Why Do Open Web Principles Still Matter for Hosting?

🔗 **Source:** [Why Do Open Web Principles Still Matter for Hosting?](https://wp.cloud/open-web-principles-and-hosting/)
> [!note]+ Document Notes
> tags: [open-web-principles, wordpress-hosting, sustainable-growth]
> author: [MISSING]
> source: WP Cloud
> reference: [https://wp.cloud/open-web-principles-and-hosting/]
> date created: {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}} {{time:HH:mm}}
>
> # 🏷️ Title: Why Do Open Web Principles Still Matter for Hosting?
>
<!-- deep-read:sections start -->
## 🧭 Table of Contents
- [📝 Summary](#-summary)
- [📖 Main Content](#-main-content)
- [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes)
- [📚 References](#-references)
- [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase)
- [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter)
- [✅ Action Items](#-action-items)
- [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses)
- [📊 Methodology](#-methodology)
- [❓ Questions](#-questions)
- [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research)
- [💡 Implications](#-implications)
- [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment)
- [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment)
- [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment)
- [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity)
- [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis)
- [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion)
## 📝 Summary
- Chris Coyier (CodePen, CSS-Tricks) discusses sustainable business growth and open web principles with Jesse Friedman on the Impressive Hosting podcast
- CodePen 2.0 launches as public beta, transforming from demo tool to full website hosting platform with custom domains and SSL
- The conversation emphasizes domain ownership as protection against platform instability and the importance of URLs as foundational web infrastructure
- Coyier chose organic growth over venture capital, building CodePen profitably over 15 years without hockey-stick moments
- Discussion covers WordPress's role in early web communities, AI's impact on code libraries, and WordPress Playground's WASM approach as potential future integration
## 📖 Main Content
Chris Coyier, founder of CodePen and former owner of CSS-Tricks, represents a philosophy of sustainable web business growth that runs counter to the typical venture capital playbook. In this podcast conversation with hosting expert Jesse Friedman, Coyier articulates why patient, profit-focused growth creates more durable value than the "grow fast or fail trying" approach common in tech startups.
### CodePen's Evolution and Business Philosophy
CodePen began as a tool for embedding code demos into CSS-Tricks blog posts but evolved into a platform serving teachers, interviewers, and developers sharing small ideas. The original version excelled at its intended use cases but created natural churn as users eventually needed more robust hosting solutions for production work.
CodePen 2.0 addresses this limitation by adding multi-file project support, deployment functionality with generated URLs, and custom domain support with automatic SSL provisioning. This expansion allows users to build and host complete websites, not just code demonstrations, potentially reducing the platform's user churn.
Coyier's business philosophy emphasizes long-term sustainability over explosive growth. Over 15 years, CodePen has experienced steady organic growth without major viral moments or venture capital funding. This approach prioritizes profitability and allows the company to serve its mission of helping people build websites without the pressure to achieve unrealistic growth targets or exit strategies.
### Open Web Principles and Domain Ownership
The conversation highlights the fundamental importance of URLs and domain ownership in maintaining web independence. Both Coyier and Friedman emphasize how domains provide protection against platform instability, referencing the changes to Twitter and other social media platforms that have disrupted users' established online presence.
The podcast advocates for domain ownership as "owning your real estate on the internet," allowing creators to maintain control over their audience relationships even if they initially redirect domains to platform-hosted content. This strategy provides a hedge against shadow-banning, deplatforming, or sudden platform policy changes.
### WordPress and Community Building
Coyier credits WordPress with enabling early web community building through features like comment sections, pingbacks, and RSS feeds that connected websites to each other rather than isolating them within platforms. CSS-Tricks benefited from this interconnected approach, receiving dozens or hundreds of comments per post during its peak community engagement period.
The discussion notes how community health appears to correlate inversely with size - smaller communities maintain better behavior and stronger social accountability, while larger platforms struggle with moderation and meaningful consequences for poor behavior.
### AI Strategy and Data Value
CodePen has deliberately avoided shipping AI features to users, focusing instead on human-generated code examples. This strategy has inadvertently created value as AI companies seek clean, human-generated training data to avoid model degradation from AI-generated content.
The conversation touches on WordPress Playground's WASM-based approach that runs WordPress without traditional PHP and MySQL dependencies, which Coyier's co-founder considers as a potential future integration for CodePen's hosting capabilities.
## 🗒️ Notes
#### ⏱️ [00:00:00](https://wp.cloud/open-web-principles-and-hosting/) Introduction and URL Philosophy
- Jesse introduces Chris Coyier as "internet revolutionary" behind CodePen and CSS-Tricks
- Coyier emphasizes URLs as foundation of the web: "A URL is just the foundation of the web and just a fantastic thing we all have"
- Podcasts work through URLs: RSS feeds with enclosures pointing to audio files with URLs
- "It's just URLs all the way down" - fundamental strength of the web worth protecting
#### ⏱️ Domain Ownership Discussion
- Jesse advocates domain ownership as protection against platform changes
- Suggests pointing personal domains to Instagram/social profiles as hedge against deplatforming
- Coyier: "When you own it, it's a big deal. Nobody else can tell you what to do with it"
- Discussion of Twitter's changes as example of platform instability
#### ⏱️ CodePen Origins and Use Cases
- Built initially to embed demos into CSS-Tricks blog posts
- Primary users: teachers, interviewers, developers sharing small ideas
- Real-time preview creates "aha moment" for new developers learning HTML/CSS
- Eliminates setup friction of local development environments
- Social network aspect with views, hearts, comments, and homepage feed
#### ⏱️ Business Growth Philosophy
- 15+ years of steady organic growth without "hockey-stick moments"
- Chose profit and patience over venture capital model
- "I'm not as interested in the idea of enough growth, throw it in the trash can, try again"
- Prefers long-term sustainable approach to business building
#### ⏱️ CodePen 2.0 Features
- Public beta launch expanding beyond demo tool
- Multi-file project support
- Deploy button generating live URLs (e.g., rainbowbobcattail.codepen.app)
- Custom domain support with automatic SSL provisioning
- Targets users who previously left due to production hosting needs
#### ⏱️ WordPress and Community Building
- CSS-Tricks built on WordPress, benefited from comment sections and RSS
- WordPress features like pingbacks connected websites to each other
- Early days had dozens/hundreds of comments per post
- Community engagement declined as industry grew larger
- Smaller communities tend to be healthier due to accountability
#### ⏱️ AI Strategy and Data Value
- CodePen has not shipped any AI features to customers yet
- Uses AI behind scenes for spam detection
- Human-generated code library becomes valuable as AI companies seek clean training data
- "Otherwise, they're just eating their own poop, essentially" regarding AI training on AI-generated content
#### ⏱️ WordPress Playground Integration Potential
- Co-founder tracking WordPress Playground WASM approach
- Runs WordPress without traditional PHP/MySQL requirements
- Potential future integration for CodePen hosting capabilities
- Coyier remains "WordPress guy" for personal projects outside CodePen
## 📚 References
- [CodePen](https://codepen.io)
- [CSS-Tricks](https://css-tricks.com)
- [Porkbun](https://porkbun.com)
- [WordPress Playground](https://playground.wordpress.net)
- [Dribbble](https://dribbble.com)
- [Jetpack](https://jetpack.com)
## 🗣️ Paraphrase
Chris Coyier represents a refreshing approach to web business building that prioritizes sustainability over explosive growth. His 15-year journey with CodePen demonstrates how patient, profit-focused development can create lasting value without venture capital pressure. The conversation reveals how CodePen evolved from a simple demo tool into a comprehensive hosting platform, addressing user churn by expanding capabilities rather than changing core mission.
The discussion emphasizes fundamental web principles that remain crucial despite technological changes. Domain ownership provides protection against platform volatility, while URLs serve as the foundational infrastructure enabling everything from podcasts to social networks. Coyier's perspective on community building highlights how WordPress's interconnected features fostered healthier online discussions compared to today's large, accountability-free platforms.
Perhaps most intriguingly, CodePen's deliberate avoidance of AI features has created unexpected value as their human-generated code library becomes increasingly precious for training future AI models. This accidental strategy demonstrates how principled product decisions can yield unforeseen benefits in rapidly evolving technological landscapes.
## 📰 Newsletter
**Building the Sustainable Web: Lessons from CodePen's 15-Year Journey**
While the tech world chases unicorns and hockey-stick growth, Chris Coyier has quietly built one of the web's most beloved developer tools through patience and profit-focused decisions. CodePen's evolution from demo tool to full hosting platform offers WordPress professionals valuable insights into sustainable business growth and the enduring importance of open web principles.
Key takeaways for the WordPress community:
- **Domain ownership remains critical** - protect your audience relationships against platform changes
- **Sustainable growth beats explosive scaling** - CodePen's 15-year organic growth model creates lasting value
- **Community size affects health** - smaller WordPress communities often foster better engagement than massive platforms
- **URLs are infrastructure** - the foundational technology connecting everything from podcasts to websites
CodePen 2.0's launch with custom domains and SSL automation shows how developer tools can evolve while maintaining core principles. For WordPress hosting professionals, Coyier's approach demonstrates the value of patient iteration and user-focused feature development.
*Learn more about sustainable web practices and hosting strategies at [impressive.host](https://impressive.host)*
## ✅ Action Items
#### DevRel
- Research CodePen 2.0 integration opportunities for WordPress developer education
- Document sustainable growth case studies for developer community presentations
- Create domain ownership educational content for WordPress users
- Develop workshops on URL-first web architecture principles
#### WordPress
- **Core:** Evaluate WASM integration potential following WordPress Playground model
- **Community:** Study small-community moderation best practices for WordCamp organization
- **Documentation:** Create guides emphasizing URL permanence and domain ownership benefits
- **Hosting:** Research custom domain automation features similar to CodePen 2.0 approach
- **Meta:** Analyze comment system engagement patterns across community site sizes
#### Community
- **Maintainers:** Document sustainable project growth strategies avoiding VC pressure models
- **Contributors:** Create educational content about web fundamentals and URL importance
- **Sponsors:** Evaluate long-term partnership models based on sustainable growth principles
## 🧪 Hypotheses
- Small online communities (under 1000 active members) maintain healthier discourse than large platforms due to social accountability mechanisms
- Domain ownership provides measurable protection against audience loss during platform changes or algorithm shifts
- Sustainable business growth (5-20% annually) creates more durable developer tool companies than venture-capital-funded explosive growth models
- Human-generated code libraries will become increasingly valuable as AI training data as model quality becomes dependent on non-AI source material
- WordPress Playground's WASM approach will enable new categories of web hosting that eliminate traditional server requirements
- Real-time code preview tools reduce new developer onboarding time by 60-80% compared to traditional local development setup
## 📊 Methodology
- **Community health correlation study:** Survey discourse quality metrics across WordPress communities of varying sizes (100, 1K, 10K, 100K members)
- **Domain ownership protection analysis:** Track audience retention for creators using owned domains vs. platform-only presence during platform disruptions
- **Sustainable growth longitudinal study:** Compare 10-year survival rates and customer satisfaction between VC-funded and organically-grown developer tools
- **Code library value assessment:** Analyze pricing and demand trends for human-generated vs. AI-generated training datasets
- **WASM hosting feasibility study:** Performance benchmark WordPress Playground against traditional LAMP stack configurations
- **Developer onboarding time trials:** A/B test new developer HTML/CSS learning using real-time preview tools vs. traditional file-browser-refresh workflow
## ❓ Questions
- How can WordPress hosting providers implement CodePen-style automatic SSL and custom domain provisioning?
- What specific features of early WordPress fostered stronger community engagement compared to modern social platforms?
- How will WordPress Playground's WASM approach change traditional hosting business models?
- What makes certain developer communities maintain quality discourse while others deteriorate?
- How can sustainable growth principles apply to WordPress plugin and theme businesses?
- What role does domain ownership play in creator economy resilience?
## 🔮 Future Research
- **WASM WordPress hosting implications:** Study performance, security, and scalability of browser-based WordPress instances
- **Community moderation at scale:** Research social accountability mechanisms that work across different community sizes
- **Sustainable SaaS growth models:** Analyze alternatives to venture capital funding for WordPress service businesses
- **Domain ownership economic impact:** Quantify creator revenue protection through owned domain strategies
- **AI training data market evolution:** Track demand and pricing for human-generated web development content
- **Real-time development environment adoption:** Study impact on coding education and professional workflows
## 💡 Implications
**Practice:** WordPress hosting providers should prioritize custom domain automation and SSL provisioning to match user expectations set by platforms like CodePen 2.0. Developer education should emphasize URL permanence and domain ownership as fundamental web literacy.
**Policy:** Domain registrars and hosting companies may need governance frameworks protecting against sudden platform policy changes that could disrupt creator audiences built over years.
**Security:** WASM-based WordPress hosting introduces new security considerations as traditional server-side protections move to browser environments.
**Education:** Coding education should incorporate real-time preview tools to reduce onboarding friction and improve learning outcomes for new developers.
**Funding:** WordPress ecosystem businesses should consider sustainable growth models as alternatives to venture capital, particularly for developer tools and community-focused services.
## 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment
**Reading level estimate:** Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 12.3 (college level). The technical discussion of web technologies and business strategy requires advanced comprehension.
#### 👀 Visual learners
- **Present:** Conceptual discussion of web architecture and business models
- **Improve:** Add architecture diagrams showing URL-based web infrastructure, CodePen 2.0 workflow visualizations, sustainable growth curve comparisons vs. VC models, community size vs. engagement quality charts
#### 🔊 Aural learners
- **Present:** Full podcast audio with natural conversation flow
- **Improve:** Add chapter markers for key topics, provide 2-minute audio summary highlighting main principles, create TTS-friendly transcript formatting
#### 🗣️ Verbal learners
- **Present:** Clear definitions of technical terms, analogies (URLs as "real estate"), examples of platform changes
- **Improve:** Add glossary of web development terms, expand analogies for business model differences, provide more concrete examples of community moderation success stories
#### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners
- **Present:** References to hands-on coding experience and website building
- **Improve:** Create CodePen examples demonstrating discussed principles, provide WordPress setup checklist for custom domains, design community engagement experiment templates
#### 🧠 Logical learners
- **Present:** Business growth timeline, cause-and-effect relationships between community size and health
- **Improve:** Add decision trees for domain ownership strategies, create growth rate comparison tables, provide framework for evaluating sustainable business models
#### 🧑🤝🧑 Social learners
- **Present:** Community-focused discussion, collaborative WordPress ecosystem examples
- **Improve:** Design discussion prompts for WordPress meetups, create peer review framework for sustainable business practices, provide group exercise templates
#### 🧘♀️ Solitary learners
- **Present:** Individual reflection opportunities on business philosophy and web principles
- **Improve:** Add self-assessment questionnaire for sustainable growth readiness, provide journaling prompts about domain ownership strategy, create personal web independence checklist
#### 🌿 Naturalistic learners
- **Present:** Organic growth metaphors, ecosystem thinking about web communities
- **Improve:** Expand ecological analogies for web health, discuss sustainability impact of different hosting approaches, connect community principles to natural system patterns
## 📊 Accessibility Assessment
#### Screen reader semantics
- **Present:** Clear heading hierarchy, podcast transcript structure
- **Improve:** Add ARIA landmarks for podcast segments, ensure all technical terms have context for screen readers, provide descriptive text for any referenced visual elements
#### Keyboard navigation
- **Present:** Standard web article format allows keyboard navigation
- **Improve:** Ensure all embedded audio controls are keyboard accessible, add skip links for long transcript sections
#### Contrast and readability
- **Present:** Standard text contrast on WP Cloud website
- **Improve:** Verify transcript formatting maintains 4.5:1 contrast ratio, ensure code examples have sufficient contrast, check link color accessibility
#### Text resizing and reflow
- **Present:** Responsive web design accommodates zoom
- **Improve:** Test transcript readability at 200% zoom, ensure technical terms don't break awkwardly when text reflows
#### Media and captions
- **Present:** Full transcript provided for podcast audio
- **Improve:** Add timestamp markers for easier navigation, provide downloadable transcript option, ensure audio player has accessible controls
#### Forms and interactions
- **Present:** Basic comment form follows standard practices
- **Improve:** Add form field labels, implement accessible error handling for comment submission
#### Standards reference
- Maps to WCAG 2.2 AA criteria for multimedia content and transcript provision
## 🌍 DEIB Assessment
#### Cultural breadth
- **Present:** Global perspective on WordPress community, mention of WordCamp India
- **Improve:** Include more examples from non-US web development communities, discuss localization challenges for developer tools, address different economic contexts for sustainable business models
#### Inclusive language
- **Present:** Professional, conversational tone without exclusionary jargon
- **Improve:** Define technical terms more consistently, avoid assumptions about listener's business experience, expand acronyms on first use
#### Neurodiversity support
- **Present:** Clear conversation structure with topic transitions
- **Improve:** Add content outline with estimated reading times, break long transcript sections into smaller chunks, provide summary bullets for key concepts
#### Representation
- **Present:** Features perspectives from established web development professionals
- **Improve:** Include voices from different backgrounds in web development, address barriers to entering sustainable business models, acknowledge different paths to web development careers
#### Psychological safety
- **Present:** Respectful discussion of different business approaches without judgment
- **Improve:** Add content note about business strategy discussion length, provide alternative perspectives on growth models, include resources for different business approaches
## ✅ Logical Validity
#### Strong reasoning
- **Domain ownership protection argument:** Coyier and Friedman present strong inductive reasoning based on observed platform changes (Twitter/X, Instagram algorithm changes) leading to creator audience disruption. The logic that owning domains provides hedge protection is sound and supported by examples.
- **Community size correlation:** The deductive reasoning about smaller communities having better discourse quality due to accountability mechanisms is well-supported by social psychology research and concrete examples from birding/music communities vs. large platforms.
- **Sustainable growth model:** Coyier's preference for organic growth over VC funding demonstrates strong analogical reasoning, comparing business building to long-term relationship building rather than extraction-focused models.
#### Fallacies
- **Survivorship bias:** Discussion focuses on CodePen's successful sustainable growth without addressing similar approaches that may have failed - could strengthen by acknowledging this limitation
- **False dichotomy:** Presents VC funding vs. organic growth as binary choice, when hybrid approaches exist - could improve by acknowledging spectrum of funding strategies
- **Hasty generalization:** Claims about AI training data value based on limited current evidence - should qualify these predictions as speculative
#### Tone of voice
- **Conversational and collaborative:** "What up, Jesse? Good to be on your show" - establishes friendly, peer-to-peer relationship rather than expert-audience dynamic
- **Humble confidence:** "I don't know if I am that [revolutionary]. It just sounds cool" - demonstrates expertise while avoiding arrogance
- **Principled pragmatism:** Balances idealistic web values with practical business considerations throughout discussion
## 🛡️ DARVO Analysis
**No DARVO patterns detected.** The conversation maintains collaborative tone throughout, with both speakers acknowledging challenges and trade-offs in their respective approaches. When discussing platform changes or community issues, both Coyier and Friedman focus on systemic problems rather than attacking individuals or reversing blame dynamics. The discussion of business models remains descriptive rather than defensive, presenting choices without vilifying alternatives.
## 🎯 Conclusion
Chris Coyier's 15-year journey with CodePen demonstrates that sustainable, profit-focused growth can build lasting value in the web development ecosystem without sacrificing core principles or user needs. His conversation with Jesse Friedman reinforces fundamental truths about web infrastructure: URLs and domain ownership remain critical for creator independence, small communities foster healthier engagement than massive platforms, and patient iteration often yields more durable results than explosive scaling.
For WordPress professionals, the key insight is that sustainable growth and open web principles complement rather than conflict with business success. CodePen 2.0's evolution from demo tool to hosting platform shows how companies can expand capabilities while maintaining their core mission of helping people build websites.
**Practical next steps for readers:**
- Evaluate your domain ownership strategy as protection against platform changes
- Consider sustainable growth models for WordPress businesses as alternatives to VC funding
- Implement real-time preview capabilities in WordPress development education
- Study small community moderation practices for healthier WordPress community engagement
- Explore WASM-based WordPress hosting as emerging technology worth monitoring
## 🔄 Refactor Appendix — Why Do Open Web Principles Still Matter for Hosting?
### 📚 Literature Atoms (H3)
#### Domain ownership provides hedge protection against platform volatility
> [!quote] ID:transcript_001
> "When you own it, it's a big deal. Nobody else can tell you what to do with it or how it's handled... I don't like it when big platforms go away or have big sweeping institutional change. We've lived through it so many times."
**Context & use**:
- Discussion of social media platform changes affecting creator audiences
- Fundamental web infrastructure principle for creator economy resilience
- Practical strategy: point owned domains to platform content as interim solution
**Tags**: #xref #domain-ownership #creator-economy
**Highlight**: Platform volatility examples from Twitter changes
<!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ -->
#### Sustainable growth creates more durable businesses than VC scaling models
> [!quote] ID:transcript_002
> "I'm not as interested in the idea of enough growth, throw it in the trash can, try again. I'm like, 'No, I don't have infinite ideas. I like this idea. I'm doing this idea 'cause I like this idea.'"
**Context & use**:
- CodePen's 15-year organic growth without hockey-stick moments
- Alternative to venture capital "10X or fail" approach
- Emphasizes long-term value creation over exit strategies
**Tags**: #xref #sustainable-business #startup-strategy
**Highlight**: Business philosophy prioritizing longevity over explosive growth
<!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ -->
#### Small communities maintain healthier discourse through accountability mechanisms
> [!quote] ID:transcript_003
> "There's probably some weird sociological rule that says the smaller a community, the healthier it is. Because there's consequences... you can just be as horrible as you want, and it's so big you don't even remember people"
**Context & use**:
- Comparison between small birding communities and large platforms like Twitter
- WordPress community moderation implications for different scale events
- Social psychology principle applicable to online community management
**Tags**: #xref #community-management #social-psychology
**Highlight**: Size-behavior correlation in online communities
<!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ -->
### 🧠 Permanent Candidates (H4)
#### URL-based architecture enables open web resilience
**Claim**: The web's foundational URL system creates interoperability and independence that platform-specific addressing cannot match.
**Evidence pointer**: [[#Domain ownership provides hedge protection against platform volatility]]
**Scope & conditions**: Applies when content creators have control over domain registration and DNS routing; breaks when domains are controlled by hostile registrars or government censorship
**Links**:
- [[Open web principles]] — because extends fundamental architecture concepts
- [[Creator economy resilience]] — because applies-in audience relationship protection
- [[Platform risk management]] — because evidence-for diversification strategies
<!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ -->
### ✏️ Fleeting Queue
- Research WordPress Playground WASM integration timeline and technical requirements — hosting implications for traditional server models #fleeting #technology-research
- Investigate CodePen 2.0 automatic SSL provisioning approach for WordPress hosting feature development #fleeting #product-development
- Analyze correlation between community size and engagement quality across WordPress meetups and WordCamps #fleeting #community-research
### → Things 3
- [ ] Document sustainable business growth case studies for WordPress service companies #things
- [ ] Create domain ownership educational content for WordPress users emphasizing platform protection #things
<!-- deep-read:sections end -->
📄 **Full text:** ![[Full Document Contents/Articles/Why Do Open Web Principles Still Matter for Hosting.md|Why Do Open Web Principles Still Matter for Hosting? by wp.cloud]]
## Highlights
- Well, thanks. Yeah, I’ve been doing the internet for a long time, as have you. Making the internet better too while we’re here, we might as well, ’cause it’s one of human beings’ greatest ideas, I think. That’s why we’re all so damn smart recently, you know? It’s ’cause we have the internet. You can just look stuff up. There’s no AI without the internet, I’ll tell you that much. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ktc380xxaw78t3fhx2x602v4))
- Note: The internet as foundational human achievement — and the dependency point: "There's no AI without the internet."
- Tags: ai, atom/literature/h3, open-web
- Yeah, huge, right? When you own it, it’s a big deal. Nobody else can tell you what to do with it or how it’s handled. Yet anyway. Not trying to tempt you, government. Stay out of it. It’s kind of a “No, this is mine,” you know? Stay out of my stuff. I don’t like it when big platforms go away or have big sweeping institutional change. We’ve lived through it so many times. Remember when Twitter used to exist? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ktc37nfzyqwtctf23nxs46nw))
- Note: The core open-web principle: when you own it, nobody else dictates how it's handled — versus the recurring pain of big platforms vanishing or making sweeping institutional changes.
- Tags: ownership, atom/literature/h1, platform-risk, open-web
- Steady organic growth is actually something that a lot of people envy. You get this idea that the internet is gonna make you blow up, that social media is gonna explode, that you’re gonna get some influencer who’s gonna sell your product. But in reality, CodePen’s a little different than some hot sneaker that an influencer can peddle. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ktc37tktnmdahvtwgzrkm3qz))
- Note: On building for the long haul: steady organic growth is what people actually envy, versus the influencer-driven "blow up" fantasy.
- Tags: atom/literature/h3, growth, open-web