Blog Updates: Newsletter and backups

بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

I have made a few improvements to this blog.

The blog remains tracker-free. This means no analytics or even pixel-trackers. Only my free hosting provider has knowledge of the blog analytics and this is something not worth paying for(there are too many 'free' static hosts now).

Newsletter

I have added a newsletter using Tinyletter. You can subscribe HERE.

The newsletter is an alternative for people who don't use or don't know how to use RSS.

I don't personally subscribe to newsletters because of the "monetize everything" mentality of the modern world. Rest assured that this blog will remain focused on the content and not on shilling. Insha Allah.

Backups

When I will inevitably pass on, I don't expect those around me to carry the burden of renewing my domain name. I have come up with a mechanism to preserve my blog content using both GitHub(https://kentoseth.github.io) and GitLab(https://kentoseth.gitlab.io). These backups are based on the assumption that GitHub and GitLab will act in good faith to keep the backups preserved and that they will outlive me.

Also the discussion around making a Pelican blog multi-publish can be found here.

Regarding the Internet Archive, there is no way to make it index your website. The crawlers work on their own unknown mechanism.

The many P2P and blockchain options are not workable/feasible either and have their own bus factors. Expecting someone to keep your RaspBerry Pi running for a ZeroNet website is less practical than just renewing a domain.

I have also expended too much energy looking for a cheap/free/practical option and the closest I got was to just create backups on GitHub/GitLab and any other provider that has a similar "free static website" feature.

Publishing

I have also recently had 1 of my articles published by another blog.

The article can be found here: What are the sources of sunnah.com and shamela.ws?

Social Media

I do not use social media out of principle, due to its invasive privacy violations. I have however, setup a Mastodon account on Fosstodon as it:

• runs on Open Source software
• is 1 of the few Mastodon instances with a reliable longevity plan
• is based around FOSS(Free and Open Source Software)

You can follow me at:

https://fosstodon.org/@kentoseth

For any suggestions for improving this blog(layout, reach, etc.), reach out to me via the email on the left.