
Ask HN: Popular publishing app that doesn't copyright my writing? - simonebrunozzi
Medium, Substack, etc, they all retain certain rights to the things I write on their platform. I find it unfair.<p>Do you know of any other publishing platform (either blog or newsletter or both) that does this?
======
scastiel
You can give a look as [https://write.as/](https://write.as/), never used it
but heard a lot of good about it.

Also try to find websites linked to what you are writing about. For instance,
for articles about programming, [https://dev.to/](https://dev.to/) offers a
very good platform, and so does
[https://hackernoon.com/](https://hackernoon.com/). Both guarantee that you
completely own what you write there.

But to me the best solution is still to have you own blog. Many platforms will
offer you a Wordpress or Ghost blog for a small amount each month (I would
stay away from free platforms, most of them still own your content), and if
you feel comfortable with a little tech steps, you can try a static blog
generator such as Jekyll or Eleventy, and host it on GitHub or Netlify.

For my blog ([https://scastiel.dev](https://scastiel.dev)) I use Eleventy,
hosted on Netlify, with my own domain name. Works like a charm :)

~~~
simonebrunozzi
Thanks! I am capable of running my own (heck, I even wrote my own blog engine
in 2002!! Didn't even call it blog back then), but I know I don't have time to
maintain it properly.

Also, what I like about Substack and Medium is how easy it is for people to
subscribe and discover. Their "distribution" is great.

I know write.as, what it lacks is a stronger distribution.

Thanks for your tips anyway!

~~~
auganov
If something you write is a big success, especially tech/programming related
stuff, chances are, most of the traffic over time will come in from search
engines.

Also most of the SEO juice (backlinks etc) comes in shortly after publishing.
If Medium/other-platform goes defunct or decides to remove you it will be very
hard to rebuild it.

Much better to separate distribution from hosting. The small boost they will
give you at the beginning is not worth it IMO.

------
junar
What do you find objectionable about Medium's terms? They need some sort of
permission to publish your work. This is basically boilerplate language for
any website that shows user-generated content, including social media, blog
hosts, etc.

> You own the rights to the content you create and post on Medium.

> By posting content to Medium, you give us a nonexclusive license to publish
> it on Medium Services, including anything reasonably related to publishing
> it (like storing, displaying, reformatting, and distributing it). In
> consideration for Medium granting you access to and use of the Services, you
> agree that Medium may enable advertising on the Services, including in
> connection with the display of your content or other information. We may
> also use your content to promote Medium, including its products and content.
> We will never sell your content to third parties without your explicit
> permission.

> You can delete any of your posts, or your account, anytime. Processing the
> deletion may take a little time, but we’ll do it as quickly as possible. We
> may keep backup copies of your deleted post or account on our servers for up
> to 14 days after you delete it.

[https://policy.medium.com/medium-terms-of-
service-9db0094a1e...](https://policy.medium.com/medium-terms-of-
service-9db0094a1e0f)

Edit: compare with HN's terms:

> User Content Transmitted Through the Site: With respect to the content or
> other materials you upload through the Site or share with other users or
> recipients (collectively, “User Content”), you represent and warrant that
> you own all right, title and interest in and to such User Content,
> including, without limitation, all copyrights and rights of publicity
> contained therein. By uploading any User Content you hereby grant and will
> grant Y Combinator and its affiliated companies a nonexclusive, worldwide,
> royalty free, fully paid up, transferable, sublicensable, perpetual,
> irrevocable license to copy, display, upload, perform, distribute, store,
> modify and otherwise use your User Content for any Y Combinator-related
> purpose in any form, medium or technology now known or later developed.

~~~
simonebrunozzi
This part: By posting content to Medium, you give us a nonexclusive license to
publish it on Medium Services.

It's unclear to me to what extent this license goes.

~~~
ReverseCold
In another comment you wrote: "what I like about Substack and Medium is how
easy it is for people to subscribe and discover. Their "distribution" is
great."

These license conditions allow them to make that discoverability possible.
It's probably just legal language to make sure that they can do that.

------
thomgo
I found [https://imprint.to/](https://imprint.to/) on product hunt the other
day, seemed good enough for me

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WClayFerguson
I have an entry in this space, that I wrote myself:

[https://quanta.wiki](https://quanta.wiki)

However it's not fully baked yet, and not on a server that will have huge
bandwidth.

~~~
Jaxkr
Layout’s a bit off on mobile:
[https://i.imgur.com/XIDOubl.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/XIDOubl.jpg)

Looks neat though. However, it has an absolutely staggering number of features
that I think might confuse people. Is it a blogging platform, a wiki, a
podcast platform, all of those?

~~~
WClayFerguson
Thanks for mentioning the mobile layout issue. That landing page is brand new
and I forgot to check mobile.

The platform is a general content tree, so yeah it can hold blogs or wikis or
anything. The podcast feature is not sophisticated, it just presents a feed,
and lets you click on items to listen to.

What I should do is load all of Wikipedia in (for one topic, like Physics) to
demonstrate how much better this kind of architecture for editing is, compared
to other wikis, imo.

------
whatismypasswd
i would assume all publishing platforms have terms of conditions full of
legally stuff that you dont want it sounds like, i would assume your only
solution would be making your own site.

