creation and maintenance and because we want to communicate with family and friends. Besides, we don't really care what happens to that content beyond that. Perhaps we should, but we don't.

I make my living writing the content for small business websites. I get paid reasonably well for my work, and sell it outright to my clients. I also post a great deal on DU. I don't get paid for that, nor do I have to maintain a political discussion forum. Instead, there's one all ready for my political content, with lots of people reading it.

What is the value of your content? How much time and money are you willing to spend to make it available for others to see? Are you trying to profit from your content? Answer those questions and you have the answer to the question you posed in your OP.

Want to control your content? Fire up a website or blog. Want people to come to see your content? Post it on a popular website. It's that simple. I have three blogs. They get a tiny fraction of the number of views any OP I write here gets. I'm writing political content so it will be seen. To make money, I sell high quality marketing content to small and medium-sized businesses.

I also post on Facebook, YouTube, and other sites. That's for my family and friends. I don't get paid for that, either, and it's not of much interest to anyone who doesn't know me already.

DU with the other online Megaopolies. They are not a corporate octopus and they are not selling our information to the highest bidder. And, because they and their site users share my political values, I make an exception for DU to profit off my content by my own choice (not that I'm any stellar contributor here.)

Even if you're not trying to profit from your content (which I'm not) shouldn't you care if the wrong people are? And with your consent?

My point was that I create more than one kind of content. For some content, I am paid. For other content, I am not. The free content is free. Anyone can use it as they please, pretty much. I know the difference between the two, and make my own decisions. I think everyone should do the same. And so they appear to do.

If you don't want your content on Facebook, YouTube or other major websites, the solution is simple: Don't post it there.

But, for the record, it's not about any money I'm getting or not getting. It's about allowing megaonline entities to use your content to manipulate people like cattle.

They're not manipulating me. Instead, I'm using their services to broadcast my content to my desired audience. In exchange, they show me advertising, which I completely ignore. I have never, even once, clicked a commercial link on Facebook, YouTube or any other website that I have visited, unless I am actively looking for something to purchase.

I also don't post advertisements on any of the Internet websites I frequent. How is my content being used to manipulate anyone "like cattle?"

The question to ask yourself is whether or not you have agency over your own actions. If you do, then you are not being manipulated by using those services that don't charge you anything. If you are being manipulated, then you are giving up your agency over your own actions.

Look at yourself, rather than looking at others. Each of us has agency over our own choices. Unless we give up that agency, we're just using the Internet in whatever way we wish to use it. If you choose to post information on major websites, then you have made a choice to share it with whomever can access it, and to allow the website to use it according to their public Terms of Service.

Be aware and make your own choices. That's what free people do.

You don't have agency over your own actions at Facebook and YouTube.

Did you know FaceBook will occasionally post advertisements in the time line connecting you with all your friends using your FaceBook ID? Did you know that a lot of people were manipulated to sign up at FaceBook because FaceBook gained access to the email address books of people and sent out emails under their names to their contacts? Linkedin has also been accused of this, I believe.

Did you know if you want to make a comment on YouTube you have to agree to have a Google Plus account? That is manipulation. You may still have a right to decline and not post a comment but that's still obvious manipulation of your behavior.

My choice is simple: Do I use those services on the terms of service I agreed to? I do. Do I need a Google Plus account to comment on YouTube videos? Yes. Do I have such an account? No. So, I do not comment on YouTube videos, because I don't want a Google Plus account. My agency was used in making that decision.

Of course Facebook advertises, on my timeline and on my Home page. That's how Facebook makes money. I can see that they advertise quite clearly. My agency is based on my decision to use that commercial service, knowing that it advertises. Facebook did not manipulate me into joining Facebook. I joined because I have friends and family who use it. Being able to post events in my life and to read about events in others lives was the reason I joined. Every person with whom I am friends on Facebook was chosen by me. I've also unfriended people if their posts were right wing or spam or for whatever other reason I made the decision. LinkedIn is a service I use very rarely, but I do have an account there and quite a few connections.

In every single case, I have decided to become a user of the service, knowing what that service is for and how it does business. I can unchoose it, too, if I choose, and have done so in a number of cases when a website has made changes that I disliked.

I have agency. I have agency in choosing whether to join a service, and I have agency on how I use that service. Is there advertising? Of course there is. I don't pay anything to use the services, and each of them costs a great deal to operate. They use advertising to make money, rather than selling goods or services to me. My agency is used in ignoring their advertising completely and using their service in my own way of choice.

We all have agency in these things. I get notices in email from some of those websites. I don't see them any longer. They go into my Spam folder at my Yahoo email account. I used my agency to send them there, and I no longer see them. I scan my Spam folder each morning and delete the entire folder immediately after checking to see if anything I should see is there.

You have agency. You can use it if you choose. If you choose to give up your agency, you can make that choice, as well.

there's memory machine that doesn't belong to You or Me.

You mean the NSA?

and a little html is more than can be expected?

and it is by design. This internet is way ahead of our social thinking for many like me. And way ahead of my ability to affect how I make/use it.

If people gave a fraction of the time they give to social sites on learning to set up their own site and learning some basic editing, they wouldn't have to surrender their time and content to FaceBook. You wouldn't have the functionality of FaceBook but you would be able to have an online presence under your own control.

I am. That's in addition to using commercial Internet resources. I have all the skills needed, and actually create websites for people. I also help the small businesses who are my clients to use Facebook and YouTube. Why? Because their customers also use them. Why do their customers use them? Because they like using Facebook and YouTube.

You don't. That's your deal, not mine.

So, let's see some of your work, so we can see how well you do what you are suggesting. You can see mine at the Web Content link in my signature line. Lots of work samples posted as links there.

Through your clients, you are involved in a monetary relationship with them. You have a vested monetary interest in encouraging use of such sites, and you see no problem using them in the first place. I do. I hope you get more orders for personal sites, though, as you clearly have skill.

I don't build websites for money. I will build them for friends and family for free to their specifications and, therefore, have none I would want to share on a public forum. I prefer minimalist designs for myself which I also don't wish to share. But I can hold my own well enough to get the job done. Nothing flashy or spectacular, though.

but the thing is that would it do anything more than just use up my time and your time, my resources... and just yield something better for me?
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I don't have a bunker mentality on this.
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I see a major problem beyond my personal concerns here.
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Example: Making a nuclear proof bunker in my backyard.... can be done, but for me, perhaps I should try to prevent such a need.

If you feel you don't need a website, don't have one. No harm in that.

to control info. but I think too much is out there, and even if 50% had own website...the problem this "free" info makes too huge a problem for everyone.

then Facebook wouldn't be worth billions today. Facebook had the right product at the right time, and they entwined themselves into our culture.

The other thing is that most people have plenty of problems and the fact that some big company has their content is very low on their list. I'd put myself in that category.