Partially Reposted News
Since seeking business opportunities in desperation in April 2023, the Garden has been struggling to survive for four months. The ability to sustain until now is mainly due to donations from everyone, a small investment from a Garden friend, and the rescue from angel investor Shunshun Wisdom. Thank you to all friends who have helped the Garden during this time!
In the current extremely difficult situation, we do not have enough strength to take a gamble on other business models. The only hope for the Garden to overcome this predicament, the fate of the Garden, depends on how many Garden friends choose to become VIP members by the end of the year.
The Garden was born by chance, grew naturally, persisted in its essence, became trapped by indifference (commercialization), and faced difficulties suddenly (crisis). Next, it will be handed over to nature—the natural choice of users. We do not know how many users will choose to help the Garden overcome this predicament, but we know that the existence and development of the Garden until now have been due to the choices of users.
Regardless of the outcome, we have no regrets because this is our choice, and the choice has become our mission. One of the most fulfilling lives is finding one's mission and striving for it. When faced with the choice of shutting down or paying a huge fine for the Garden in 2021, we chose to persevere.
When faced with Baidu's comprehensive devaluation and a sharp drop in revenue in 2022, we chose to persevere. When resources were exhausted in 2023, we still wanted to choose to persevere, but this time, without enough user support, we will not have enough strength to continue.
Membership launch—this is our official release of Blog Garden membership. Hanging by a thread, this emotional line from users to members, gathering little by little, will become the fate line of the Garden.
Reflection
I think Blog Garden's commercialization model is constrained by China's internet regulations. Because domain names need to be registered, comments need to be reviewed, and individuals need to be held accountable for their speech, the construction cost of content platforms has increased. Most bloggers actually use Blog Garden as a free document archiving tool and do not rely on this platform to make money. So when the document tool breaks, they can just switch to another one—it's not a necessity.
In contrast, WordPress has been around for many years and is thriving. The development of its plugin system is highly correlated with the history of the internet, making it the common choice for bloggers worldwide. It is a win-win for technology and business, achieving sustained profitability. Content creators focus on creating content, and Google or other platforms determine the value of traffic, enabling monetization. The operational path is very short and sustainable, so high-quality blogs can exist for many years because they are profitable.
Sometimes the environment is like a chicken coop—it's not that the chicken can't lay eggs, but because the temperature of the coop is too abnormal.