This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum.
I published an article on Symfony Station (now sunset) years ago, titled Need a Writing Stack and Workflow for a Tech Newsletter or Blog?.
It did not concern Symfony or PHP directly. However, it was still related. We wanted to be the best source for news on the two topics. But, for that to happen, people other than us needed to produce items worthy of coverage.
Giving Back
Our mission was not only to cover Symfony and PHP. We also served their respective developer communities. One way to do that was to help more developers write about Symfony and PHP.
So, we did. Now, I want expand this effort to my work with The Fulcrum.
If you are reading this article, you are interested in technical topics as well as things like freedom and democracy. You might even publish a newsletter and / or articles covering them. If so, we created this resource for you. If you don’t, we hope you will start soon. It is a way to give back to the community that helped make you successful. And that applies no matter the subject.
Our site, our weekly newsletter / post, and this article are ways we give back. And the recommendations in this article could apply to any newsletter or blog.
Of course, with Symfony Station we promoted ethical development. With The Fulcrum we are even more focused on ethics.
Over the years, we’ve experimented with a variety of tools. And more importantly, we’ve developed a stack that works. And it’s an ethics-focused stack.
Taking Back
I think it’s important for us as humans to create within Open Social, the Open Web, the Small Web, the IndieWeb, and the Open Media Network.
We need to use the tools mentioned in the Techno Anarchist Manifesto and follow strategies like POSSE, KISS, and the 4 Opens.
Why? We need to fight techno feudalism and techno fascism. FYI, I call the solution I propose to combat autocracy and Techno Feudalism, Techno Anarchism. Hence, the manifesto linked to above.
Our goal should be to destroy autocracy rather than protect democracy. Simply because most of us live in autocracies unfortunately.
Still, we fortunate ones must both reform democracy and neuter it’s biggest threat, Big Tech.
Also, we are against the perversion of society by oligarchs. Fuck 'em. That's obvious.
To quote the philosophical father of Anarchism, Michel Proudhon: he wanted "no government by men by means of the accumulation of power (autocracy) and no exploitation of men by means of the accumulation of capital (oligarchy)."
As supporters of democracy we need to engage in a positive fight against this timeline’s bullshit in a manner we can control ourselves.
If we do this we can improve ourselves, our lives, and our societies. And creating with Open Social, the Open Web, the Small Web, the IndieWeb, and the OMN is a great way to start.
Anyway, enough of morality, let’s move on to the post.
Dedication
Consistency is paramount for publishing. Quality writing takes hard work in addition to talent. So, you have to be committed.
It would help if you published weekly or monthly but not randomly. If you aren’t sure about your dedication or have limited time, begin with the monthly route. See if it works for you in the long run. Are you ambitious and passionate about your topic? Is your financial situation secure? Do you have free time? If so, then go for it each week.
Obviously, this rules out any AI horseshit.
Efficient Solutions
The solutions you select for your stack should have desktop and mobile apps. You’ll want to be able to work when and where inspiration strikes.
For example, I improved upon the title for the original Symfony Station article while at a music festival. And then again when walking my dogter. 🐕
Now, the format we’ll use for the following solutions is:
- the recommended one(s)
- why you should use it / them
- other quality options
We will recommended tools for:
- curation
- saving / organizing ideas
- writing
- publishing
- distributing
- and sharing
Curate ideas and items to cover with:
In addition to your knowledge and experience you will need to curate information from others to write intelligently about any subject. So, let's look at some sources.
Newsletters
The highest quality of source materials comes from niche newsletters. It makes sense because their publishers are committed and take pride in their efforts. They are more likely to be professionally written and factual as well.
Obviously, you want those written by humans. Fuck AI.
RSS
And of course newsletters' close cousins, blogs with RSS feeds are the second best source for curation.
Aggregators
Aggregators are a good way to discover shareable blog posts. Look at:
Fediverse
We joined originally joined joined the Fediverse via Mastodon and even moved between instances. I still find it more civil and enjoyable than the alternatives. But, it’s not perfect of course.
This site federates directly to the Fediverse and you can follow us at thefulcrum@thefulcrum.dev.
So, find a community that complements your topic and get social with it. It is a great place to run ideas off other people or even discover a tangental topic you weren't aware of.
In addition to Mastodon, there are many other Fediverse platforms:
- PixelFed
- Loops
- PeerTube
- Bonfire
- Friendica
- GoToSocial
- PieFed
- NodeBB
- Holos
- Akkoma
- and lots more
Federation also includes websites. Again this Ghost site is federated. And WordPress is easily federatable as well. Other site platforms like Write Freely and MicroBlog are federational options.
Fediverse Forums
Forums aren’t my thing, but they can be a good source as well. This is especially true for niche topics.
Federated ones include:
- NodeBB
- Mbin
- PieFed
- Lemmy
I recommend Mbin. And fuck Slack and Discord.
Flipboard and Surf
One of the beter curation sources for us is Flipboard. The magazine-based platform provides content on a wide range of topics. It’s helpful for more than just curation, as you will see below.
Plus, it now has a Fediverse, RSS, ATProto feed client as well, called Surf.
You can follow us on the "The Fulcrum: Coding for Democracy and the OMN" Flipboard magazine.
And / or follow our Surf feed as well.
Semi-Federated Open Social
ATProtocol is a open social protocol alternative to the Fediverse’s Activity Pub. It was built by the rapidly enshittifying Bluesky with VC money. But ATProto is open source and has potential. Alternatives like Blacksky, Eurosky, Northsky, Gander, and a few others exist. There are lots of tools being built as well. So, check it out if interested.
You can follow us on Eurosky, although we post and interact sporatically there.
We prefer the more anarchic, punk rock, spiky Fediverse and ActivityPub. 🏴☠️
Websites
Using sites you admire for curation is a no-brainer. However, it is easier to curate from their newsletters, RSS feeds, and social media content.
Save to:
While curating for your upcoming issues or articles, you need a place to store source material.
We use Flipboard for several reasons.
Since it’s also a great source, you can kill two fascists with one bullet by creating a magazine and sharing the sources there. You can pull all your items from this central location when you are ready to write.
You have the added advantage of using Flipboard for promoting your wisdom.
It’s fantastic for the distribution of your final products as well.
You can gain followers that can also join your newsletter.
And ones to follow you on the open social.
Additional
While the following tools aren’t as efficient, but if you already use them, have at it. They are note taking apps.
If you are a team or a power user, try a tool like Obsidian. If you're an individual, Joplin is a better choice.
Write with:
Obsidian
Because Obsidian uses Markdown, we started using it as a note app that could be used on any operating system or device and synced between them. We used it mostly for our Symfony Station communiques.
Obsidian stores notes on your devices, so you can access them quickly, even offline. With hundreds of plugins and themes, you can shape Obsidian to your workflow. It uses open, non-proprietary files, so you're aren't locked in and can preserve your data for the long term. Migrate it when and where you will.
Still, it’s not open source.
Joplin
As of 2025 we moved on to using Joplin which is also Markdown-based. Obsidian was overkill for us. Plus, Joplin is open source. And it’s basically the same thing with most of the same capabilities.
Additional
A reasonable fallback that lets you collaborate easily with others is LibreOffice.
Tools
The following two tools will help make your writing professional.
Grammar
To be taken seriously, your content must be grammatically correct. We recommend using Grammarly. Check it out. The tool is handy if you are writing in a second language.
Plus, it is Ukrainian in origin. If you didn’t know, we support Ukraine.
Readability
To make your content readable, use the Hemingway App. Ernest was one of the first writers to recognize that writing simply is writing beautifully. And it’s much more effective.
While you should use these tools, note that it’s essential that you do not follow 100 percent of their recommendations. You still want your writing to reflect your unique voice and personality.
Do not use pure AI. Unless you want to sound like and be viewed as a clueless tech bro.
Publish to:
Unless you only want a newsletter, you need a home for your content and promoting your email list.
And it should be one you own. Preferably, you’ll choose an open source one. So fuck Facebook, WIX, Squarespace, and their ilk.
We prefer Static Sites (SSG) with non-database, flat file, folder-based storage. And I recommend open source ones in particular. They best follow the Techno Anarchist ethic. Examples follow.
Grav CMS
If you are more of a developer, consider Grav CMS. We ran Symfony Station off it and loved it.
From simple to sophisticated you can build faster websites with Grav, a modern open source flat-file CMS.
Publii
Publii is another sold option. We run a personal site for friends and family on it.
With the Publii app, you can create a beautiful, safe, and privacy-friendly website.
If you absolutely need a database consider:
WordPress
Are you are more of a content creator or designer? You can use WordPress. Its block-based approach easy to operate. Plus, your can easily run a newsletter and Fediverse account from it.
Many people don’t know there are two options for the CMS.
WordPress.org is for those who want to self-host. And that means paying for hosting from solutions such as Siteground or Kinsta. It means more admin work but gives you the freedom to do what you want. We use 1984 Hosting for The Fulcrum's backup site which is also federated.
WordPress.com is for non-technical users who want automated administration after setup. It can even be free. But it's a corporate version of WordPress with all that entails.
Ghost
You should also explore Ghost. You can also run a newsletter and Fediverse account from it. Plus, it’s easy to monetize your content. So again, fuck Substack.
We run this site on Ghost.
Build Awesome
Eleventy (11ty) is becoming Build Awesome in a few days.
It's a slightly simple static site generator that is JavaScript-based. And quite popular.
Additional
For simple or personal sites (what some call the Small Web) consider:
- Codeberg Sites
- Flatpress
- Neocities
- Bear
- Leaflet (ATProtocol-based)
- WriteAs
- Microblog
- And other simpler or more complicated SSGs.
Distribute to:
You can syndicate your articles and other content to other platforms to do more good with your advocacy and knowledge sharing.
For example we use:
- the backup WordPress site mentioned above
- a Bear blog
- a Leaflet blog
- Dev.to
- the Flipboard magazine mentioned above
- the Surf feed mentioned above
All have canonical links back to the original article / post on our website.
Newsletter
As noted, WordPress has great newsletter options. But they aren’t simple.
Ghost is an option if you want to rent rather than own and want fewer administration headaches. Although, you can self-host.
Buttondown is another open source option.
Casting
For articles and interviews, audio is a solid option. We recommend PeerTube for podcasts. Peertube is federated also.
Check out the federated Owncast for streaming.
Share to:
Share the wealth by sharing your knowledge. Again, it’s a way to increase the reach of your advocacy and drive traffic to your site. And help more people in turn. And the same applies to adding subscribers to your newsletter and friends on open social.
Flipboard / Surf
As mentioned above, Flipboard is an excellent place for readers to find your wisdom on particular topics. If you want more of a feed than curated magazine, try Surf. They're both a great place to share.
Open Social Media
We love Mastodon, and get at least 10 times the interactions we got on Shitter. But, any federated open source platform is better than supporting fascist, commercial, and siloed social media.
It has the added benefit of not seeing yourself reincarnated as a cockroach.
RSS
If you have a website, it should have a RSS feed available. Period.
Additional
You can repurpose and share your efforts in other formats like video, podcasts, newsletters, books, etc. And then share it with the related tools we mentioned in this article.
Summing it up
So, you can start to see what's possible for your efforts to better us and our planet.
By using the stack of tools we recommend you can increase the efficiency of your publishing process. It can save you hours on your time-intensive labor of love. Plus, it allows you to concentrate on the important part, thinking and writing.
But, it's also important for it to be read. So, also use a newsletter, RSS, non-canonical syndication on other platforms, and open social tools.
And most importantly, by doing so you will be inspiring and helping more people with your increased output of wisdom.
Your curating, saving, writing, publishing, distributing, and sharing platforms might be different based on your topics.
But, our stack is:
- Find items to cover in / on newsletters, Flipboard / Surf, aggregators, RSS, and open social media.
- Save your items to a Flipboard magazine or Joplin until you are ready to write.
- Write your content with Joplin.
- Publish it to a site.
- Distribute via your newsletter, RSS, and other web platforms.
- Share to Flipboard / Surf, the Fediverse, and / or other social media.
- Repeat daily.
So, check these stack tools out. We hope you will experiment with them and integrate them into your workflow. Doing so will breathe new life into your publishing and advocacy efforts!
Thanks for reading, and happy publishing!
