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Comment by elnygren | Hacker News Reader

In other words: suffer from NIH and DIY because you are so butthurt that someone makes money with you in a symbiotic relationship.

yeah, this is how I see it:

Most of the time when you write something, it's because you are either promoting something (directly or indirectly), building a brand (your or your company's) or because it makes you feel good to "spread the word" on something. Whatever the reason, you gain some value out of this.

Platforms provide you with tools and audience so that you can create that value. In return, they want something too. Is this really so bad?

I'm a quite a capable web developer, but I'm not going to host or build my own blog. That time is better spent on actually figuring out what to write (and writing it).

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> suffer from NIH and DIY because you are so butthurt that someone makes money with you in a symbiotic relationship

It's regrettable that this inflammatory and one-sided language is one of the top-voted comments on this thread right now. Not that the article is doing a whole lot better in this regard, but there really is some need for nuance here. NIH and DIY are not necessarily bad words.

Personally, I believe the federated concept of the web could benefit from some major de-siloization, as could certain content creators and users. In an era where the vast majority of all user-produced content is owned by Facebook and Google, plus some minor players like Medium, at least consider going with a more independent alternative. However, it's also clear this is not a viable option for most people. But at least people should be aware of the trade-offs they're basing their decisions on.

Yes, if you give ownership of your content to a silo, this will make it much easier to attract and keep an audience. At the same time, content creators need to know they're completely at the mercy of changing policies and shifting product focus. Youtubers had to learn this the hard way in recent weeks.

It's not a popular opinion to have on HN, but I want to encourage everyone who wants to put the time and effort in to host their own content. Know what you're getting yourself into and make an informed decision.

>building a brand (your or your company's)

This is exactly correct. It is "Hey potential employer, check out my Medium articles."

Sure you could host it yourself, you will probably pay a monthly fee for this. Also people you are marketing to would most likely go "Oh hey, this guy is Medium, I have been on that site before." Opposed to "Oh this guy is on some blog platform I have never heard of."

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