OpenJournal:FAQ

FAQ

Why should I use this instead of {popular blogging site}?

Other sites will often put your content behind Paywalls (Medium for example) or require a login to view your articles.

If you write your content here, it is free to be viewed by anyone forever.

Why wouldn't I just self-host my content?

You are welcome to but you miss out on some conveniences that OpenJournal gives to you.

By hosting on here you immediately have:

• Searchable articles
• Discussions on your articles
• A Community of other writers
• An instant audience and front-page coverage

You don't have to maintain or pay for anything.

Besides which, an API is offered if you wish to write here but display it elsewhere.

What if OpenJournal goes away?

OpenJournal, like all MediaWiki based platforms, allow anyone (including you, the reader) to take a dump of the entire database containing all articles.

Nothing here depends on this site staying up. Anyone is welcome to take a backup and immediately have a working copy of everything that was written here.

This is how Wikipedia, OpenStreetMaps and many other truly free sites operate

What can I put on here?

Anything that you would write in a blog, you can put here. If it's your own work and text then it's a good chance it can go here.

What can't I put on here?

OpenJournal is not a document store. Do not try and skirt around the system by uploading text versions of PDFs or books.

Use common sense and be sensible with your content.

If we detect questionable content, we will reach out to the author via a discussion on the article. If no action is taken, we will be forced to hard delete the content and issue a warning to the author (subsequent warnings may end in account deletion).

Don't spoil a good thing.

How can I get a copy of my data?

Please read this page.

I admire the ethos, how can I help?

Please read this page.