I grew up on a more open internet. It wasn’t perfect, but generally speaking, gatekeepers were significantly less common than they are today. On the 2025 version of the internet – algorithms/AI and corporate hucksters get to be the primary gatekeepers of information. If a post isn’t shared on Facebook, X, or Reddit – likely you won’t see it – and even if it is shared, it likely won’t get the reach it might have had in times past. The situation deteriorates rapidly if your post’s subject matter is at odds with the ownership of the social network you’re sharing on.

Larry Sanger, one of the original founders of Wikipedia, caught my attention in December 2024 after he publicly critiqued the X social network and moved his personal content feed back to a self-hosted website at https://sangerfeed.org/

He once again has exclusive control of how his content is published – just like I do on this website – freedom from censorship and corporate interference. He’s not the only one to have made moves like this. Others such as Luke Smith have been pushing similar ideas for years.

I’m thankful to Mr. Sanger – he gave me the push I needed to spend less time on X/Facebook and focus on building my own site more.

My hope is that others will revolt against the current social media paradigm and bring their content back to independent ownership on self-hosted websites and networks. A future where the only posts we see originate from A.I. influencers, bots, politicians, and corporate oligarchs doesn’t seem like one good for any us.

Setting up a self-hosted website is surprisingly simple in today’s world and in reach for most tech-familiar people. A good place to start is https://landchad.net/ which has tutorials for everything from setting up a self-hosted website to setting up a self-hosted YouTube clone.

If you’re trying to go this route and need a little help with setup, drop me an email and I’ll see if I can help. The more of us that setup independent internet outposts, the better the internet will be.