WriteFreely – An open source platform for building a writing space on the web
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Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderI self-hosted a writefreely instance for a while but I found many features were proprietary and only available in the paid managed hosting (write.as). All features that I didn’t need that much and could workaround however it just made me feel quite dissatisfied with the project. People self hosting are not likely to be the same people who would pay for managed hosting so it makes no sense to lock features off for them. I forked the codebase and added…
From what I understand, Mastodon is to Twitter as WriteFreely is to WordPress.com/Medium/Blogger/etc. Fediverse-aware, open-source, with a flagship SaaS hosted instance available at https://write.as. If microblogging hadn't fried my brain and I was interested in spinning up a longform blog, this is the software I would choose.
I came across this blogging tool which also exposes all posts via activity hub which can be followed on Mastodon. Seems like a very nice light weight way to post things into the fediverse
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 532
- Total comments
- 170
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-07-11 | WriteFreely – An open source platform for building a writing space on the webFirst breakout · Best thread | btdmaster | 273 | 94 |
| 2022-10-31 | WriteFreely: Open source federated microblogging platform | larve | 70 | 15 |
| 2024-08-13 | An open source blogging platform with activity pub support | hcaz | 2 | 1 |
| 2024-08-15 | WriteFreely: An open source platform for building a writing space on the webLatest 20+ point return | doener | 181 | 60 |
| 2025-12-21 | WriteFreely: An open source platform for building a writing space on the web | janandonly | 5 | 0 |
| 2026-01-29 | WriteFreely: An open source platform for building a writing space on the web | doener | 1 | 0 |