The free and open internet is slowly fading as proprietary social media and publishing platforms become the dominant venue for content. With the rise of AI and its insatiable need for data, these platforms have increasingly become walled gardens in order to keep this content for themselves. It’s logical for the parties involved: individuals benefit from the visibility, connections, and features provided by the service and platforms monetize this attention while discouraging external activities. Still, it’s a sad direction for the Internet.

Software engineering leader Will Larson describes a way to fight back, and that is to maintain ownership of your content. It resonated with me.

As a final thought, two years ago I think folks would have been confused by my decision to not move to Substack, just like six years ago they would have been confused by my decision not to move to Medium. The answer here is easy for me: my goals remain consistent ownership of my work, on domains I control. If I was writing to directly build a business, I imagine both of those choices would have been much harder, but at this point I’m surprisingly anchored to my desire to be an operator who writes, which is where I think the most interesting writing happens.”

This blog doesn’t have that many posts, and I doubt a tremendous number of readers, but it’s an enjoyable outlet, and over time, a fully owned archive of thought, experience, and knowledge.

Image by peter jung from Pixabay

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This work by Derek Croote is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0