January 2, 2026
Own it, then blow it up
Publish (On Your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere
Keep your posts at home, blast them everywhere—because friends come first
TLDR: POSSE means posting on your own site first, then sharing links so people find the original. Commenters cheer the friends-first vibe, joke that HN’s been doing it forever, and warn big platforms downrank these links—sparking debates over automation, convenience, and whether this could shake up entire marketplaces.
POSSE, short for “Publish on your own site, syndicate elsewhere,” is the IndieWeb crowd-pleaser: post at home, then splash links across your social feeds so people can still hang out on their favorite apps while you keep ownership of the original on your site. The comments are buzzing with friends-first energy—as doodlesdev puts it, “Friends are more important than federation,” a clap-back at tech idealists who forget the humans behind the handles.
Hot take alert: theturtletalks says POSSE isn’t just for social—it could “disrupt every marketplace,” turning attention into a currency you control. Cue eye-rolls and cheers in equal measure. Meanwhile, GaryBluto drops deadpan snark: “If only HN had been doing this since inception. Oh wait,” implying the nerd crowd’s been quietly POSSE-ing for years.
The rebellious mood peaks with 01HNNWZ0MV43FF claiming Facebook downranks posts that link back to originals—if the giants hate it, it’s probably good, right? Pragmatists chime in too: simonw loves the philosophy, posts on his site, then links on Mastodon, Bluesky, Twitter, and sometimes LinkedIn—but admits he needs automation to make it stick.
Between own your URL and use the platforms for distribution, commenters are treating POSSE like internet aikido—turning spam and algorithms into traffic back to your home base.
Key Points
- •POSSE advocates publishing on one’s own site first and then syndicating copies or links to third-party platforms that point back to the original.
- •The model reduces reliance on third-party services, strengthens content ownership, and ensures canonical URLs remain on the creator’s domain.
- •Linking POSSE copies to the original via permashortlinks aids discovery, counters spam copying, and improves search ranking for originals.
- •POSSE improves searchability compared to silo-only search and enables copies to cite the original source.
- •Developers can implement POSSE by posting to chosen platforms with original-post links and using backfeed to import external responses.