This personal blog narrative documents a developer's transition to full-time independent work on a search engine project, directly engaging with labor rights, freedom of thought, and cultural expression principles. The author advocates for sustainable work conditions (Article 23), adequate rest and leisure (Article 24), and freedom of expression (Article 19), while articulating vision for preserving diverse, independent web content outside corporate control. The content demonstrates strong positive orientation toward UDHR provisions centered on worker autonomy, wellbeing, and cultural freedom.
Congrats to the author! Marginalia is a great service. I hope they find a way to make it viable to keep going, either through donations or some other model.
That feeling when you walk out of an office for the last time, to work on your own thing is exhilarating. I had my moment like that back in 2014 and can still remember it.
Im curious what percentage of living expenses are covered by the project for the author. I have a few products generating over 50% of my yearly expenses and am feeling like going full time is almost a possibility now.
I've been trialling Marginalia Search a little and one thing that's struck me is the latency. The only other site I use with similar latency is HN; Marginalia seems even lower despite being dynamic (HN has a much easier caching story). I wonder is it just down to having lower traffic. It's certainly a lot lower than many low-/zero-traffic blogs I've frequented though.
I've had a look at the README[0] for the Java sourcecode, but it's highly focused on crawls, database & indexing (understandable for search); would be cool to see a front-end focused write-up.
Congrats! I find I'm using Marginalia more and more, it's especially great for researching for novel writing, and can’t wait to see what the future holds! Good luck!
This is fantastic and commendable. Too many good hackers are tied up in a stable job at companies. Building something out of passion is just so different and the end result is so amazing that one cannot really fake that.
Marginalia is one of my favorite sites. Wishing you all the best.
Both of your top two projects are very interesting to me at the moment. Especially your Wikipedia mirror.
Just today I realized how distracting too many hyperlinks can be. And Wikipedia is full of them! It feels so much easier to read an article without them. Now I just wish Wikipedia had more supporting graphics to help engage readers in a more productive manner.
Otherwise - Great job on the peppy site and breath of fresh air to open the network tab and see 1 html get, and another for the CSS. And the 404 favicon that I guess the browser insists on ;)
I had seen marginalia mentioned here in HN a couple of times but never got around to use it.
I'm very impressed. Using it I get this old Internet vibe (which someone else also mentioned). Just used it to get some information on a random topic I recently tried to research with Google but failed due to all the SEO crap. It produced several hits of old pages (with the tiny font and the early 2000's graphics and design), but _full_ of information.
Not all the results are good though, it was mostly hit and miss, but the hits were _good_. Will use it from now on.
What I find quite nice about Marginalia is for discoveries outside the most popular destinations for such topics. For example, looking for a weekend movie but do not want to see all the SEO websites talking about movies. Marginalia surprises you with some unknown websites in the first page :)
I use it when I want to be surprised by the results :D
Best of luck. Easily my favorite project. Emailed Viktor last year about using the marginalia API for my side project[1] and he responded almost immediately. I use the API to get marginalia's arcane search results for a given query and choose a random link from those results to redirect. Endless fun.
Hope to see it continue to grow until the internet goes dark.
Congratulations with your courageous step. I will really root for it, might even check out if I can contribute. I think Marginalia can have an amazing impact to the web. Right now it is dying from the cancerous growth of SEO spam and informations silos ever increasing in size.
I tried Marginalia and already get amazing and fast results. This will make the web fun, creative and interesting again.
Just like, I think, fellow countryman proving the world wrong that browsers cannot be created from scratch with Ladybird I think you will succeed also. (At least with search engines the competition gets worse every day.)
I’m curious about what and how crawling is done. I did a search for my own site and didn’t find it (it’s a redirect to another site, which I’m sure doesn’t help). What’s being indexed right now (out of curiosity, not trying to game SEO - that’s why I’m not mentioning the site I searched for here.)
I left a very good job 7 years in (digital design) to go out on my own. That was more than 2 decades ago. I could write paragraphs of the rookie mistakes (business-wise) and the financial ups & downs, but one thing has never changed...
The "temporal freedom" I have in my work (Gad Saad, if you don't know the name). I love being the master of my own day, of my own time. I don't sit in Zoom meetings or have daily standups. I can get up at 5am and work until 11am, and then go hike, play with my dog, get ice cream with my daughters, workout, etc. and then work again from 7pm until midnight or whatever.
Having (almost literally) full control over my daily schedule, week-in, week-out, year after year, is invaluable to me.
One disclosure: a few times a year I do very hard things where I have very little freedom, but they allow me to have lots of freedom the rest of the year.
Not to be a jerk, but I won't be elaborating. And I realize this life isn't for everyone!
@marginalia_nu if you're reading this, please know that you're an inspiration and that I crazy appreciate what you're doing.
We need people like you in the world pushing to make interesting things that aren't necessarily profit driven, but instead seek to help add flavor and interest back into the world.
Your search engine is the kind of technology that reminds me of the technology ethos from the 90s and it's so amazing to see you get the chance to actualize it! Don't waste this chance!
No matter what, know that this is the right decision. You have fans, and we're rooting for you!
The blog is just hugo so it's 100% static files over nginx.
The search engine is serverside-rendered mustache templates via handlebars[1], via served via spark[2]. It's basically all vanilla Java. I do raw SQL queries instead of ORM, which makes it quite a bit snappier than most Java applications. The sheer size of the database also mandates that basically every query is a primary key lookup. The code is written around that constraint.
Although the search engine is a bit on the slow side since it's routed through cloudflare and I think I'm relatively far away from the closest datacenter so it adds like 100ms to the load times.
In general I've had like infrequent but large influx of money from the project, so it's hard to answer. Although I have relatively long runway, no small thanks to nlnet for their generous grant.
On some level it's all a gamble. Either I try to make this work somehow, or I close up shop and keep working as an office drone, because I really can't keep doing both.
My hope is that I'm able to make it work on a wikipedia-like model donation model, maybe supplemented with selling commercial API access (access is free CC-BY-NC-SA). My burn rate is literally my living expenses plus a hundred dollars per month of service costs to I don't have to be spectacularly profitable to sustain flight. ... all that is contingent on making it work quite a lot better than it does now, so I guess I have my work cut out for me.
It's also a weird project, since it's had an almost absurdly positive reaction. For example, many people develop a search engine and get almost lynched on HN for not working exactly like Google or not dealing with some query as expected. Someone found a link to my barely working search engine that didn't properly support multiple-keyword queries and this happens: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28550764
The links were cropped so I changed them with just a word for the service. But it turns out I can't markdown today and I changed the URLs instead of the text.
I don't think it's supposed to index all sites. If you search for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or even Hacker News you will not get any official results. It's meant to only show obscure sites but I'm unsure of the actual criteria.
I would love to (though I'm a long way off it, with not much to walk away to) but I wonder what the equivalent feeling is if you already/previously work from home? Shipping the work machine back? Turning it off for the last time? Unplugging web cam and microphone?
Algolia has stunning latency and I assume a bucketload of traffic, I suspect they just have very competent infrastructure and fast as hell code and queries, perhaps thr same is true here.
One year ago for me. I’ll never work for a boss again. And won’t be the boss of anyone again either - just as important to me.
Editorial Channel
What the content says
+0.50
Article 24Rest & Leisure
High Advocacy
Editorial
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SETL
ND
Explicit, strong advocacy for rest and leisure. Author directly states need for 'sleep, exercise, and relationships.' Characterizes previous arrangement as unsustainable precisely because it denied adequate rest. Central motivation for work transition.
Observable Facts
Author explicitly states: 'I'm looking forward to returning to a somewhat saner life balance with time for things like sleep, exercise, and relationships.'
Author characterizes previous overwork as 'not really sustainable long term,' attributing this to lack of rest.
Inferences
Explicit focus on sleep, exercise, and relationships reflects direct engagement with right to rest and leisure.
Characterization of overwork as unsustainable reflects understanding that rest is precondition for human flourishing.
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Article 19Freedom of Expression
High Advocacy Framing Practice
Editorial
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SETL
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Blog post is direct exercise of free expression and opinion. Author articulates vision for preserving diverse, independent web expression. Explicitly advocates for protecting 'wild and creative' web parts from corporate consolidation.
Observable Facts
Author publishes personal blog articulating thoughts, decisions, and vision publicly.
Author states project mission: preserve 'the parts that are still wild and creative and outside the corporate walled gardens.'
Inferences
Publishing personal narrative is direct exercise of freedom of expression and opinion.
Project mission explicitly advocates for diverse expression and cultural content outside corporate control.
Blog platform structure enables free expression without institutional constraints.
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Article 23Work & Equal Pay
High Advocacy Framing
Editorial
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SETL
ND
Strong, explicit engagement with right to favorable working conditions. Author rejects unsustainable labor practices ('bludgeon your way forward… wears on you'), prioritizes sustainable work conditions and work-life balance. Advocates through personal example.
Observable Facts
Author explicitly states: 'You can absolutely bludgeon your way forward with sheer determination… for a while. It wears on you. It requires sacrificing other things in a way that's not really sustainable long term.'
Author left employment to find 'a somewhat saner life balance' and states 'I need to find a balance where I can last the course.'
Inferences
Rejection of unsustainable labor reflects strong advocacy for right to favorable working conditions.
Choice prioritizing sustainable work over income demonstrates belief that work conditions must support human flourishing.
Reframing sustainability as central to labor reflects advocacy for worker dignity and rights.
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Article 18Freedom of Thought
Medium Advocacy
Editorial
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SETL
ND
Author articulates independent judgment about technological possibility against prevailing assumptions. Work choice driven by personal values and vision rather than external pressure.
Observable Facts
Author states building search engine seemed 'very possible' despite prevailing assumption it 'couldn't be done.'
Author emphasizes values-driven work: 'one for passion and the joy of making a difference.'
Inferences
Pursuing unconventional path against conventional wisdom reflects freedom of independent thought.
Choice to prioritize personal values over economic security demonstrates engagement with freedom of conscience.
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Article 25Standard of Living
Medium
Editorial
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SETL
ND
Author engages with standards of living and health. Discusses financial sustainability constraints ('nothing is certain beyond two years'), health needs (sleep, exercise), and material conditions required for wellbeing.
Observable Facts
Author expresses concern about financial sustainability: 'Beyond that, nothing is certain.'
Author emphasizes health as foundational: seeking 'saner life balance with time for things like sleep, exercise.'
Inferences
Concern about financial sustainability reflects awareness that adequate living standard is foundational right.
Emphasis on health reflects understanding that health is connected to working conditions and living standards.
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Article 27Cultural Participation
Medium Advocacy
Editorial
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SETL
ND
Author articulates commitment to preserving diverse cultural content and independent participation in web culture. Project explicitly aims to protect creative, independent web expression from corporate homogenization.
Observable Facts
Author describes project goal: preserve 'the parts that are still wild and creative and outside the corporate walled gardens.'
Inferences
Commitment to preserving diverse, independent web content reflects engagement with cultural participation rights.
Characterization of corporate consolidation as limiting reflects belief in value of free cultural participation outside institutional control.
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PreamblePreamble
Medium
Editorial
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SETL
ND
Author emphasizes personal freedom, autonomy in work choice, and pursuit of meaningful work aligned with values. Discusses dignity through purposeful labor and 'joy of making a difference.'
Observable Facts
Author describes decision as 'deliberate' and expresses 'a note of relief' and 'joy of making a difference.'
Author identifies work with personal values and dignity: 'one for pay and one for passion and the joy of making a difference.'
Inferences
The emphasis on deliberate, autonomous choice reflects engagement with human dignity and freedom.
Connection between meaningful work and personal flourishing suggests alignment with UDHR's foundational dignity principles.
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Article 22Social Security
Medium
Editorial
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SETL
ND
Author discusses economic security concerns and economic precarity. Describes exhaustion from unsustainable labor conditions. Reflects on economic wellbeing as tied to work sustainability.
Observable Facts
Author states: 'I have money for two years, some half of it from the NLnet grant and half of it is savings, as well as a trickle of donations.'
Author describes 'exhaustion has been mounting for a while now' from working two demanding jobs.
Inferences
Careful accounting of economic resources reflects awareness of economic security as foundational.
Discussion of exhaustion from unsustainable arrangements reflects concern with economic wellbeing as essential right.
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Article 12Privacy
Low
Editorial
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SETL
ND
Author's autonomous decision to leave employment and pursue independent work reflects personal sphere autonomy and self-determination.
Observable Facts
Author made explicit autonomous decision to leave employment and pursue independent work.
Inferences
Ability to make and act on this personal decision reflects exercise of autonomy within private sphere.
ND
Article 1Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood
Not directly engaged.
ND
Article 2Non-Discrimination
Not directly engaged.
ND
Article 3Life, Liberty, Security
Not directly engaged.
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Article 4No Slavery
Not directly engaged.
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Article 5No Torture
Not directly engaged.
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Article 6Legal Personhood
Not directly engaged.
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Article 7Equality Before Law
Not directly engaged.
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Article 8Right to Remedy
Not directly engaged.
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Article 9No Arbitrary Detention
Not directly engaged.
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Article 10Fair Hearing
Not directly engaged.
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Article 11Presumption of Innocence
Not directly engaged.
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Article 13Freedom of Movement
Not directly engaged.
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Article 14Asylum
Not directly engaged.
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Article 15Nationality
Not directly engaged.
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Article 16Marriage & Family
Not directly engaged.
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Article 17Property
Not directly engaged.
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Article 20Assembly & Association
Not directly engaged.
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Article 21Political Participation
Not directly engaged.
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Article 26Education
Not directly engaged.
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Article 28Social & International Order
Not directly engaged.
ND
Article 29Duties to Community
Not directly engaged.
ND
Article 30No Destruction of Rights
Not directly engaged.
Structural Channel
What the site does
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Article 19Freedom of Expression
High Advocacy Framing Practice
Structural
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Context Modifier
ND
SETL
+0.20
Personal blog platform enables publishing and expression. No apparent content restrictions or censorship mechanisms observed.