Shutting Down My Self-Hosted Blog After 8 Years
It’s time for a new direction
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I have decided to shut down my self-hosted blog after 8 years . Oh, the blog itself isn’t going anywhere. All of the content will still be there but it’s moving to a different home.
As of now, there are many different reasons for this, so here’s an explanation on why I made this decision.
Reason 1:
I’m no longer blogging professionally. I have nothing to sell, no courses to promote, no social media handles to drive people towards and nothing to gain monetarily from the content on this website. So, after spending thousands of rupees over the last 8 years to keep this space alive, I figured it’s time to dial back on the financial burden and let this space just live out there on the internet on its own.
Reason 2:
Self-hosting is for serious bloggers. I no longer consider myself a serious blogger. Wait, was I ever serious?! Anyway, I want to be able to write about anything that comes to mind without worrying if it falls neatly into an assigned box or category. I don’t want to be confined to a ‘personal brand’ anymore.
Ugh, that sounds so pretentious right now and especially after I taught people in the past how to build their personal brand.
Reason 3:
The spam is unbelievable! I confess I haven’t been able to keep up with the volume of comments on this blog over the past year or so. But ever since I opened it upto comments again, this space seems to have let all the weirdos on the internet back into my space! Every time I log in, I have a minimum of 100 spam comments to clear from my moderation queue. It really doesn’t feel worthwhile anymore. If people really need to comment on my content, they can do so on Medium, where I have been cross-posting most of my content.
Reason 4:
Keeping up with plugin updates is very tiresome. Every time I come here I have to wonder if a specific plugin will make/break my site. Despite having minimal plugins, this can turn out to be rather annoying. I’d much rather just come in, write my piece and then exit the space.
Reason 5:
It’s just not worth the money anymore, given that hardly anyone blogs these days. This might be the most painful reason of all, but I have to face the truth. More and more people are just not blogging anymore. They find better responses to their content on social media — Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook (and any other new platforms that I am thankfully unaware of!)
Any time I go and click on one of my favourite blogger’s websites, it just shows me that they last blogged a year ago. Heartbreaking, but there it is. So, why spend close to INR 10,000 every year to keep a space like this alive? It doesn’t make any sense.
THE MAIN REASON
I just want to blog again. It’s as simple as that. I don’t want validation in the form of comments. I want conversations with like-minded people and connections with bloggers who have something to share. I want to be able to write whatever I want without worrying about SEO or page views or spending money to maintain an expensive website. I want to blog when I feel like it and do it in long-form without craving dopamine hits from social media posts. Most of all, I want to blog in relative obscurity and silence.
WHERE I AM GOING
I’ve already downloaded all of my content and moved them to a free WordPress site. I’m still in the process of deciding on a simple theme and also a domain name. I’ve not yet made up my mind about retaining my current domain name, so we’ll see how that goes.
I will be spending some money to maintain the new website but it will be a far smaller amount, compared to what I’ve spent over the past decade.
By early November, this new website will be live. Once it’s live, I will be sharing that link right here on my Medium page, so look out for that soon.
I look forward to connecting with you deeply 🙏🌟
