available in perpetuity. I agree with the author that this is not a desirable situation, and that you should have full control over the source of truth for your intellectual property.

Re: Run Your Own Website

#7
The title made me hope for a quite literal way to run your website: using some kind of energy harvesting (bicycle?) used to power a small computer with a web server.

This is an issue that is quite simple to solve. Many podcasters (espescially Joe Rogan) like to talk about being afraid of getting removed from a platform without having your own hosting set up.

Most of the controversial big names of youtube and other platforms can and should stay as independent as possible. Twitter and others’ aim is to lure as many people as possible to their platforms. Once you are big enough you should probably seek out an independent way to distribute content.

Re: Run Your Own Website

#8
post #4

> [...] Medium, for example, because the company owns all the content you publish there. Is this true? I am absolutely shocked if so. I would assume Medium might get a license to display your content, but do you actually transfer your ownership to them by posting? If so, that's dastardly wicked.

https://medium.com/policy/medium-terms-of-service-9db0094a1e... says:

> You own the rights to the content you create and post on Medium.

> By posting content to Medium, you give us a nonexclusive license to publish it on Medium Services, including anything reasonably related to publishing it (like storing, displaying, reformatting, and distributing it). In consideration for Medium granting you access to and use of the Services, you agree that Medium may enable advertising on the Services, including in connection with the display of your content or other information. We may also use your content to promote Medium, including its products and content. We will never sell your content to third parties without your explicit permission.

In practice this lets them do literally anything they want with your content. I’m not sure what lawyers would make of the bit about not selling your content to third parties, but I cynically imagine that all it takes is for them to classify such an arrangement as one of their Services and they’re off the hook. Do note that they did not include the word “non-transferrable”, only “non-exclusive”.

Re: Run Your Own Website

#9

The title made me hope for a quite literal way to run your website: using some kind of energy harvesting (bicycle?) used to power a small computer with a web server. This is an issue that is quite simple to solve. Many podcasters (espescially Joe Rogan) like to talk about being afraid of getting removed from a platform without having your own hosting set up. Most of the controversial big names of youtube and other pl…

Here's an example of a site that is doing something like this - https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/about.html

Re: Run Your Own Website

#10
I do run my own site. Moreover, I do all the coding, styling, and layout manually and without any 3rd-party libraries or frameworks. Or even in-house libraries for that matter.

This works for me in terms of freedom. I can do interactive plots, quizzes, games and all kind of programmable things I can imagine. No restrictions.

In fact, I left Medium because I was restricted to text and images only. I want more. I want words and buttons: https://wordsandbuttons.online

But it's not really aligned with the reasons from the post. It's not a resume. It would have been an awful resume. I wouldn't hire myself by this resume.

And keeping record is, of course, nice. But it has nothing to do with running your own website. You can keep record on Medium, too. In fact, it would be more effective since it works wonders for the small notes.

Still, I totally agree that keeping your own site is a fascinating experience and it's well worth time and effort.

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