alt Hacker NewsAI is still killing the website I live from[0], training its AI on my work and using it to deny me an audience. Traffic is down 80-85% from the same month pre-LLMs.
So I'm cutting operating costs to the bare minimum. Today I shut down one service and replaced a VPS with Cloudflare Workers. I'm also trimming my SaaS subscriptions and self-hosting what I can.
Working on this website feels so pointless if it will end up dead in a year. I just returned from a vacation and realised that I just don't like being online anymore. I'll cut my expenses to a minimum, log off, and ride a motorcycle around the world. What happens after that is anyone's guess.
Replies
Ok how could one protect from something like this?
- Put the information into an app and make it inaccessible for the LLM? - Add a paywall protection?
Hey Nicolas, I’m sure you’re sick of hearing this, but All About Berlin was indispensable when I lived in Berlin from 2021 to 2024. I recommended your blog to all my immigrant friends. It was equally as helpful as the immigration lawyer I hired.
I don’t have any advice, but I do want to thank you for the thankless work you do on All About Berlin and say I’m sorry to hear how much LLMs have affected your business.
Brutal, and the choice is shitty too, block the ai crawlers and lose what little referral traffic they give. Allow the traffic and get summarised into oblivion.