Weird Addictions: Self-Hosting
Have you been warned about a Linux addiction? It's easier than most people realize to fall into an obsession with Linux .. which eventually leads to self-hosting. Especially in the day and age of large-scale surveillance social media. It happened to me and I won't stop.
For years I was a Linux user on my home machine. It started in 2006 when I put openSUSE on the machine I took to Scotland with me (I used it mainly to visualize what life would look like on Io . Years later, I swore my creative efforts were worth depriortizing tinkering with OS's so I could spend more time "being creative". I splurged got myself my first modern day Apple computer - an M1 MacBook Air.
Which now runs Asahi Linux full-time. I had already been grumbling at my laptop with the performance issues I was having with Sequoia and had sworn I wasn't going to upgrade. Then a massive crash happened during another set of updates. To be fair to apple, whatever power thing that happened in the middle of the update certainly forced some hands. But it then made a crazy day for me of 'reviving' and having to wipe things. The day ended with Apple forcing Tahoe on it - and that's when I reduced the Macintosh partition size to the smallest it could be.
Tell Tim Apple I'm forever disappointed.
As much as I'd love to blame it on Apple and its bullshit, I guess its really a case of you just can't take the open source outta the girl. It's part of a pattern with me - my Kindle is jailbroken and used to run KOReader, and my phone is a de-googled Android - so the Mac that actually runs Linux fits right in.
I'm not here to write about any of these things. I'm just pointing out where dabbling in these sorts of things lead you.
What I want to write about, specifically, is hosting Ghost. (That's a pleasing rhyme).
This post is being written on my ghost platform (you might be reading it on Medium!), and it's my first official, for-realsies ghost-post. Interestingly, it was the first thing that made me interested in understanding just what a VPS was and possibly getting one (though the first thing that made me eventually do that was getting Foundry to work for role playing games which I did two months ago!).
To everyone telling me I should start my own newsletter or 'get a substack' - this is for you. Not this post. The site.
Why Ghost?
When it comes to software selection - unless you are looking to learn the ropes of a piece of software as one of the goals, it's best to make sure that the tool will fit what you are looking for it to do. Ghost fit that bill for me.
You might be thinking 'but why not substack' and it's because I want a lot more control, and if you know me - you know that I don't go with the main stream of things.
There are so many good reasons to go with a Ghost installation for me, the biggest is being able to self-host and basically control your own platform. We all hate enshittification, right? Well this is how to fight it. Do it yourself, or invest in someone doing it the right way to help you instead of just taking the convenient path.
'What happened with you and Wordpress?' might be coming up in your thoughts, especially since I've made so many websites using it. To put it simply - it's bloated. Even with the simplest designs, it takes far too long to load. As my visual impairment grows worse, I want to focus less on aesthetics and more on message - and when I'm creating such simple layouts and themes it shouldn't take several seconds to load.
Take my portfolio, for instance. I used to have it in Wordpress, and used tags to allow users to select what kind of content they wanted to see. I completely revamped it - it took far too long to load and felt clunky, even though all that was on there was text. While it took a few hours for me to get the hang of it, I ended up going with Hugo for my portfolio because of its teeny, tiny footprint. Also I like the clean aesthetics and fast load time.
I wanted to learn another tool, and I knew I wanted to have subscription tiers. Which drove me towards something other than hugo for https://www.somewhatcyclops.com .
Ghost isn't similarly sized, but it's not as bloated as Wordpress. It also allows for a lot of functionality and flexibility, and you can monetize it using Stripe right out of the box. This is particularly great because there aren't a ton of paid modules between you and your subscribers.
If you're reading this on Medium, perhaps you are thinking 'why not Medium' and I'll say that I've been a fugitive from so many platforms at this point - I've fled from Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. etc. - and I'm tired. I'd rather have my writing be on a platform where I can control it and I'll float like the social butterfly I am on the other places to promote it if I want.
Additionally, Medium's 'monetization' program is all over the place. On my Ghost site, people can read what they want - subscribing is more of giving me a direct tip. Maybe one day I'll change it - since it's under my control I can do that (unlike Medium). It also allows my work to have a life outside of the paywall. I'm being pragmatic - the platforms are going to change hands because of their ability to raise capital, and when they change the rules one day and pull the plug on something, I'll be ready.
From a writer's perspective, Ghost gives a very very clean interface. No distractions. The word count is in the corner.
It's exactly what I need. No buttons to remind me of some other thing I have to configure. Just space for the text and a panel I can interact with when I need to (it defaults to closed).
Why Self-Host?
Ghost has its own paid version of a great platform but the whole point is to move away from that and to learn something new, right? I know I have the skills to keep a small server going,and this is a great way to keep them honed and to continue to challenge myself. It ends up that I honestly love Linux, and tinkering away to get it running just-so makes me happy. If I didn't have those two things really going for me - I'd use their hosting services $15 a month for 1000 users isn't that bad for all you get!
As I said, I'm interested in the control portion - I don't want them to be able to raise their fees next year, or to decide what I get access to feature-wise, and what I don't.
I'm also just brash enough to think I have the skills to keep it running.
Why VPS?
Of course, self-hosting should be heavy on the self part, right? as in - I should be looking at a way to focus on hosting things on my own computer. Right?
Not exactly. The logistics behind that should be obvious - it's just not a great plan to run things off of a personal computer. There's a reason that servers sit in centers somewhere, tucked away from where humans surfing the internet could accidentally suck up all the memory needed from their core functions to have 20 tabs open about medieval stitching.
Just me on the medieval stitching? Sure, but you get my drift.
The other reason for going with a VPS would be to use their internet connection. I'm on the cheapest consumer connection I can get. On the nights where I host games, or if I expect a high volume of people to go to a website - it's best if the internet serving the machine has a decent upstream. Mine doesn't. It won't matter how lean of a website I can manage to make - it's not going to load efficiently if it has anemic bandwidth. We'll talk about this a bit more when I get to my use-case for Nextcloud.
Why Linux?
I used to have a t-shirt that said "No, I will not fix your computer" (RIP, ThinkGeek). Twenty years later I've mellowed. It's now "I'll fix your computer but if I get frustrated at all with the process it will end up with Linux on it."
Basically, Linux is my go-to.
It doesn't fail me in a pinch.
That's why.
Linux used to be pretty heavily gated behind the skills it took to even get it on machines. Now? Not so much.
Linux is the best, there are distros to meet every need - TAKE THE PLUNGE.
Why Rack Nerd?
I ended up getting not one but two VPS's from Rack Nerd. As soon as I logged into the first one I gasped and grabbed a second one to transfer my webhosting to.
It's that good.
The next time I build a site or need webhosting - I'm going to use them. Especially since the one that rhymes with Roastingher loves to hook you in with low prices and then jack them up - none of that at RackNerd.
Great prices. I've not yet had to use their support but I know someone who did, and they got in contact with her quickly. That's pretty exceptional right there.
I have an affiliate code, but you don't have to use it (though I'd love it if you did). They are still running their great deal from New Year's, and I'm sure if you snooped around you'd be able to find other coupon codes. But I think they are pretty exceptional, and I basically got two $60 a year servers - one to serve Nextcloud (the subject of another post), and one to serve the web for my hugo portfolio and ghost (thank you, nginx!).
To My Fellow Medium Writers
You may be reading this on Medium. And you may think "but these are competitors to each other." Not so, friends. Not so. You can import your posts from your Ghost site to Medium (and you can import your current work on Medium to backfill your Ghost site - like I did). There's no telling where Medium is going to take its algorithm, etc. into the next years - and there's nothing wrong with building your own platform and syndicating here to Medium. If you want help, if you want me to build it for you, if you want me to run an instance of ghost for you to get you started - hit me up at jamietoth@protonmail.com.
How Do I Install It?
There are some great guides out there!
Here's the official one:
Are you worried about security?
Fanyang Meng
While this is my first official 'ghost post' I've been enjoying what Ghost has to offer, and am impressed with what it brings to the table. If you're interested in getting Ghost setup to compliment your work on Medium, to support your businesses' newsletter, or to have a simple blog - I think you'll be impressed!