I'm writing this from a place of frustration.

Every day, I watch digital platforms make the same choice: turn their users into products. Inject ads everywhere. Track every click, every scroll, every moment of attention. Sell that data to the highest bidder, all wrapped in terms of service that no one reads.

Jottings exists because I refused to build that way.

The Fundamental Problem With Ad-Supported Platforms

When a platform's revenue comes from advertising, the incentive structure is clear: maximize user engagement and data collection. Not to build the best product. Not to respect your privacy. But to keep you scrolling, clicking, and generating data.

Think about it. On a free, ad-supported platform:

• You're not the customer. You're the product being sold to advertisers.
• Your attention is monetized. Every feature is designed to maximize time spent, not time well spent.
• Your data has value. Your browsing history, your interests, your location—it all gets packaged and sold.

This creates a misalignment of interests. The platform profits when you're distracted. The platform profits when you share more personal information. The platform profits when you can't leave, even if you wanted to.

It's not evil, exactly. It's just math. When ad revenue is your only income stream, you optimize for ads. Everything else becomes secondary.

A Different Business Model

Jottings is built on a simple principle: you should own your platform experience.

I've chosen a subscription model because it aligns our interests. You pay us directly. Your money funds development, hosting, and security. In return, we have every incentive to:

• Build the best product without distractions or dark patterns
• Protect your privacy because trust is worth far more than a few extra ad impressions
• Listen to your feedback because you're directly funding our work

When you're a paying customer, you matter. Not as engagement metrics or data points—as a person whose satisfaction determines whether we survive.

This is harder than ad-supported models. It's scarier. You have to convince people to pay for something they might get for free elsewhere. But it's the only model that doesn't require compromising your privacy.

What Privacy Actually Means At Jottings

I'm not hiding behind vague promises. Here's exactly how we handle data:

No third-party trackers. We don't use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any of the ubiquitous tracking scripts that follow you across the web. Not on Jottings. Not on your microblog. Your visitors' data isn't our commodity.

Privacy-respecting analytics with Umami. We use Umami—an open-source, privacy-focused analytics tool that we self-host. It tracks page views and user flows, but:

• No personal identifiers are stored
• No cross-site tracking
• No cookies needed (with GDPR compliance by default)
• No data sold to third parties

We use this to understand what's working and what isn't. Not to profile users or build advertising segments.

You control what's shared. Your microblog is yours to share. Your private thoughts stay private. Your published content is yours to do with as you please. We're not mining your data for insights or using it to train AI models without your consent.

No hidden data sharing. We don't sell your email. We don't share your browsing history. We don't create detailed profiles to sell to advertisers. Your data is yours.

How This Changes Our Product Decisions

Privacy-first thinking affects everything we build:

Content moderation is about harm, not engagement. We moderate to keep the platform safe, not to nudge you toward more divisive (and thus more engaging) content.

Features are chosen based on value, not addiction potential. We don't add infinite scroll or algorithmic feeds designed to keep you clicking. We build features because they're useful.

Your data is stored securely and minimally. We don't keep extensive logs of your behavior. We don't fingerprint your browser. We don't correlate your actions across devices to build a comprehensive profile.

Transparency over obscurity. If we ever need to change how we handle data, we'll tell you directly. No silent updates. No privacy policies rewritten in the shadows.

The Trade-Off

I'm not going to pretend privacy-first platforms are universally better. There are trade-offs:

• We're smaller than ad-supported competitors. That means less venture funding, smaller teams, slower feature development.
• We cost money. A subscription is a real decision, not "free."
• We rely on user retention, not engagement metrics. We have to earn your trust every day.

But I believe these trade-offs are worth it. A platform that respects your privacy is a platform you can genuinely trust. And trust is something ad-supported models can never truly offer.

Why This Matters

We're building during a moment when privacy feels like a luxury. Data breaches are routine. Your digital footprint is tracked, packaged, and sold by dozens of companies you've never heard of. The default assumption has become: your data is not yours.

Jottings rejects that assumption.

You deserve a place to think, write, and share without someone else profiting from your attention or selling your information. You deserve a platform that's honest about how it makes money. You deserve privacy without compromise.

That's what we're building.

If you believe that too, I'd love for you to join us. Try Jottings risk-free. See what a privacy-first platform actually feels like. No dark patterns. No endless ads. No tracking scripts in the background.

Just you, your writing, and a platform that respects that.

Jottings is a privacy-first microblogging platform. No ads. No tracking. No compromise. Start writing at jottings.me.