Archives: Tech

Digital gardens are a pretty cool twist on how we share knowledge online. Unlike regular blogs that list posts by date, digital gardens are more like growing a web of connected ideas and thoughts. You can publish rough, unfinished ideas and keep building on them over time – no pressure to make everything perfect from the start!

What Makes Digital Gardens Special?

They work totally differently from the usual “write it, publish it, done” approach of traditional blogging. Garden creators gradually nurture their content, adding little pieces and connections as they go. Everything gets linked together, creating this knowledge web that visitors can explore however they want – no need to read things in order.

The AI Scraping Problem

Here’s where things get tricky. AI tools are increasingly scraping content from websites to train their models, and this is becoming a real headache for digital garden creators. The whole point is to share knowledge publicly, but AI might be sucking up all that content without sending any visitors back to the original garden.

Regular search engines at least link back to your site, but AI tools often just give direct answers without crediting where the info came from. That’s pretty frustrating for creators who put time and effort into building these knowledge spaces.

Why Everyone’s Worried

Individual creators don’t have the same bargaining power as big media companies when it comes to negotiating with AI firms. This could create a situation where people feel less motivated to maintain public digital gardens if their work gets repurposed without any recognition or traffic benefits.

We might end up with a more fragmented internet where creators retreat to private, paid, or gated platforms that are harder for AI to access. That goes against the whole spirit of open knowledge sharing that makes the internet great.

What Can Be Done?

There are some technical solutions like using robots.txt files to control AI access, or adding “NoAI” tags to your content. But here’s the thing – most digital gardens are built by individuals with custom, sometimes fragile code, making it tough to implement solid protection measures.

Moving forward, digital gardens might need to focus more on creating uniquely human experiences and community-driven content that AI tools can’t easily replicate or replace.

Free blogs used to be the go‑to for anyone wanting to share knowledge or build an audience without barriers. Nowadays, changing search‑engine algorithms, sinking ad revenues, and the rise of social/video platforms have relegated most free blogs to the shadows. If you’re serious about turning expertise into a sustainable business—and forging a loyal community—it’s time to rethink the “free” model and explore subscription‑based membership blogs.

1. Three Reasons Free Blogs Have Become Obsolete

1. Search‑engine algorithm shifts

Back in the day, “long, detailed, free” posts could snag top SEO spots.

Digital gardens were created as open spaces for sharing knowledge and ideas freely. The original spirit is to update content casually, grow knowledge over time, and keep everything accessible without paywalls or commercial pressure. However, the rapid advancement of AI-powered web scraping has widened the gap between this ideal and current realities.

Challenges Posed by AI Scraping

• Unauthorized Collection and Reuse
  AI systems can automatically collect and repurpose publicly available web content. This means personal insights and knowledge shared on a digital garden may be used out of context or without credit, often for purposes the original author never intended.
• Open Access = Risk of Exploitation
  While the ethos of digital gardens is openness, in the age of mass AI scraping, “free and open” can also mean “unwittingly exploited.” Content may be harvested and used in commercial products or AI models without the creator’s knowledge.
• Creator Motivation at Risk
  When hard-earned knowledge is reused by AI services or other sites without permission, the motivation to keep sharing freely can decline. The sense of contributing to a community can be replaced by the feeling of being taken advantage of.

Practical Strategies for Today

1. Clear Licensing and Terms of Use

• Explicitly state copyright, “No AI Training,” or similar terms on your site and articles. This at least deters ethical AI developers.
• Use Creative Commons licenses (e.g., CC BY-NC-ND) to clarify that commercial use, modification, and AI training are prohibited.

2. Technical Defenses

• Use robots.txt to block AI crawlers and bots from accessing your content.
• Embed watermarks or “Do Not AITrain” messages in images and text to help identify unauthorized reuse.

3. Selective Sharing and Partial Paywalls

• Consider limiting public access to your most valuable or unique content, using partial paywalls or restricted sections to reduce scraping risk.
• Require agreement to terms before granting access to sensitive materials.

4. Prepare for Infringement

• In case of unauthorized use, collect evidence and be ready to issue takedown requests or pursue legal action if necessary.

Balancing Ideals and Reality

The ideal of a “free and open” digital garden remains powerful, but new risk management is essential in the AI scraping era.
Decide what to share, how to protect it, and where to draw the line between openness and safeguarding your work.

To keep the joy of “growing and sharing knowledge,” creators now need to cultivate wisdom about protection as well.

This article summarizes the current challenges and practical strategies for running a digital garden in an age of AI-powered content scraping.

There was a time when blog monetization relied heavily on ad revenue, especially from platforms like Google AdSense. However, with the rise of AI, the traditional pageview-driven advertising model is reaching its limits. Here’s why:

The Decline of Traditional Blog Advertising

Content Commoditization
AI tools now generate vast amounts of automated content, making it increasingly difficult for human-written articles to stand out. SEO-focused posts, even when optimized for large language models (LLMs), are easily buried under a flood of similar AI-generated articles.

Falling Ad Rates
Advertisers have become more rigorous about measuring ROI, causing cost-per-click (CPC) rates to decline year after year. To earn significant revenue, bloggers now need massive pageviews—something out of reach for most small-scale creators.

Ad Fatigue and User Resistance
Widespread use of ad blockers and growing user frustration with excessive ads have dulled the effectiveness of online advertising. As a result, monetization efficiency continues to drop.

The Limits of LLM-Optimized Content

Lack of Originality
While AI-generated content can be produced at scale, it often lacks originality. Google’s guidelines now emphasize E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), making it harder for generic AI content to rank highly.

Quality Control Costs
AI-generated drafts still require human editing and fact-checking. The time spent reviewing and revising often outweighs the convenience, leading some to conclude it’s faster to write original content from scratch.

Poor Differentiation
With so many people mass-producing similar AI-generated posts, it’s difficult to stand out. This lack of differentiation leads to fierce competition and declining traffic for individual blogs.

The Power of Unique Personal Experience

To monetize a blog in the AI era, the best strategy is to focus on content only you can create—your unique experiences and expertise. Here’s why:

When running a blog, I constantly face the dilemma: “Should I split or merge my content?” “Should I aim for order or embrace chaos?” “Should I pursue consistency or allow for variety?” This struggle is especially deep for people with ADHD tendencies, those with many interests, or anyone who finds it hard to wear different masks and prefers to present their whole self authentically.

The Endless Loop of Splitting and Merging

• When I have multiple sites or projects, I feel like I can’t give each one the love and energy it deserves. So I decide to merge everything and express my “true self” in one place.
• But once I merge, everything becomes a jumble of topics and information, and I lose sight of the big picture—I get lost. Eventually, I think, “Maybe I should split things up again…” and the cycle repeats itself.

The Trap of Categories and Tags

• Even if I organize my blog with categories and tags, it feels like nothing gets a strong spotlight, and the whole thing becomes blurry.
• Too many categories or a reverse-chronological list of posts can be overwhelming, making it hard to know what to focus on.
• Even if I try changing themes, using random post displays, or creating featured sections, I end up feeling guilty about neglecting other posts.

The Struggle of Wanting to Be “My Whole Self”

• Splitting myself into “Beatmaker Genx”, “AI Artist Genx”, “Blogger Genx” (or my own versions of these) feels unnatural and exhausting. I want to share everything as my whole self, not as separate personas.
• But if I don’t split, things get chaotic; if I do split, I feel like I’m diluting who I am.

Hints for Solutions

• Make “yourself” the core
  Categories and tags are just tools for organizing topics. If your experiences and values are the backbone of your blog, even a variety of content will still feel like “your blog.”
• Set a “loose” main theme
  It’s fine to run a general blog, but having a loose direction—like “daily insights + hobbies + work”—can provide a sense of security.
• Limit the number of categories / use subcategories
  Keeping to 3–5 main categories, with tags or subcategories for more detail, helps prevent the overall focus from becoming too diffuse.
• Use random or featured sections to rotate visibility
  Multiple random or featured sections (like “This Month’s Picks”) help rotate the spotlight and ease guilt about neglecting some posts.
• Give up on “perfect equality”
  It’s impossible to keep all posts and categories equally visible at all times. Enjoy spotlighting one post at a time.
• Prioritize your own comfort in site design
  Reader experience matters, but your ability to keep blogging without stress comes first.

Differences in Attitude Toward AI Are Part of Authenticity, Too

• Even people with similar struggles and personalities can feel very differently about AI. Some hate it; others love using it for organization or creativity. That, too, is part of what makes each of us unique.

Conclusion

• Whether you run a general or niche blog, prefer order or chaos, AI or analog—there is no single “right answer.”
• If you want to be your whole self, don’t force yourself to split; instead, find a way to blog that feels fun and sustainable for you.
• Categories and display methods are just tools. If you feel overwhelmed, don’t over-organize—it’s fine to let things be a bit messy.
• Don’t chase perfection. Find a blogging style that feels comfortable for you right now.

Don’t write for someone else or for SEO—write for yourself. That’s what will keep you going, and that’s what makes your blog truly “yours.”

Introduction

When running a blog, the dilemma of “Should I split my content by topic?” versus “Should I present everything as my whole self?” is a common struggle. People with many interests often face the paradox: splitting means diluted energy, merging means chaos.

I love clean, organized WordPress themes, yet I want to express everything in one place. The digital garden concept offers a way to reconcile this contradiction.

What Is a Digital Garden?

A digital garden isn’t a traditional blog with chronological, finished posts. Instead, it’s a web of interconnected notes and articles, always evolving. Posts don’t have to be complete; ideas can grow, branch, and connect freely.

Why Digital Gardens Ease the “Split or Merge” Dilemma

• Self at the Center
  No need to divide yourself by genre or persona. Everything grows in one “garden,” reflecting your authentic self. Multiple interests and activities coexist naturally.
• Balance Between Chaos and Order
  Internal links and flexible tags create structure, even when topics mix. Over-segmentation isn’t necessary; the “mess” is part of the design.
• Embracing Incompleteness and Diversity
  Digital gardens welcome unfinished notes. You can publish drafts and update them over time. The pressure for perfect organization or equal visibility fades.

Practical Tips

• Create Nodes (Posts) Rooted in Your Values and Experiences
  For example: “Thoughts on AI,” “Music Production Insights,” “Daily Observations.” Let your unique mix of topics grow freely.
• Use Categories and Tags for Connection, Not Just Organization
  Broad tags like “AI,” “Music,” or “Blogging” help link posts across topics. Avoid excessive granularity.
• Highlight Current Focus or Featured Posts with Links and Lists
  Show “currently growing notes” or “recently updated nodes” on your homepage or sidebar. No need to keep everything equally visible.
• Digital Gardens Work on WordPress
  Custom menus, tags, and widgets for random or featured posts allow for a digital garden structure, even on WordPress.

Conclusion

When torn between splitting and merging, chaos and order, the digital garden mindset offers relief. Treat your ideas and interests as a “garden” to nurture and connect. This approach lets you balance authenticity and manageability.

Enjoy clean design and categories, but allow a bit of chaos and incompleteness. That’s how blogging stays fun and sustainable for the long run.

A digital garden isn’t about perfect content or broadcasting to the masses. It’s a space to gradually cultivate your own thoughts and knowledge, like tending a personal garden.

As one digital gardener puts it: “A blog is for speaking to many people, but digital gardening is for speaking to yourself. You focus on what you want to grow, over time.”

This approach frees you from the pressures of external validation or monetization, letting you nurture your ideas in your own way.

The Reality of the AI Scraping Era

But the rise of AI scraping casts a long shadow over this ideal.

AI now collects and analyzes web knowledge at unprecedented speed and scale, extracting information as easily as a human reads a page.

This new reality brings risks that can’t be ignored.

Key Risks

• Unauthorized Copying and Theft
  The fruits of your digital garden can be harvested and reused by AI or others without your consent.
• Obstructed Monetization
  Openly shared knowledge is easily copied and repurposed, undermining the original creator’s value and potential revenue.
• Privacy and Security Threats
  Ideas or personal information can be misused by AI scraping, exposing you to risks you never intended.

Is the “Open Blogger” Still Viable?

The original purpose of a digital garden was to make your thinking and creative process transparent and accessible to anyone.

But with the spread of AI scraping, open knowledge sharing is shifting from a “cycle of goodwill” to a breeding ground for exploitation.

In fact, many business and recipe sites already suffer from unauthorized copying and ad revenue theft via scraping. Individual digital gardens are not immune.

How to Protect Your Garden Now

• Consider Limited Access or Paid Models
  While openness is at the heart of digital gardening, today’s reality makes access controls and membership options worth considering.
• Implement Technical Countermeasures
  Tools like CAPTCHAs, access restrictions, and bot detection can help deter scraping.
• Reevaluate What You Share
  Not everything needs to be open. Distinguish between information to share publicly and knowledge to nurture privately.

Conclusion

The ideal of “open knowledge sharing” in digital gardens faces a major turning point in the age of AI scraping.

Goodwill alone is no longer enough—public sharing doesn’t always benefit you or society.

Deciding what to protect and what to open is the new wisdom digital gardeners need.

Who is your garden for, and how much of it should you open? Now is the time to reconsider.

Kagi Small Web is an initiative by Kagi, a privacy-focused search engine company, designed to surface and promote content from the “small web.” The “small web” refers to the non-commercial segment of the internet—websites and blogs created by individuals for self-expression or knowledge sharing, rather than financial gain. This part of the web is often nostalgic for the early days of the internet, before large-scale commercialization and ad-driven business models became dominant.

How Kagi Small Web Works

Kagi Small Web curates and highlights recently published content (typically within the last week) from a handpicked list of personal blogs and independent sites. The aim is to make high-quality, human-driven content more discoverable, especially as such content is often buried by commercial or algorithmically generated material in mainstream search engines.

You can access Kagi Small Web content in several ways:

• Directly within Kagi’s search results for relevant queries (for Kagi users, this is automatic)
• Through the Kagi Small Web website, which is intentionally designed to be lightweight and free of JavaScript
• Via an RSS feed
• Through Kagi’s Search API, which incorporates Small Web results into its news enrichment features.

The initiative is open-source, and the curated list of sites is available on Kagi’s GitHub. Anyone can suggest new blogs to be included, following criteria such as being non-commercial, English-language, regularly updated, and free from advertising or spam.

Key Features and Philosophy

• Curation: Only personal, non-commercial blogs and independent sites are included. Sites must have recent posts, be in English, and not contain ads, popups, or spam.
• Human-Centric: The focus is on genuine self-expression and high informational value, aiming to revive the more personal, community-driven spirit of the early web.
• Transparency and Openness: The list of included sites is public and open for contributions, with clear guidelines to maintain quality.
• Interaction: On the Kagi Small Web website, users can “appreciate” posts or leave temporary public notes, which are cleared weekly as content is refreshed.

Why It Matters

Kagi Small Web is a response to the increasing dominance of large, commercial platforms and the flood of low-quality, AI-generated, or ad-driven content online. By surfacing independent voices and original perspectives, Kagi aims to make the web more human, diverse, and meaningful.