Publish on your own site, syndicate elsewhere

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Why POSSE (Publish on own site, Syndicate elsewhere)?

  • Seen as a way to own the “source of truth” for your content, unlike PESOS where originals live on third‑party platforms.
  • Protects against account shutdowns, algorithm changes, or platform “enshittification.”
  • Some orgs and individuals report better community engagement and clarity when everything canonical is on their own site.
  • Fits well with the IndieWeb philosophy (microformats, webmention, micropub) and is viewed as how “the web should be.”

Social dynamics and limits of decentralization

  • Several commenters argue that ease of use and good standards aren’t enough: people go where their friends already are. IndieWeb/fediverse is likely to remain niche, which some see as fine.
  • “Friends over federation”: social connection and presence on big platforms still matter, even for POSSE advocates.
  • Others think a “beautiful but no longer small” alternative could emerge once enough people tire of big platforms.

Platform hostility, automation, and shadowbans

  • Many social networks demote posts with external links or automated cross‑posts; some users report clear reach drops and shadowbans.
  • APIs have become paywalled or restricted (Twitter/X, Facebook, Medium), forcing people toward manual or semi‑manual cross‑posting.
  • Tools like EchoFeed, POSSEparty, Buffer/Postiz, and micro.blog help, but Instagram and some others remain awkward.
  • Some prefer manual sharing to preserve “native voice” and real engagement per platform; automation-only syndication is likened to spammy proselytizing.

RSS, newsletters, and traffic

  • Multiple commenters say RSS and newsletters are surprisingly strong traffic sources, often rivaling or exceeding search or social for their sites.
  • Discussion around whether server logs overcount bots vs real RSS readers; some clarify they distinguish human click‑throughs by referrer.
  • Recommendations and debate on RSS vs Atom, UI for exposing feeds, and readers for iOS/Android/Linux. Consensus: feeds are still valuable, especially for independent blogs.

Tooling, implementation, and blogging platforms

  • People share setups using static site generators (Hugo, Eleventy, Astro, custom SSGs), Django or other frameworks, and CI/CD for publishing.
  • ActivityPub is seen as a promising path for native syndication from your site into the fediverse, though full static integration is still evolving.
  • Some report joy in using their site as an archive of everything they’ve posted across platforms, searchable and under their control.

Critiques and skepticism

  • Some find POSSE conceptually trivial (“everyone already does this”), but others argue it’s non‑obvious to non‑bloggers.
  • Concerns: managing conversations across many platforms is harder than posting; syndication itself can become a part‑time job.
  • A minority sees this as an attempt to “go backwards” from today’s internet, advocating instead for more offline, analog interaction alongside digital.