I pride the fact that I built this site for free, between the private investor that keeps my live .net running and the multiple services i have used to make the static versions of my site, and now i want to tell you how.
Static:
Github+Cloudflare: Github runs the code of the website and Cloudflare builds that into a page for a linked domain for free
The Internet Archive: This is a very generous public resource which has been getting attacked for years, it has been crucial to transitioning this site from simple text and images to potentially TreganFilms own FREE Netflix hosting its self made movies and shows, if you see this Technologies page all of the site’s media including images have officially been offloaded to the Internet Archive and re-added via HTML Hotlink Embedding which bypasses Cloudflare’s Disproportionate Use flags for Videos because all Cloudflare sees is a text box and all the actual content is being loaded onto The Internet Archive’s Servers, by offloading the “blobs” (images and videos) to the Archive and keeping the “logic” (HTML) on Cloudflare i am using both services exactly for what they were designed for, also by using The Internet Archive we can serve uncompressed 4k masters if we wish to, something the grand majority of free hosts will not allow.
How Can You Help?:
the first way you can help me is by supporting the individuals that made it possible, The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) that survives on donations, you can help them by donating money or hardware to them or by hosting your own media and code through them, they see your data as a contribution to their open library not as wasted space, if you find a news story or a technical disclosure that is in danger of being deleted, manually archive it, you can also download the Wayback Machine browser extension which automatically checks for archived versions of 404 pages. Don’t let history be ‘link-rotted’ away by corporate deletions. When you upload, don’t just dump a file. Add tags, dates, and licensing (like Creative Commons or CERN-OHL-P). A library is only as good as its index. If you are a researcher you can also upload your academic or technical disclosures to the Internet Archive, this helps them remain a “Serious Research Institution” which protects them legally. You can also help both me AND the Internet Archive by following the “LOCKSS” Principle, that stands for “Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe”, essentially you help by downloading copies off of the Internet Archive, if you see a video or image off of my site you want to save just right click, open link in new tab, and then you will have the raw file from the Internet Archive to download, this protects your favorite projects in the case that the Internet Archive ever went down. if you find a film or a book on the Internet Archive with a typo in the title, fix it, users of the Internet Archive are its curators, by fixing the metadata of projects on the Internet Archive you are helping the creators of those projects.
Github is owned by Microsoft, so they don’t need your $5, but they do need a healthy ecosystem. “Starring” a repository isn’t just a “like” it helps developers get noticed by recruiters and gain “Maintainer” status, which can lead to free professional tools. Many people are afraid to code, but anyone can fix a typo in a README, “Documentation Pull Requests” are the lifeblood of keeping open-source projects accessible to beginners. You should also use the “Discussions” tab on repos to ask questions instead of opening “Issues” for non-bugs. This keeps the Developer’s to-do list clean.
Cloudflare provides a massive amount of security for free. You can help them by being a “Good Network Citizen” by reporting scammers through Cloudflare’s “Abuse” reporting tool. If a you see a phishing site using Cloudflare, reporting it helps Cloudflare “clean the neighborhood” and keep their free tier reputation high. You can also use their 1.1.1.1 DNS which helps Cloudflare gather anonymous data on internet trends, while giving the user a faster, more private connection. Cloudflare also has community forums, answering a “How do I do X?” question is the best way to support Cloudflare’s “free-to-learn” mission.
Want Your Content Hosted Here?:
I built out this specific infrastructure stack for TreganFilms, however, I am happy to host your content on my website aswell, if you want to join my ecosystem all you have to do is upload your work to the Internet Archive and give me the link to your project page, I only ask that you use folder structures that make sense and that none of the content is copyrighted, if your content is copyrighted you not only negatively affect me but also the Internet Archive, copyrighted material threatens the Archive’s legal standing as a public library. To protect this resource, I will only host content that you own or that is released under open-licenses like Creative Commons. I didn’t build this because I have a massive team or a huge budget. I am doing this because I was once a 15 year old with no budget at all, then I grew up into a journalist, I know better than most that data is sacred, and I want to build an unkillable network of creators keeping that data protected. I built this using the same free, public tools available to you right now. Use this framework to build your own voice, and let’s keep the web human.
Why Host Your Content Here?:
The first, most obvious reason is that when you host here through the Internet Archive your Rights to your content remains Independant. You will never need to give or sell us the rights to your work, there will never be an open door for corporate takeover and even if this site goes down your work is immortalized on the Internet Archive. The second reason is that you will never need to pay us to host your work, this system guarantees $0 entry, $0 maintenance, $0 distribution with infinite scalability. Buyouts usually happen because a studio is drowning in debt or high hosting costs, since our overhead is effectively zero we have no financial “leash”, we cannot be starved out. The third reason, speaking of distribution, is that when your work lives under my roof your work is being advertised by the PR/Marketing Manager for a Germany based International Indie Game Studio who has a wide range of organizational connections, your work lives under a .edu.eu.org domain made under the legacy of the person who invented DNS. The fourth reason is that this site runs under the infrastructure of a Unincorporated Ecclesiastical Association, there are no shares to buy, no board of directors, and no corporate bylaws that can be manipulated, there is no paperwork anyone can sign to own our vision, the Ministry is a Covenant, not a Contract, because we are operating under a Ministry framework the relationship between us and our creators and our supporters is based on ethics and shared purpose, you can’t sell a covenant.
Troubleshooting:
Even if my sites get DDOS attacked, which is unlikely with Cloudflare blocking the front door, our data will never disappear thanks to the philosophy of the Internet Archive, however the servers may timeout if they are pinged too much from a single IP, if stuff stops loading while you are browsing DO NOT WORRY, wait 10-15 minutes and the server will typically come back online, be patient, as a free service the Internet Archive truly is doing the best it can.
Progressive Web Apps (PWA):
Because this site is built on a mix of static and live infrastructure and i quite frankly am not good at coding we can’t make a real app, however we can take advantage of a feature called Progressive Web Apps, if you are on Android just open the website on chrome, press the 3 dots in the address bar and select Add to Home screen, that installs the website as a PWA, If you are on an iPhone or iPad, tap the Share button (the square with an arrow pointing up at the bottom of your screen), scroll down, and select Add to Home Screen. This will place the website’s icon on your home screen and should allow the site to open in its own window without the browser bars.