@liztai hachyderm.io/@liztai

Why a lot of my content is now gated

I'm gating a lot of my content on my website these days. The reasons are numerous, which I detail in this post, but namely - I want #AI companies, #Google & other corporations to "work for it" if they want my content to boost their profits, and also: I want to keep some stuff more private.

#Indieweb #Internet #SocialMedia #Blogging

http://elizabethtai.com/2024/03/31/why-a-lot-of-my-content-is-now-gated/
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

Readers of my regular blog are probably wondering why a lot of my posts are now gated. Meaning, you need to subscribe to the website (ie give me your email) so that you can access them. I totally understand why some people may think “screw this” and scroll away, but I have many reasons to do what I’m doing.

Gated content are for those who are truly invested in my content

I still share ungated content. You don’t have to subscribe to my blog to read what I write. But the ones behind a “gate” or a subscribe box is for those who want to keep updated with what I write. I create exclusive content for them.

I don’t want to keep newsletter content on just Substack

I am currently mirroring my newsletter content on both Substack and my website. I believe in owning my content, but I also believe in tapping on the platform’s networking abilities. Yes, as I’m not a programming whiz, it’s not automated. I have to copy and paste this. I often publish on the blog first before Substack.

I want to stick it to Google

These days, I don’t really care about Google. I have more or less have given up on the Google SEO train and am relying solely on the power of networking and recommendations, which feels more fulfilling and wroth it. If I do get SEO juice, great. If I don’t, I no longer car. I just do not want to dance to the algorithm anymore.

AI, baby.

Since Google slyly said that it would scrape all content on the web to train its AI apps, I decided to give it the middle finger and put most of my valuable content behind a gate and my archive and most personal writings behind a paywall (coming soon to this website once I get off my butt to set it up). Sure, the protection may be illusory, but if Google or other nefarious corporations want to take it, they’re gonna have to work for it.

I want a sense of privacy

I’ve grown increasingly protective about my personal life and thoughts. I’m especially conscious of those “checking me out” for reasons that I’m not comfortable with. So, having my private and more personal thoughts behind a paywall or subscription form helps to ensure that those who bothered to hand me their email and money are not simply trolls.

Not guaranteed, of course. But again, if they want this content, they’re gonna have to pay or give me their emails to get it.

https://elizabethtai.com/2024/03/31/why-a-lot-of-my-content-is-now-gated/

#blogging #ChatGPT #indieweb #Internet #socialmedia
@jcrabapple dmv.community/@jcrabapple

Weather Today for Android | Cool As Heck

https://cool-as-heck.blog/post/weather-today-for-android-w7mpz7jc

#Android #AndroidApps #indieweb
@claudinec aus.social/@claudinec

.@capjamesg I've been thinking about blogging about coffee (and getting a bit distracted thinking about representing coffee with #microformats/ #gohugo content types). But my actual decision tree is probably less complex than yours.

re: https://jamesg.blog/2024/03/30/coffee-to-drink-decision-tree/

Also a fan of #mermaidjs but discovered GoAT via the #gohugo docs: https://github.com/bep/goat

#coffee #blogging #indieweb
Ben Werdmuller werd.io/profile/benwerd
I think it would be fun to (co-)organize an East Coast IndieWebCamp this year, mostly because I would like to go to an East Coast IndieWebCamp this year. Perhaps there's scope for an IndieWebCamp NYC in September / October?
@starrwulfe social.vivaldi.net/@starrwulfe

For those who just got a “you’re now following” message: I’ve moved my presence that was jlgatewood @jlgatewood over here to cut down on managing Mastodon accounts.

🙆🏾‍♂️ The Vivaldi.net instance is also better because it doesn’t block every single instance under the sun unless there’s a direct threat first (I’m looking at you Fediblock folks with the whole “let’s block Threads because Zuck sucks” mentality) Not sure if intentional or not, but I couldn’t see Threads accounts over there and I’m really trying to inform everyone on the merits of open source networks.

😎 This instance also has a 1337 character limit. Fun! But also good for me when my microblogging becomes macroblogging.

💯 Also I’m @starrwulfe everywhere else, and never really use my “guhmint” name out there and kinda want to keep some consistency.

✨ Finally, I want to line everything up with how I use my website http://starrwulfe.xyz as a “hub” for most of my original posts because it’s a first party member of the fediverse too (please follow @starrwulfe@starrwulfe.xyz and @starrwulfe@abc.starrwulfe.xyz too!)

🚧 As such, there may be a few more moves of followers to these domains as I try my best to #OwnMyPosts and be a good example of how #indieweb, #fediverse and #openSNS works.

I appreciate your support and follows! ✌🏾
@anders thoresson.social/@anders

One of the neat things working with a site that’s based on markdown files is that you can add content in so many different ways.

Latest example: A Python script that pulls in my photos from @glass and add them to my (not yet published) #11ty site.

#indiedev #indieweb
@tmsullivan masto.ai/@tmsullivan

#indieweb folks - three of the sharpest people from the ex-twitter alt-tech space have now set up a Will Make You A Website company, whether you need a site or just want to see the innards of contemporary non-corporate web production, check out:

@jon
@ashley
@phil
@mcepl floss.social/@mcepl

@zhenech @lzap I am just playing with it and I wonder whether it could be useful.

https://app.radicle.xyz/nodes/seed.radicle.garden/rad:z2BFAb2cNxwxNSXpqfrmHLBtK55Lu

#Radicle #indieWeb #Git
@byjp hachyderm.io/@byjp

One of the reasons I’m loving building my garden of an #IndieWeb blog is pulling all my silo'd posts from Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and everywhere else back into a space I can interact with.

I just came across this this imported tweet https://www.byjp.me/notes/twitter/5653892614/ from 2009, referencing a paper I wrote for my Physics degree and *wow* I don't follow a word of the abstract! What a privilege it is to have this insight into a different me, with a totally different set of skills.
@mnordmeyer indieweb.social/@mnordmeyer

In case you want to easily decrease the data you send to Google, embed YouTube videos differently on your site:

https://michaelnordmeyer.com/embedding-youtube-videos-without-sending-the-sites-url-to-youtube

#Privacy #Blogging #IndieWeb
@ratika scicomm.xyz/@ratika

Essay #9 is out now. Check it out!

https://kadambari.bearblog.dev/giving-advice-ideal-reader/

#writing #WritingCommunity #AmWriting #blog #blogging #IndieWeb #reading #writers
@shellsharks shellsharks.social/@shellsharks

@schizanon Yeah I’ve been trying to catalog some URLs that sites may/should have. Some are more common than others…

- Well-Known URLs: https://shellsharks.com/notes/2023/08/10/well-known-uri
- /Uses: https://uses.tech/
- /Now: https://shellsharks.com/now
- /Ideas: https://aboutideasnow.com/about
- Indieweb.txt: https://indieweb.org/indieweb.txt
- Humans.txt: https://humanstxt.org
- ai.txt: https://site.spawning.ai/spawning-ai-txt
- /about: maybe?
- Sitemap.xml, Robots.txt

My “Website Component Checklist”: https://shellsharks.com/notes/2023/08/15/website-component-checklist

#indieweb #smallweb
@weirdwriter tweesecake.social/@weirdwriter

Not sure why Hugo removed their accessibility tag for themes, but you can still filter accessibility ready themes here for the moment, but Hugo should really enable the accessibility tag again when browsing for themes https://trentsonlinedocs.xyz/hugo-themes-report/hugo-themes-report.html #Hugo #Accessibility #SmallWeb #IndieWeb
@leeperry indieweb.social/@leeperry

Knee deep in transition from Hugo / micro.blog to @getkirby and Mastodon.

Have about 20 years worth of data to load back in, but the content structure is largely built.

In the interim, here are some photos of my #podenco on the hydrotherapy treadmill.

#buildInPublic #indieweb

https://staging.lee-perry.co.uk/notes/baylee-at-hydrotherapy
@xolotl social.coop/@xolotl

Trying out @ben's new app to easily #ShareOpenly to any social platform, including those that might not yet be included in standard sharing mechanisms, like a specific Mastodon or #IndieWeb site or Bluesky: https://werd.io/2024/share-openly
@schizanon mastodon.social/@schizanon

I gather that the /about page in #aboutideasnow is supposed to be about the author, but what about the site? What url do we use to talk about the tools we used to build the site?

#indieweb #smallweb
@schizanon mastodon.social/@schizanon

I like the concept of #aboutideasnow. It feels like #microformats, but for URLs. It's kinda weird how few conventions the #web has for urls. Aside from index.html, robots.txt, and favicon.ico there are very few standard URLs that many sites support.

#smallweb #indieweb #webDev
@cory social.lol/@cory

🔗: P&B: Adrianna Tan #Tech #Blogging #IndieWeb #SmallWeb https://manuelmoreale.com/@/page/7794dP074K6PLYpJ
@grgml indieweb.social/@grgml

Damn i was about to miss the #indiewebCarnival this month, and it's about two topics that I hold dear: the #indieweb and #accessibility. New blogpost coming over the weekend (https://grgml.xyz/status/2024/3/29/99559441/)