welcome to the deep dive. So you've come to us looking for something specific,
haven't you? A way
to share your life, online photos, updates, all that stuff, but without handing
over control to
the big tech companies. You're basically tired of that trade-off, right? Convenience
versus privacy.
Well, today we're digging into a potential solution. We're looking at an
application called
Haven. You can describe it simply as a self-hostable private blogging system.
And the big question we're tackling is, can we get that easy, almost instant
posting experience we
like from social media, but, you know, totally ditch the tracking, the ads, and all
that spam.
Now, before we really dive into the why behind owning your data, just a quick word
about the
supporter making this deep dive possible. This show is brought to you by Safe
Server. They handle the
hosting side of things for software like Haven, and they support your digital
transformation journey.
Basically, they make sure you've got the reliable foundation you need to run your
own stuff. You can
find out more at www.safeserver.de. Okay, yeah, let's get into it. Our sources show
this whole
project, Haven. It started from a really human problem, which is often where the
best ideas
come from, right? The mission here for you, the listener, is about shifting gears,
moving from
being, well, the product online to actually owning your little corner of the
internet.
So, we'll start with a philosophy like why bother? Then we'll look at the features
that make it
private. And finally, and this is key, we'll break down how easy or maybe difficult
it is to
actually host this yourself, even if you're, you know, not super technical. Okay,
so the origin
story. This is where it gets really interesting, I think. It didn't start as some
big software
venture. Not at all. It came from pure frustration, actually. The founder just
needed a safe,
private place online to share photos of his newborn daughter, just with close
friends and family.
That's literally it. Which sounds incredibly simple, like something that should be
easy to do.
Exactly. But that simple need immediately ran into walls. If you try using
something established,
like WordPress, you suddenly find yourself lost in this maze of privacy plugins and
settings,
just trying to lock it down properly. Right. Spend all this time configuring it.
And what happens? Spam. The founder's private family-only site was immediately
getting hit
with sign-up requests from bots and random people. It just completely undermines
the whole point of
creating that private intimate space. So the realization kind of hit hard. The way
things
are set up now online, it's all built for public sharing, for eyeballs, for monetization.
Not really
for genuine privacy. People needed their own little walled garden, you know, fully
controlled by them.
And that really nails the core difference, doesn't it? We're so used to thinking
social media is free.
But it's not free. We pay with our attention, our data. That's the invisible cost.
And it chips away
at our privacy and ultimately our ownership over what we share. That's the trade-off.
Haven directly
challenges the big platforms. They make money from ads. And to make those ads
effective,
they track everything. They read your posts. They figure out your interests. They
target you.
Haven just flips that whole model. You decide who sees your stuff. There are no ads.
There's no
tracking. Built-in Google isn't crawling your private posts. You get total control
back.
It's really about reclaiming ownership, isn't it? Moving from being the data point
to being the owner.
Precisely. It's a deliberate step away from just consuming platforms to actually
owning your content
and, importantly, the connections within your own social circle.
Okay. So the goal was clear. Maximum privacy, zero spam. How did that translate
into the
actual design choices for Haven? What makes it tick under the hood to support that
privacy focus?
Well, the design choices are really intentional and, honestly, quite minimalist.
First off,
they're very upfront about what Haven is for. It's specifically designed for
sharing with that
close circle friends family. If you need a company blog or something to drive
traffic and make money,
they actually suggest using something else, like WordPress or Ghost. This is for
personal,
private use. And it's open source, which feels important here.
Absolutely vital, yeah, for trust. It's under the MIT license. That means the code,
the blueprint of
how it works is totally open. Anyone can look at it. Security experts can audit it.
There are no
hidden bits, no secret tracking. You can literally see how your data is handled.
The sources also mentioned some clever things around keeping it lightweight,
especially with
bandwidth. Yeah, that serves a couple of purposes. Speed, mainly, but also keeping
things simple.
Images get automatically downscaled a bit, so pages load faster, especially on
slower connections.
Crucially, they've avoided bloating it with lots of external code. No heavy
JavaScript frameworks
that can sometimes be exploited, definitely no ads, and absolutely zero tracking
scripts.
So it's lean. Very lean. It's designed to be a focused, private tool. And it's
built on
Ruby on Rails, which is a mature, well-regarded framework. So it's solid, not just
some quick hack.
Okay, that makes sense. A solid foundation for a simple goal. But what about that
original pain
point? The spam signups that drove the founder crazy. How did they eliminate that
threat?
Ah, yeah, that's maybe the most elegant part. The main defense is super simple.
There is no
self-signup feature at all. The only way someone gets access is if the
administrator that's you,
the owner, explicitly invites them and creates an account for them.
So no random bots can even find a signup page.
Exactly. No bots, no strangers, no unwanted traffic can get in and mess with your
private space.
And managing those users, changing the look of it, writing posts, which uses Markdown,
by the way, with a nice live preview. It's all done through a straightforward web
interface.
That is elegant. Just remove the open door entirely.
And it still functions like a modern blog for the people you do invite.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. It handles images, videos, audio files,
and it has a neat feature, private RSS feeds.
Private RSS. How does that work?
So the friends you invite can follow your updates using their favorite RSS reader
app
without needing to log into your Haven site all the time. It just pushes the
updates to them
privately. And what I think is really cool, Haven also has its own built-in RSS
reader.
So you can follow your friends' Havens or even public blogs you like,
all from inside your own secure space. Consolidates things nicely.
Okay, this sounds really promising, but now we hit the big question mark for many
people.
Self-hosting. That term alone can sound intimidating.
It definitely can.
For anyone listening who's maybe new to this, self-hosting just means you're
running the
website's software in this case, Haven on a server that you control, or at least
rent space on,
not on Facebook servers or Googles. And yeah, traditionally that sounds like you
need to be an
IT pro. But the sources suggest Haven actually offers different levels of
difficulty, right?
Exactly. And that's the crucial part for making this accessible. The question is,
okay, if I'm just starting out, how much technology and effort are we talking about?
We really need to start with the absolute easiest ways in. The simplest, hands down,
is what's called fully managed hosting. Basically, you pay a company maybe as
little as say $5 a
month, maybe a bit more. Okay. And they handle all the technical stuff, setting up
the server,
maintaining it, keeping it updated. You get the control over Haven itself and your
data,
but you don't touch the underlying server operating system. You're essentially outsourcing
the IT admin job. Right. So you trade a small monthly fee for basically zero setup
hassle.
That sounds like the fast track for a lot of users.
It is. Then the next step down in terms of direct control, but still very beginner-friendly,
are these assisted platforms. Think of them as easy buttons for deploying apps like
Haven.
Peekapods, as mentioned, is a good example. They often give you some free starting
credit,
like $5, so you might be able to run Haven for just a couple of bucks a month.
You can try it without even putting in a credit card first.
Oh, nice. Low risk to try it out.
Yeah. And then there are platforms like CubeSale. They specialize in making it
simple to run web
apps, and they actually have a specific template ready to go for installing Haven.
These services kind of hide the complicated command line stuff and just give you a
nice interface.
These are really tailored for beginners who want low cost and minimal fuss.
Okay, so fully managed is pay and forget. Assisted platforms are like point-and-click
deployment.
What about people who are a bit more technical or maybe just curious and want to
run it on
their own hardware, like, say, a Raspberry Pi sitting at home? Right, the DIY route.
For those comfortable with, say, Linux or who just like tinkering,
the sources point to Docker as the main way. So think of Docker like a self-contained
package.
It bundles up Haven and everything it needs to run so you can launch it pretty
easily,
often with just one or two commands, regardless of what specific Linux setup you
have.
You usually configure it by setting some simple variables, like your initial
username and password.
It's the recommended method for Linux or a Raspberry Pi.
And then for the real pros, or maybe small businesses wanting rock-solid stability,
you can deploy Haven onto big cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services, AWS.
That sounds complex.
It involves more steps. Yes, setting up an AWS account,
maybe buying a domain name to their service. But they provide specific Ruby
deployment scripts
that automate most of it. The sources say it can actually be deployed in about 20
minutes
if you follow the steps. The main point is there's a path for pretty much everyone,
from total beginner to seasoned developer.
Oh, and just a quick side note, the source has mentioned Heroku.
It used to be a popular free option for hosting things like this.
Right. I remember that.
But it's not really free or practical for something like Haven anymore.
Apparently, uploaded images tend to disappear after 24 hours,
which is obviously not great for a photo blog.
So probably best to stick with the managed or assisted options
or Docker, AWS, if you're going DIY.
Okay. So let's sort of pull this all together.
What's the big picture takeaway here?
I think the essential thing is that Haven isn't just another piece of software.
It's really an intentional tool.
It's built specifically to address this modern problem of who owns your data online.
It effectively cuts out that corporate middleman, the social media platform,
and puts the keys to your content, your photos, your social circle directly back
into your hands.
It really feels like a shift in thinking.
Instead of just signing up as a user, as a tenant on someone else's platform,
you're choosing to be the owner, the architect of your own little online space.
Exactly. And the cost, that may be $5 or $10 a month for hosting,
you have to see it differently.
It's not just paying for server space.
It's like a subscription fee for independence.
It's the price you pay for genuine privacy, for zero tracking,
for knowing that no company can suddenly change the rules
or delete your account because you violated some obscure policy.
You get total control.
So we've definitely seen the tech is there.
It's possible to build these private online spaces
and get away from the issues of the mainstream platforms,
which leads us to that final provocative thought for you,
the listener, to chew on as you think about this.
If your digital life, all those photos, your personal thoughts,
your family updates, if it was completely private,
totally untracked, unmonitored by any company,
what would you start sharing that maybe you hold back right now?
Thank you for joining us on this deep dive into Haven
and the whole idea of self-hosting for privacy.
We definitely encourage you to check out the source material yourself
and explore this concept more.
And one last reminder, this deep dive was supported by Safe Server.
They're the ones who help provide the kind of infrastructure needed
for tools like Haven supporting your digital transformation.
You can find out more about what they offer at www.safeserver.de.
Thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time.