A Problem A Day

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May 16, 2024

1. Where should I host a daily blog?

Problem: I want to host a daily blog for my A Problem A Day project.

Here’s what I think I want from a platform: 

  • It should be easy to use.

  • I want to be able to write and publish from web or mobile.

  • It needs to be free or under ~$20. 

  • It cannot require an ongoing paid subscription (custom domains + hosting are out).

  • It should have the ability to email people. 

A few options I tried but didn’t work for one reason or another:

  • Google Docs. This is easy to use and customize. I can make it feel like a separate project and it’s free. I also love writing in Google Docs. But it doesn’t have email and I think that’s too important for me. 

  • Substack. Substack checks a lot of boxes: it’s free, it’s easy to use, and it has email built in. The main thing holding me back is that I’ve already created a half dozen Substacks and it feels silly to create another one. Note: checking back, I actually tried to create another Substack and couldn’t figure out how to create a new newsletter, so gave up after 15 minutes. 

  • Wix / Squarespace / Wordpress. These also check a lot of boxes, they just feel cheap / mid 2000s. Pass.

  • Beehiiv. I thought Beehiiv was going to be the solution, but it seems Beehiiv doesn’t save your emails in an archive on the web anywhere. This is critical for me! I created an account, then deleted it because it wasn’t what I wanted.

The option I went with:

Buttondown. 
It seems to have everything I need, and Justin Duke (the creator of Buttondown) seems like a standup guy. I’ll let you all know how it goes.

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