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A personal essay advocating for owning your own website and domain rather than relying on third-party platforms like Substack, Medium, or LinkedIn. The author argues that platforms come and go, and building your content on someone else's platform risks losing it all. Key recommendations include using a static site generator with Markdown, owning your domain, treating your site as a second brain, and using social media only to drive traffic back to your own site. The author also touches on tools like Obsidian and Vim motions for writing, and references the 'small web' movement toward simple HTML sites.

Why Have Your Website

Genuine news from the open-source data engineering ecosystem.

Data Engineering

Static site generation is one method of building and creating your own digital showcase. However, there are key points that need to be pointed out and addressed, such as the possibility of data or config leakage, finding hidden links, accidental open FTP, browser accessible directories, etc. The real challenges beyond driving traffic to your site is how you host and serve.
Hosting providers lock you into their system, especially if you use their drag-and-drop site tools. WordPress engines require a lot of planning and plugin management for security and uptime. VPS + Apache/Node.js can be costly reoccurring subscriptions. Self-hosting a publicly accessible site or web app can lead to outrageous utility bills and puts your local network at risk.
When developing your digital presence with a personal site, the platform and method you use to serve your site to the world matters, not just for practicality and financial reasons.

<blockquote>
I recommend never betting on a single platform.
100% agree.
</blockquote>
This doesn’t mean you cannot use platforms. Just don’t make yourself dependent on them. If you build an audience on one platform alone, you’ll always be subject to shifting platform popularity and platform arbitrage. I think YouTube is the most universally prominent example of creators being on a leash.

Time to brush up on my old website and get it live again

Your own domain is the only online identity you trully own (so take good care of it). Everything else is not in your controll. Any platform can die, companies go out of business or close the platform because not profitable enough, or sell it to a megalomaniac “Bond” vilain … But the domain stays. If domains go away, the internet goes away and you won’t need it anyway. Having your website at least as your internet identity hub is crucial these days for your online presence.