Tell HN: 3 years of running a minimal blogging platform
by HermanMartinus on Hacker News.
Roughly 3 years ago I launched the open-source blogging platform [Bear Blog](https://bearblog.dev) (which was greeted by the HN hug on its first day live). Since then it’s been cracking along well, with about 150 blogs per week being started, and some prolific bloggers settling into it. The best thing is seeing the variety of blogs popping up. I’m going to have to set up a list of “neat Bear Blogs” in the future. The worst thing is the sheer number of spam accounts being opened (about 30% of new blogs).I review all blogs by hand in a Tinder-esque system. Currently there are a few people sponsoring the project (about $240 per month) which pays for the server and my coffee. It’s fun. I only put in a handful of hours a month to maintain, update, and secure the blogs. Next steps? I’m thinking of just keeping it up. Over the next few years it will become more refined, more robust, and more secure. This isn’t a financial project (my other company pays me a salary). It’s just fun building the blogging platform I want to use.