IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

Publish on your own site, syndicate elsewhere

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

1. POSSE Enables Content Ownership

Users emphasize publishing first on personal sites as the "single source of truth," avoiding platform dependency.
"POSSE offers a single source of truth the owner owns, vs PESOS which has multiple source of truth not owned by the owner if it's an external site." - j45
"My personal website is my canonical home address on the web. It has outlived a few platforms and many rounds of enshittification." - nicbou

2. Syndication Challenges on Big Platforms

Automation is hindered by API restrictions, downranking, and shadowbans.
"You can tell it's a good idea because Facebook and other 'big enough to crush instead of cooperate' media sites down-rank you for doing it." - 01HNNWZ0MV43FF
"Over the last two years, almost all of those broke due to API paywalls or aggressive bot detection." - Fiveplus
"Too bad many of these walled-garden platforms have now started to demote posts if they contain external URLs." - rednafi

3. RSS Remains Vital for Traffic and Discovery

RSS drives significant readership, with recommendations for tools and feeds.
"most of the traffic to my website still comes from RSS feeds, even in 2026!" - susam
"The bulk of my traffic now comes from RSS readers." - foxfired
"RSS is my preferred way to consume blog posts." - ronbenton

🚀 Project Ideas

Smart POSSE Automator

Summary

  • A hosted service that automates POSSE syndication from RSS/Atom feeds to Mastodon, Bluesky, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, and Instagram, handling character limits, posting links as comments to avoid demotion, and Instagram notifications/business account flows.
  • Core value: Frictionless "publish once, syndicate smartly" without manual copy-paste or API breakage worries.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Indie bloggers and developers using POSSE like simonw and foxfired
Core Feature Feed ingestion + AI-generated platform-tailored summaries/teasers; auto-posts with link-in-comments strategy
Tech Stack Node.js/Go backend, RSS parsers (rss-parser), platform APIs (Mastodon API, Twitter API v2, Meta Graph API), Vercel/Render hosting
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Freemium ($5/mo pro for >5 platforms)

Notes

  • "I really need to automate it though - hard on Twitter and LinkedIn but still pretty easy for Bluesky and Mastodon." (simonw); addresses Instagram pains from acessoproibido.
  • HN users would love the anti-shadowban hacks; high utility for consistent traffic growth as seen in foxfired's 8x boost.

Cross-Platform Backfeed Hub

Summary

  • Self-hosted or SaaS tool that aggregates replies, likes, and quotes from syndicated posts across platforms back to your site via webmentions, APIs, or scraping, displaying unified comment threads.
  • Core value: Solves "managing conversations across venues is way harder than publishing" by centralizing engagement on your own site.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience POSSE users frustrated with fragmented discussions like starkparker and nicbou
Core Feature Poll APIs/scrape for backfeeds; Webmention endpoint integration; threaded display with original post links
Tech Stack Python/Django or Rust/Actix, Webmention.io-inspired, Cron jobs for polling, SQLite/Postgres
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • "managing the conversations across venues is way harder than publishing to them, and POSSE doesn't address this except for... backfeeds" (starkparker).
  • Sparks indieweb discussions; practical for maintaining "friends > federation" philosophy.

Indie Analytics Dashboard

Summary

  • Privacy-first dashboard that parses server logs, RSS aggregator stats, and HN/Reddit mentions to visualize traffic sources (RSS vs. direct vs. social), without trackers or cookies.
  • Core value: Gives indieweb bloggers like foxfired and susam clear insights into RSS dominance and organic growth.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Self-hosters avoiding Google Analytics, e.g., NetOpWibby, foxfired
Core Feature Log parsing (Apache/Nginx), RSS sub counts via Feedly/Inoreader APIs, HN scraper integration
Tech Stack Go CLI tool + Svelte frontend, Docker self-host, Plausible-like charts
Difficulty Low
Monetization Revenue-ready: $3/mo hosted version

Notes

  • "I want to add analytics to my blog too, haven't had any on my sites for about a decade." (NetOpWibby); "bulk of my traffic now comes from RSS readers." (foxfired, susam).
  • HN commenters share tools like HN-popularity; would fuel meta-discussions on POSSE ROI.

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