Private equity completes another stroll through the web-hosting world (after WP Engine), and thus today begins (or perhaps continues) the enshittification of Squarespace.

Techcrunch screenshot

As my friend Ori said:

“Nothing like PE to ruin something.”

Private equity seriously is ruining so many beautiful things on the internet (see Bending Spoons) because founders and creators often struggle make a living online, they seek growth and revenue and find it hard, so they sell to PE because PE can make money online: gut the product, layoff staff, raise prices.

Welcome to capitalism, you and I with our little savings can’t stand in the way of it, but in the light of Squarespace going to PE, I’m reminded:

  1. Two of our business websites being on Squarespace
  2. The other one being on Wordpress (but not WP Engine)
  3. And finally, of my own personal philosophy to POSSE and build things yourself.

Jason Kottke shared this a few days ago from Molly White:

“The short-term solution to these problems is a little-known acronym called POSSE. Short for Post (on) Own Site Syndicate Elsewhere, it’s not a protocol or even a piece of software, but rather a philosophy.”

There’s never been a better time to build your own house on the internet—your own website and blog—and never have to worry about Squarespace, Meta, Google, or Apple anymore. You’ll no longer need to worry about being cancelled or banned. Prices going up, or products being gutted. You get to choose your destiny. Your home is your home.

How to?

  1. Learn HTML.
  2. Learn Markdown.
  3. Learn to host and build your own website and blog, your own home on the Internet.

For HTML, check out the beautifully made HTML For People:

“HTML isn’t only for people working in the tech field. It’s for anybody, the way documents are for anybody. HTML is just another type of document. A very special one—the one the web is built on.”

And for Markdown, it’s just plain boring text with a few additions. The best place to start IMHO is with the document that started it all in 2004:

“The overriding design goal for Markdown’s formatting syntax is to make it as readable as possible. The idea is that a Markdown-formatted document should be publishable as-is, as plain text, without looking like it’s been marked up with tags or formatting instructions.”

Search online for other Markdown tutorials, there’ll be millions, but just start learning to write and format in an open language, one that isn’t owned by Microsoft (.docx) or others.

From there, start investigating building and hosting your own website, like the one you’re reading this on. Hosted on Micro.Blog, built using Hugo, and Tiny Theme.

In 20 years, you’ll be thankful that you started building your own house online today.