Bear is my new blogging platform despite its shortcomings
Dear reader,
My list of potential replacements wasn’t long when I decided to leave Pagecord, my previous blogging platform. But reaching the final decision took time. In the absence of perfect alternatives, I had to pick a platform whose compromises I could live with. I settled on Bear, but Pika and Mataroa were other options I considered.
Mataroa
Mataroa was the blogging platform I chose when I started my blog last year. Since it supports both comments and newsletters, it was an option worth exploring. The pricing is also affordable at $9 per year.
While minimalism is part of Bear’s brand, Mataroa takes this to the next level. Customization isn’t a thing besides two system font options. While this level of simplicity once attracted me, I couldn’t imagine letting go of my blog’s current design.
While I didn’t return to Mataroa, I have written a dedicated article about it, which you can check out if you’re interested.
Pika
Pika is one of the most user-friendly blogging platforms that I have tested. With a feature set close to Pagecord, it was an obvious contender.
Pika Pulse is one of my favorite aspects of the platform. It’s a discovery tool displaying a chronological feed of Pika users’ recent posts. As there are no upvotes, it doesn’t feel like a popularity contest.
Yet, Pika’s pricing of $60 per year continues to be an obstacle since it grants you only a single blog. As a person with two blogs, going with Pika would mean having to choose another platform for my other blog, increasing expenses.
Bear
Bear was already an option when I was choosing my first blogging platform. Its focus on privacy and community, together with a published manifesto resonate with me. There are still things where Bear could improve.
Of the three platforms I considered, Bear feels like the best option for those who prefer a DIY-approach. There are few settings available, and you’re expected to familiarize yourself with CSS and HTML if you’re serious about customization. It was a struggle to get everything set up the way I wanted, as my knowledge of both is limited.
The Bear community has been a tremendous help, providing a long list of useful tips and resources to make blogging with Bear attainable for everyone. I want to thank especially Robert Birming, whose Bearming theme works as the backbone of my blog.
I wish Bear supported more built-in features. Comments and automatic newsletters could be a good place to start. While third-party options exist, they have their own issues.
Bear’s decision to embrace public upvotes by default is hard to understand, and I don’t see any benefits with that. They remind me of social media, and can make people adjust their writing to reach the highest number of upvotes. I have spent enough time reading blog posts to know that a high upvote count isn’t indicative of quality writing.
I don’t want to participate in this, which is why I have disabled upvotes on my posts. In true Bear fashion, there doesn’t exist a setting for this, so I had to implement a snippet of JavaScript to achieve a reliable solution. My posts will still appear on the recent tab of the discovery page and in many other blog discovery platforms.
As you can notice, there are many aspects of Bear that I’m not thrilled about. I chose it regardless because it suits me better than the alternatives, and it’s nice to support an indie developer with their life’s work. Bear also offers a lifetime subscription option that seems like a wise investment: in a few years I would only have to pay for the domain. I’m hoping that Bear remains the home for my blog for the long haul. 🌔