Founder, Musing Studio / Write.as.

who is this?

Hey 👋 I'm Matt Baer, and I built Write.as.

why?

In late 2014 I was getting more concerned for my privacy both online and on my smartphone. I felt like I couldn't interact or share much, because I knew social media sites were analyzing my status updates and search engines were cataloging my searches. So I wanted to create an antidote for that feeling, and came up with Write.as.

how?

It started with completely anonymous writing — which you can still do here — and evolved into a stable writing platform that is only about writing.

In 2018, we integrated the software with the growing fediverse and went open source, allowing anyone to host their own blog or writing community. That platform is called WriteFreely.

Over the years, we've built out an interconnected suite of web tools, called Musing Studio. It includes Snap.as for photos, Submit.as for submission management, and Remark.as for connecting with others, using the web itself as the social network.

As a business, we're independent and entirely self-funded. Our customers are the people that use our software, which means they're the only ones we answer to.

I knew these ideas had to be encoded in the company from day one, so everyone who writes here knows our intentions. This company doesn't exist to make me (or some investors) filthy rich; it doesn't exist to suck up data and sell it off to advertisers. It's here to give people the same space I wanted back in 2014: a calm space to write. And I aim to do that for decades to come.

so what's your blog about?

My writing here centers around the web, software, and life. I write about what I see, what I'd like to build, and what narratives I think need to be challenged.

where can I read more?

I also write everything on these Write.as blogs: