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Seven Reasons for having a Personal site
Two months ago, I stumbled across a wonderful article by Ana Rodrigues in which she detailed her thoughts and feelings about personal sites and the IndieWeb movement. After reading Ana's article, I realised that, although I have written three or four articles on the Cheapskate's Guide explaining various technical aspects of creating and hosting a site, I have not said much about why anyone should want his or her own site. I guess I just assumed it should be obvious. After more thought, I realised that many who somehow find this site may not intuitively see the value of creating their own. Since the second birthday of the Cheapskate's Guide is in a few days, this seems like an appropriate occasion for explaining why a personal site can be so worthwhile.
Maintaining my own personal site has been one of the most amazing, challenging, rewarding, growth-promoting, time-consuming, and adventurous experiences of my life. I say this after having earned two engineering degrees and worked as an engineer for decades at over a dozen jobs all across the United States. I wish everyone could feel the impact that a personal site can have on their lives. Unfortunately, I cannot make everyone understand. I can only try to explain to readers what I have learned about the benefits of running my own site.
I see at least seven reasons that everyone should seriously consider having his or her own site. A personal site can be:
Seven Benefits of having a Personal Web (or other) site
A tool for doing good in the world
The power to exercise your right of free speech
A means of controlling the presentation of your thoughts and ideas to the world
A way of presenting yourself in whatever light you choose
A permanent home on the Internet
A tool that supports just about any desired level of anonymity
A source of motivation for honing your writing skills (or speaking or video-making skills)
A Tool for doing Good in the World
For many of us, the only way we have of doing good in the world is donating money. Those of us who want to donate our time and talents to accomplish something positive often find our talents blocked and our time wasted by the people or the systems we get involved with. I have often had this experience. My guess is that the reason for this is that volunteer organisations do not value our time because they receive it for free. If they had to pay for it, they would value it more.
Another problem is that volunteer organisations often treat volunteers like employees. Volunteers are giving them a gift, but the leaders of these organisations insist on setting the terms of the gift. They dictate the schedule, the number of hours worked, and the tasks to be done. In the process, they often shoot down a volunteer's good ideas and reduce or entirely eliminate his natural enthusiasm. This seems to be more about the typical need of management to control, rather than to actually help people in the best ways possible.
When you run your own site, you can work to accomplish whatever you set your mind to, in whatever way you choose, and on whatever schedule you choose. You are not limited by the egos of other people. You can put all of your good ideas into action. You can directly measure the results of your effort in terms of pages viewed and the feedback that you get from your audience. You do not have to waste your time trying to prove to managers that you know what you are doing or that you can be trusted. With your own site, you just go for it, and you either succeed or fail.
The Power to Exercise Your Right of Free Speech
Daily for a couple of months back in the 1970's, I passed by a green car with white poster board covering just about every available square inch of its street-facing side. The car was parked in front of a neighbor's house about a block from mine. Once or twice, I paused to read, but the words in black marker on white poster board seemed to be rambling rather than illuminating. They spoke about some injustice my neighbor had supposedly suffered, though it was never directly named. The writings seemed like those of someone with a mental problem, rather than something of value to anyone passing by. After a couple of months, the poster board disappeared. I was told later that neighbors had complained until the police had forced the owner of the car to remove his message.
I mention this experience because it makes clear that, although US citisens technically had the right to free speech in the 1970's, very few had any real power to exercise that right. Anything anyone wanted to say to a large audience had to pass through a series of gatekeepers. As a result, often only the wealthy could successfully present their views to the public. My neighbor had so little real power that his only recourse was to put up a sign in front of his house. Thanks to a city ordinance, he was not even allowed to post it on his lawn. Though no law prohibited him from posting it on his car, he was not even permitted that. This story also points out the fact that in the United States in the 1970's, only those who could afford to hire lawyers to protect their free speech actually had any.
In the year 2020, the power of the average person to exercise his free speech has increased significantly, but that appears to be changing. Since the emergence of Web 2.0 in the 1990's, online social media sites have empowered even those without any technical knowledge whatsoever to publicly express their views. Unfortunately, over the last few years, politicians have managed to intimidate social media companies with threats of new laws, and in some instances with actual laws. Fearful companies have responded by muzzling their users, thereby, unwillingly becoming the new gatekeepers.(See here, here, here, here, and here.) (Update: See also this intimidating letter (pdf) sent to the CEO of AT&T and others by two members of Congress.) I doubt these laws are constitutional in the United States, but one never knows what a group of Supreme Court justices might decide. In the process of banning certain types of discussions, companies have become less respectful of users' free speech rights. Social media is now a minefield where users can conceivably be banned for any reason, or for no reason at all--as I discovered when Reddit briefly shadow banned me about a year and a half ago.
As I write these words, executives at Facebook, Twitter, and a few other social media giants are preparing to face renewed intimidation by the US Congress over the issue of campaign influencing. This time, lawmakers may also criticise companies for censoring users. This reminds me of a manager that I had a few years ago who micromanaged me to such an extent that I could not do my job. Then, he criticised me for not doing my job. Neither politicians nor social media companies appear to care much about the rights of individuals. For now, their concern seems mostly limited to controlling the spread of ideas that politicians want to discredit. In order to enable politicians to say whatever they want without fear of criticism or contradiction, the power of individuals to express their views on social media has been effectively limited to topics politicians care little about. Lately, even in the United States, we have seen social media sites being forced to censor articles about terrorism, Covid-19, election-related information, and racism. But, once a filtering algorithm is in place, all sorts of rules can creep into it over time. Who knows what important public policy or social issue may succumb next to political correctness or the government overstepping the bounds of its authority?
A personal site empowers individuals to bypass this madness by navigating around social media gatekeepers. Realistically, content posted on a personal site can occasionally be read by tens of thousands of people. For example, less than a month ago, I posted an article on one of my other personal sites that was viewed over 82,000 times in a 24-hour period. This was to the web site of "some rando", as I was described by one critic of my article, who was himself a rando. Admittedly, I did post links to my article on a few social media sites, so social media helped to draw in readers. But, my hope is that one day I will not need the help of social media. While having tens of thousands of readers downloading an article posted on one of my sites is not the norm, some personal sites run by ordinary people manage to consistently have hundreds of thousands of page views per month. These sites prove that the unfiltered views of ordinary people can still occasionally be heard. I cannot help but wonder whether a better result could have been obtained by the many people who rioted in the United States and around the world this Summer over the issue of police brutality, had they instead chosen to express their views via personal sites.
Anyone who can afford to pay a few dollars a year for a domain name and who has at least sporadic access to the Internet has the power to exercise his right to free speech. He may still need lawyers to protect that right, but they are rarely necessary if he refrains from posting anything that is slanderous or infringes on copyrights. If the authorities do get involved, an average individual also has options other than a site on the open Internet.
A Means of Controlling of the Presentation of Your Thoughts and Ideas to the World
Your personal site is a place where you can express whatever is on your mind without interference. On Facebook, Reddit, or any other social media platform that is owned by someone else, whether that is true and will continue to be true is always in question.
On my site, I can write about nearly any issue I want, and no one can stop me. Actually, I have no plans of discussing anything unrelated to computers or the Internet on this site. But, I could if I wanted. As long as I avoid one or two illegal topics, I can say and show pictures of whatever I want. No one can censor me, rebut me (unless I allow it), or use an algorithm to bury my words where no one will ever see them. On my site, I decide what is important, what to emphasise, and what to de-emphasise. Those are decisions that I have never had within my sole discretion on social media, at work, or even to an extent in social situations with my family and friends. But on my site, I can say whatever I like. No one has to read what I write, but I can express myself exactly as I please.
In addition to the topics I choose and the words I write, I have complete administrative and creative control of everything else that affects my site. I have 24/7 access to everything on my site for backup purposes. I can choose to run my site on a $35,000 beast of a server or a $35 mouse of a server. I can run commercial software on my server, but because I know how to write HTML and PHP code, I have chosen to use my own code. I can host corporate advertising on my site, but I have decided not to. I invite interaction with readers via a comment form at the bottom of every article, but I have the power to change that at any time. I chose how I wanted navigation to work on my site. I also designed the exact functional and visual format of my site (within my ability to write the necessary PHP and HTML code, of course). I picked the font type, the font sise, the line spacing, and the text color of every article. I chose the page layout and the background color of every page. Though some readers have complained about my pink background, and some have even called me names, the background is pink because I want it to be pink. If that changes, it will be because I decide to change it, not because some manager orders me to change it, or because someone whose name I do not know, who I have never met, and who I will likely never meet makes the decision for me.
You choose the level of interaction you want with visitors to your site. If you want your site to be a social place, you can add a forum page and invite anyone to visit. You can also block any individuals from accessing your forum. If you want your site to be your private mountain top from which you scream at the world from isolation, where only you can express your thoughts undiluted by the world's ideas and feelings, you can do that too. You can rant and rave to your heart's content forever and ever, and no one can stop you--as long as you break no laws. Even if your country has laws against what you are saying, you can simply rent a server anonymously in another country where those laws do not apply, reassign your domain name to that server's IP address (or even better, create a new domain name that has never before been linked to your true identity), and write whatever you want. This is one of the many benefits of not revealing your true identity on your site. You can be the Batman of the Internet.
On many government and corporate sites, visitors have no choice but to use the latest version of one particular web browser. These organisations don't tell users, but the reason is that someone in the organisation chose to design the site to work only with the latest version of that one browser. I have always thought that was an decision made by managers who just do not understand the Internet. So, I have chosen to make my site viewable by as many web browsers as possible, even the most ancient and esoteric ones. To my knowledge, my site currently works with nearly every HTTP web browser in existence and on nearly every device that is capable of surfing the Internet. If it does not work with your preferred browser or device, please let me know.
Those who are not tech savvy have many tools at their disposal for creating sites. Some of the most popular software is Wordpress, Squarespace, Hugo, Ghost, and Jekyll. Many other programs can also be employed to create beautiful and functional sites. Individuals who decide to use these tools will have a limited selection of site "templates" from which to choose. They may not be able to make their sites exactly as they would have liked, but they can probably come close. sites can be hosted on shared servers where others take care of all the maintenance and security issues. If sites do not receive too much traffic, owners may even get free web hosting. However, how much traffic is "too much" would then be up to a web hosting company to specify (without necessarily informing its users in advance). You give up some control of your site when you use commercial software and web hosting services. That is an important consideration and an incentive for becoming as knowledgeable as possible about everything that is required to create and run a site.
A Way of Presenting Yourself in Whatever Light You Choose
Your site can be a 100% expression of your interests, of your personality, of your mind, and of your desire to create whatever you want. Your site can present to the world the identity that you choose. It can be either a temporary or a permanent record of your thoughts. Your style and tone of writing prevail. No sociopathic incompetent manager can hide your light where no one can see it while he takes credit for it. No one can make a penny from your hard work unless you allow it. No one can use you as a tool to promote his agenda to your audience. No one can force you to tow the corporate line or back the government's agenda. No one can use you to subjugate or control others if you choose not to be used.
I do not have the words to adequately express the feelings I had as I wrote the above paragraph. I think the only way another person can truly understand is by creating his own site and writing his own words about what he has created and the feelings of freedom his creation has brought.
A Permanent Home on the Internet
If you take the necessary steps to protect it, your personal site can never be taken from you by Facebook, Reddit, or any other social media site that decides to ban you some day for something you may say or one of its rules you may break. You can own and operate your site until the day you die. You can even pass it on to your heirs, if you choose, as long as you give them the required passwords. Ana Rodriguez pointed out in her article other advantages of having a home on the Internet that can come with involvement with the IndieWeb movement. Since I do not interact with the IndieWeb, I will not add to what she wrote.
Just as you own everything contained within the walls of your home (except those belonging to family members or those you have borrowed), you own the entire contents of your site--every file, every page, every sentence, every word. No one has the right to confiscate, delete, or hide anything you have written. And, you can own it forever. Disreputable sites sometimes steal content, but unlike your personal possessions, when someone steals content from your site, at least you still have the original copy. And, if you have copyrighted it, no one but you has a legal right to it.
As your site is your home on the Internet, if you host it yourself, only you have the authority to grant a visitor the privilege of accessing it. You have the power to open wide the doors of your Internet home to all visitors. Or, you can lock the doors tightly and bar the windows so that only a select group can enter, like perhaps your closest friends and family members or those with whom you play online video games. You can block any IP address or range of IP addresses that you choose from having access to your site. If your country has passed a law against unregistered personal sites, you can block everyone in your country. If you know the NSA's IP addresses in Langley Virginia, you can block them. [Correction: CIA headquarters is in Langley. NSA headquarters is in Fort Meade, on the other side of Washington DC.] Of course, that would not have much of an affect, since they have facilities and employees everywhere. But, it might shock them a bit. You can block any script kiddies you detect. You can block any web-crawling robots, including Google's. You can have as much or as little privacy on your site as you want. YOU are the gatekeeper of your home on the Internet. You are the undethroneable king of your castle. You can even make up words on your site like undethroneable.
I should also add that your site is a place for posting your current contact information. Some of us frequently change our physical addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. Your site makes it easier for people to contact you. This works especially well if your site URL is something easy to remember, like your name. Owning a site also means you can have an email address or email addresses that contain the name of your site. For example, you can have joe@joessite.com.
A Tool that Supports just about any Desired Level of Anonymity
Facebook now requires users to turn over their phone numbers and perhaps even photographs of themselves to open accounts. This makes anonymity on Facebook impossible. Some other social media platforms also demand phone numbers. Whether this will become more pervasive is anyone's guess. But, on your site, you can choose to be totally anonymous if you like. You can remain anonymous through the use of bitcoin, specific web hosting services, and specific domain name registrars around the world that allow access to their services over the Tor network. Some web hosting services even work exclusively through the Tor network. Anyone, and I mean anyone, can also create a completely anonymous site on the ZeroNet network for free. You do not need to register and pay for a domain name on ZeroNet. You do not even need to rent a server to have a ZeroNet site. Your ZeroNet site can be your only site, or it can be a static mirror of your clearnet site. As a matter of fact, you can provide extra assurance that the content of your site will remain accessible to your audience by having static mirrors of your site on ZeroNet, I2P, IPFS, Gopher, Gemini, and a number of other "darknets" of your choosing.
If you prefer to host the contents of your site with the highest level of anonymity and do not mind the likelihood of having a smaller audience, you can create a Tor hidden service that is accessible only on the Tor network. As with a ZeroNet site, a Tor hidden service site does not require the yearly payment of a domain name registration fee. A unique, random address is automatically generated when you create a Tor hidden service to which only you hold the keys, just as you hold the keys to your physical home. So, you do not need anyone's permission to own a ZeroNet site or to host a Tor hidden service. You can even host a Tor hidden service from a server in your home without anyone knowing that you are doing it, not even family members who are living in your home with you. With a Tor hidden service, if you do everything correctly, your site's unique address on the Tor network is very unlikely to be traced back to the IP address that your ISP has assigned to your residence.
A Source of Motivation for Honing Your Writing Skills (or Speaking or Video-Making Skills)
Until I created a site, my professional work was my only motivation for writing. The idea of keeping a personal journal has never appealed to me. I don't know why; it just has not. However, I have noticed something about my site. It has caused me to want to write. In fact, sometimes (okay, often), I feel pressure to meet my self-imposed weekly deadlines. I try hard to post one article a week that I can feel good about on something related to computers or the Internet. Surprisingly, I have so far succeeded every week since early January. So, my site has definitely been my motivation to write. I think a major reason for this is that other people (sometimes many other people) actually read what I write. Writing weekly for other people has also been great motivation for improving my writing skills. A nice bonus is that a few people leave positive comments to encourage me. So far, I have only had one person call my grammar and spelling "atrocious". Even that has motivated me to try harder. So, if you are an aspiring writer, creating your own blog is an excellent way of motivating yourself to write regularly and to improve your writing skills.
If you need motivation to learn a foreign language, translate your site into the language you are learning. Or, create a completely new site written exclusively in that language.
Final Words
I believe just about everyone should have his or her own personal site. A site is a platform for doing good in the world. It empowers the average person to exercise his right of free speech. It is a unique expression of yourself that allows you to freely express almost anything that is on your mind. If you know how to protect it, your site can never be taken from you. It is something you can have total control over, your home on the Internet, your identity that you present to the world. You can also choose to operate it completely anonymously. Regardless of exactly how you choose to create and run your site, you owe it to yourself to try it and see where it leads. Even if it turns out to be just a temporary experiment, I strongly believe you will learn something valuable from the experience.