Browsing the internet, I landed on the IndieWeb site and went exploring that philosophy. I wasn’t new to the concept, but up until then I hadn’t taken the time to dig deep and really understand what it was all about. I knew it had to do with microformats — conventional HTML tags bloggers use to annotate information on their sites — and POSSE — which in practice for me means posting here first, then syndicating to Mastodon. But beyond that, I didn’t fully grasp the point. So I grabbed a cup of coffee and dove down the rabbit hole.
When I first set up this blog I had big plans for it. I wanted to share my tinkering with technology and online privacy. The main goal was to educate and inform others. The first target was 10 articles in year one. I published 3. I missed the same goalpost the next year, and every year after. Why? Why can’t I write as much as I want?
My High Bar # I’m not short of ideas. I have a stack of drafts sitting on the back burner — posts that didn’t make the cut. Wait, what cut?
When I first launched this blog, I wanted a short domain name for it. A name built around “ilyess”, which is the identity of this site. Obviously, ilyess.com was already taken. So I turned to the cheapest top-level domain I could get started with. After some promo hunting, I settled on ilyess.cc. It checked most of the boxes: short, centered around “ilyess”, and cheap. But this domain name is on an uncommon TLD and it’s not that “cool”. At least I didn’t think it was cool, and I still don’t.
One of the main reasons I love blogging is the lively discussions my posts generate. Exchanging ideas with like-minded people brings me joy, helps me broaden my knowledge, and lets me forge long-term connections. Those conversations can’t thrive without a welcoming space. Broadly speaking, I categorize this feedback into two groups: private channels such as email and direct messages, and public venues like social-media posts or forums.
In this article I’ll briefly outline the tools I’ve been using to manage public discussions on this blog, explore other comment-management solutions, and describe the changes I’m implementing in my current setup moving forward.
In the present digital epoch, it has become imperative for companies with an online presence to host a blog which is nothing more than a compendium of articles or posts, typically organized chronologically. This is not limited to companies obviously and anyone can, and is even highly encouraged to, run a personal blog. If you’re one of the fortunate who own a personal blog and are currently relying on a database to power it, you may be under the impression that it’s necessary for your blog to function properly. Wrong! In this article I’m going to explain why that’s not the case and why your blog doesn’t actually need a database. I will even go further and suggest that your blog should not use a database. While databases can be useful, if not mandatory, for certain types of websites, blogs are definitely not one of them.