So I looked at this post already, but it’s not entirely what I’m looking for. I am not looking for a place to make my own website, or self-host, or buy a domain, or anything like that.
I do not know what it is called, but I am calling it a “publishing host.” Basically, I am looking for websites that let you publish writing content like blogs, essays, articles, stories, etc.
Something like Medium or whatever, but privacy-respecting. I don’t want to just see suggestions right off the bat. I would preferably like a justification for why that suggestion is privacy-respecting.
Important things to consider:
Privacy-respecting
Protects content
I’m not entirely sure how this works. @novisin mentioned here about being concerned with keeping their graphic design licensed/copyrighted, so I hope to also keep my writing similarly protected.
I want to be able to reach people who are using search engines.
Cheap pricing, if not free
Long, trustworthy history
Works well with markdown
Compatible with custom domains
Here are some things I looked at but either haven’t thoroughly examined or am asking for crowd-sourced help on whether they are good options (I am not suggesting them):
If you’re comfortable with markdown and can manoever a bit of coding, I would recommend using a simple framework like Jekyll, Hugo or AstroJS.
Once you understood how the whole thing works, you can build it locally with a quick command and it will spit regular HTML + CSS files. Then, any kind of platform will host those files for free (because they are static).
Few popular names in the web development community to host such assets for the free:
Or you could maybe pay 2$/m for a cheap VPS[1] and then have some server like Apache/Nginx/Caddy to deliver the static assets just like the 4 platforms above are doing for you.
Why I recommend those and not something like Substack/Medium/Ghost etc is the fact that you’ll be the owner of your content from A to Z.
More friction and learning curve to get started for sure, but some YT videos/blog reading can probably get you there and once setup, it will be a thing set in stone that rarely breaks and with no platform BS down the line.
As of why it’s privacy respecting to proceed this way?
Mostly because the files will be regular HTML + CSS files with no telemetry or scripts running.
The platforms hosting it could have some tracking but this is where you could go next level and host it on Tor if you really want to go deep. Ownership and something simple would be a good start.
@ybceo just followed that path recently to provide a product that is on a healthy stack, if you want to read more on the topic hop on that specific thread (will be a bit more technical tho).
Let’s see if my proposition checks all the boxes:
privacy-respecting: yes, the generated output from Hugo/Astro etc will not be coming with any fluff
protects content: yes? If you don’t host the latest Marvel movie in 4k, there is no reason for the VPS provider (or Netlify etc) to take it down. One of the benefits of owning the thing. Just don’t share/distribute things that you obviously don’t have the rights for and you should be clear. If you’re putting an image/photo that has some IP, mention the author and you’re clear?
secure: static files do not have anything like a server running, so it is by default secure just like a .txt file can’t run malicious code same goes for HTML/CSS.
not just a neat little project run by individuals: HTML/CSS are Web standards and they will be here to stay probably for at least the next 50 years or so. As for the host for the static files, you can hop from one to the other it’s not a big deal, the only thing that will change is the UI on how to upload your files. But again, you can also rent a VPS.
SEO-friendly: HTML is the best thing for SEO ever, runtime client-side JavaScript is the bane of it. Hence you’re good here too. You can even go further and export your Markdown into an additional RSS/LLM feed to reach even more people.
Cheap pricing, if not free: 0$ for platforms (Cloudflare Pages even allows unlimited bandwidth in case you go viral and host lots of images) or 2$ if you want a DIY VPS
Long, trustworthy history: SSG frameworks (Jekyll etc) are doing something basic and are not new in the industry, probably will continue to exist for a long time to come too. In case one of them dies, you can always export your style + markdown into another one because .md files are also an open standard spec, just don’t add too many framework specific things to it.
Works well with markdown: most of those are markdown-first but can also take raw HTML in, so yes
Compatible with custom domains: most platforms will allow you to configure your domain and point your assets to your website yes (also handle the HTTPS certificate and other things for you). A VPS can also do that ofc.
are doing for you.
privacy-respecting: yes, the generated output from Hugo/Astro etc will not be coming with any fluff
protects content: yes? If you don’t host the latest Marvel movie in 4k, there is no reason for the VPS provider (or Netlify etc) to take it down. One of the benefits of owning the thing. 
