Why I Started a Blog on My Own Computer
Self-hosting build log part 1. An introductory piece for the series. Reasons for the decision and considerations made at that time.
TL;DR
- Tistory and Naver blogs are good, but five issues were bothersome: ads, enforced tone, data lock-in, risk of service closure, restrictions on experimentation.
- By opting for my own computer (mini-PC) + WordPress + domain, these five issues are resolved in one go.
- Initial cost = annual domain renewal fee of $10. The mini-PC was already available.
- Trap: “I take full responsibility” — backup, security, updates, and downtime are all my responsibility.
1. Initially Considered Tistory
The moment I decided to create a blog, the natural first candidates were Tistory and Naver blog. It takes 5 minutes to sign up, and you’re ready to write. It has good visibility in Korean searches and offers a mobile app.
However, after three days of creating, five issues became bothersome.
| Issues | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Ads | Platform ads in between and around my posts. Mixed content that doesn’t align with my tone. |
| Enforced Tone | The platform’s design reflects a “friendly everyday” tone. Objective and technical writing feels awkward. |
| Data Lock-in | My written content resides in the platform’s database. Difficult to extract in Markdown format. |
| Risk of Service Closure | If the service shuts down like Yahoo Blog or Daum View, all posts would be lost. |
| Restrictions on Experimentation | Unable to attach new plugins, AI-friendly robots.txt, or custom analysis tools. |
The content I wished to produce was “study, trading, automation” — technical, long, and steady in tone. These platforms didn’t align well with that.
2. Exploring Other Options
There are about four alternatives besides self-hosting.
Reasons for eliminating each:
- Medium/Substack: Targets English speakers + subscription model + enforced tone. Weak exposure for Korean.
- GitHub Pages + Hugo: Static site; the lightest option. However, comments, analytics, and plugins all depend on external services.
- Notion Public Page: Weak exposure to search engines. Unable to set an AI-friendly robots.txt.
3. Self-hosting = Solving Five Issues at Once
| Issues that Bothered Me | In Self-hosting |
|---|---|
| Ads | None. They won’t appear unless I place them. |
| Enforced Tone | Full control over themes and CSS. My tone remains intact. |
| Data Lock-in | Data resides on my computer. Automated daily backups. |
| Risk of Service Closure | As long as my computer doesn’t fail, it stays up. |
| Restrictions on Experimentation | Freedom to implement mu-plugin, robots.txt, llms.txt, and trackers. |
Moreover, an added advantage: in the age of AI search (GEO), automatically generating English versions enables global visibility. Multi-language support is generally challenging on platform blogs.
4. Cost Comparison
| Item | Tistory/Naver | Self-hosting (Star Whale) |
|---|---|---|
| Signup Fee | 0 KRW | Annual domain renewal fee of $10 (≈ 14,000 KRW) |
| Hosting | Free (includes ads) | Mini-PC electricity costs (already powered on) |
| Ad Revenue | Platform takes half | 100% to me (will not place ads, so irrelevant) |
| Backup | Managed by the platform (but difficult to extract) | My responsibility (automated with cron) |
| Maintenance Cost | 0 KRW | 0 KRW (aside from the domain) |
For those without a mini-PC, a Raspberry Pi ($35) or a second-hand mini-PC ($100–200) + domain is sufficient. Still, the total cost for a year remains below $50.
5. Trap — “I Take Full Responsibility”
The true cost of self-hosting is not monetary but responsibility.
| Responsibility | Frequency | Can be Automated? |
|---|---|---|
| DB Backup | Daily | ✅ Cron + automatic to Obsidian Vault |
| Security Updates | Weekly | △ wp-cli + notifications |
| SSL Renewal | Every 90 days | ✅ Handled automatically by Cloudflare Tunnel |
| Attack Response | 24/7 | ✅ WAF + Wordfence |
| Downtime (Power/Internet) | Occasionally | ❌ Handled by myself |
| Site Design/Plugin Conflicts | Occasionally | ❌ I debug myself |
All five responsibilities previously handled by platform blogs now fall on me. Automatable tasks will be automated, and non-automatable ones I will accept.
FAQ
Q. Can I opt for a cloud VPS if I don’t have a mini-PC?
Yes. A $5/month VPS such as AWS Lightsail, DigitalOcean, or Vultr will suffice. However, this incurs monthly costs and limits control freedom compared to a mini-PC.
Q. Will a traffic surge cripple my home internet?
With Cloudflare Tunnel + CDN in front, static content is absorbed by Cloudflare. Dynamic requests reaching my home mini-PC are the only ones processed. Typically, even a viral spike can be handled.
Q. Do I need to turn on the PC every time I write?
The WordPress admin interface = logging in at /starport. Accessible from anywhere. The PC used for writing and the mini-PC are separate. As long as the mini-PC is powered on 24/7, it’s sufficient.
Q. Can foreigners read my Korean posts?
This will be discussed in part 9 (Polylang). If only one Korean language post is written in Obsidian, the LLM will automatically generate an English version and handle hreflang with Polylang. My burden = one Korean version.
Q. Did I regret this choice?
I regretted for about a day — during the initial setup, I struggled with Apache settings, SSL renewals, and DB permission issues until 3 AM. Once it’s finished, I won’t do it the same way again.
Next Part Preview
Part 2 — One Square Meter Server: Running WordPress on Docker. The process of getting WordPress, MariaDB, and Redis operational on a single mini-PC using Docker Compose in 30 minutes.
Summary in One Line
Platform blogs are easy to start, but the five issues of ads, tone enforcement, and data lock-in are bothersome. Self-hosting resolves these five issues simultaneously—setup takes a day, automation daily, and accepting responsibilities = an annual cost of $10.
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