Don't build your castle in other people's kingdoms (2021)

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Platform Dependence vs Owning Your Castle

  • Core idea: relying entirely on major platforms (YouTube, Twitch, Meta, App Store, etc.) is risky; accounts and reach can vanish arbitrarily.
  • Many argue for “bridges”: use big platforms for reach, but always point people to assets you control (website, mailing list, own domain).
  • Others note huge successes built wholly inside platforms (e.g., app businesses on iOS, large YouTube channels) as counterexamples.

Visibility and Discovery Constraints

  • Strong pushback: your own site alone rarely gets discovered; most users live inside a few platforms and won’t “guess URLs.”
  • SEO can work if you become the best resource for your niche, but most small businesses don’t invest enough in that.
  • Consensus: early growth usually requires playing in other kingdoms; the debate is how aggressively to pull people back to your own.

Video Creators and Hosting Alternatives

  • Many see “just self-host video” as unrealistic: bandwidth is expensive, discovery is weak, and users prefer familiar platforms.
  • Some examples of hedging: independent OTT platforms, membership sites, Nebula-style consortiums, Floatplane, Rumble, Fediverse / PeerTube.
  • Skeptics note these still rely on other infrastructure and have tiny audiences relative to YouTube.

AI, APIs, and Commoditizing Platforms

  • Parallel drawn to building on OpenAI’s APIs: same “castle on rented land” issue.
  • Suggested strategy: make the LLM provider swappable and not your main value; avoid features likely to be cloned by the platform.

“Everywhere Is Someone Else’s Kingdom”

  • Many argue full sovereignty is impossible: you still depend on registrars, ICANN, hosts, CDNs, payment processors, and legal regimes.
  • Distinction emphasized: some “kings” (domain infrastructure) rarely act arbitrarily; social platforms ban/derank users and businesses daily.

Email, Newsletters, and Substack-like Tools

  • Strong support for email lists as the most durable direct channel.
  • Counterpoint: younger audiences may not use email much, and big mailbox providers can silently throttle or blackhole mail.
  • Substack and similar tools seen as a middle ground if you can export lists and use your own domain; still platform risk.

Digital Feudalism and Regulation

  • Several frame the situation as “neo-feudal”: oversized kingdoms with disproportionate power.
  • Proposed macro-solution: regulation and open protocols to force interoperability and weaken lock-in; fediverse seen as a partial step, but economically and socially incomplete.