Why Setup Your Own Website?
There are many reasons why it is a good idea to create your own website and I will go over some that I think are very important. This goes for most people including people that have nothing to do with software engineering. The only people that I think shouldn’t have one are those that want nothing to do with modern technology such as mormons, serious orthodox jews etc.
It Isn’t Very Difficult
Setting up your own website today doesn’t cost too much and doesn’t take a lot of time to learn. Landchad has a very easy to follow step-by-step guide to setting up your own website. The whole process can take less than an hour. They suggest using a VPS which I would also suggest for most people but you may choose to setup on your own 24/7 machine at home. You may want to use a website builder too. I think Hugo is good but feel free to use whatever you like.
It Can Be Fun
Depending on who you are, you may enjoy the process of creating and managing your own website. I know I do. Being able to set everything up the way I want and making my website look and act the way I want is fun.
Liberation And Independence
The modern web is something I do not like and I think a majority of the public do not like either. Most people have accounts on other people’s platforms and the amount of power that platform has over its users can be dangerous with things such as censorship. However, I don’t entirely judge the platform poorly because at the end of the day, it is their platform and in most situations, they call the shots and I think that is a good thing. When users face punishment, they can get angry at the platform but they should also put some of the blame on themselves. Depending so heavily on a few platforms for your place on the internet isn’t very wise.
The way to help liberate yourself is set up your own website. Run your own services on your site. Talk about whatever you want to. You really don’t need to be in this modern version (using social media platforms) of a Skinner’s box. Beyond freedom & dignity is a good read.
There are different levels of independence. If you host your website on something such as neocities, I wouldn’t say you have a whole lot. If you host your own website (with your own domain) on a VPS, you have much more. Next levels could be running on your own hardware or running where you own your address (as you possess the public and private key pair) such as with tor or I2P instead of renting out a domain like you get with the normal internet. How far you want to go is entirely up to you.
The internet was not founded to be this place where there are only five sites and people don’t exist on the internet independently of these sites. The way the internet was supposed to be is that you are your own landlord. It is supposed to be empowering. Become your own internet landlord today.