2025: How leaving Evernote helped my POSSE strategy
Transitioning from Evernote, a corporate ecosystem, to a sovereign one based on Obsidian and Micro.blog.
2025 was the year I fully switched from Evernote to Obsidian, but it was not an easy task. In addition to all the content I had been adding for more than a decade, there was also a sentimental connection to the app—and especially to the fellow Experts with whom I used to interact almost daily.
If I’m being honest, I preferred the path the company was taking before Bending Spoons' acquisition. That said, if we consider the current note-taking marketplace, that original size and structure would likely never be on par with younger, smaller, and more agile competitors. As I’ve said before, without Bending Spoons, Evernote would have probably slowly disappeared.
That doesn’t mean, however, that I agree with the new path. For example, as you already know, I like to keep AI far away from my personal notes. I’m aware that Evernote’s implementation is opt-in, but a year ago when I was still using the app, it was far too easy to perform an AI search accidentally. This meant that several of my notes were being sent to a model somewhere “out there.”
Although I only left the Evernote Experts program in May, if you look at my first posts of the year, you’ll find the seeds of The Digital Caveman project. This project is the result of merging two incredible philosophies: Obsidian’s Local-First approach and the IndieWeb’s POSSE.
Not an Easy Path
At first, Obsidian Publish seemed like the logical choice, and that’s why I left Micro.blog in favor of it. As a product, it is fantastic; unfortunately, it lacks several basic web features I value—from a usable RSS feed to the ability to access the <head> of the site to include code like rel="me" verification.
Another challenge was automating my POSSE strategy. For that, Micro.blog is a great choice, as they constantly add new cross-posting options. So, after a lot of consideration, I decided to go back and, as before, use the Micro.publish plugin to still keep all my files local in Obsidian while publishing them across the web via Micro.blog.
Because my files were already in Markdown, switching back to Micro.blog wasn’t hard—but it wasn’t seamless, either. I’m still reorganizing parts of my site because of this back-and-forth, but it has been worth it. I’ve learned so much, and I’m in love with how the site functions now.
The Most Important Decision
To improve the site, I started using AI to help me learn Hugo and understand how Micro.blog works. This gave me the courage to finally merge my Portuguese and English content into a single site and domain.
With Gemini as my “technical partner,” I created separate menus for each language and rebuilt the internal structure to create a truly bilingual site. It required a lot of planning and trial and error, but the process is now complete.
The Portuguese and Brazilian visitors land at the /pt/ section, while the rest of the world goes to /en/. On social media, I added the line Posts = English + Portuguese to all my bios and began posting in both languages.
The surprise? A boost in site traffic. It’s nothing astronomical, but the graph clearly shows an upward trend. I always had this nagging thought that a bilingual site would hurt my numbers, but I was clearly wrong.
No Tracking
As the Digital Caveman project progressed, it opened my eyes to the remarkable open-source alternatives available to replace Big Tech. For instance, while using the Vivaldi browser, I realized that by having Google Analytics code on my site, I was effectively helping a corporation spy on my visitors.
I switched to GoatCounter in November, meaning that the site is now completely free of anything that helps corporations spy on you. That makes me incredibly happy!
Cool Features
The more I learned, the more I wanted to implement. First came the Library. It’s a simple grid of book covers built directly from blog posts. And because everything starts in Obsidian, I even have a local version of the Library built using the new Bases core plugin.
I also finally built a map with pins linking to posts about places I’ve been. Building this made me twice as happy: I love the final result, and I was able to share the code on GitHub. Giving back to the community felt wonderful.
And, of course, there’s also a local and more detailed version in my Obsidian built with the Map View plugin.
Check my Obsidian Setup page for a detailed and updated look at how I use the app, including search, note formatting, and essential plugins.
More Content in Portuguese
The “new canvas” of a bilingual site inspired me to go back to blogging in Portuguese, which led to a version 2.0 of my first podcast. And I’m even contemplating writing a fiction book in Portuguese.
The Digital Caveman Year
I never wrote a “year in review” post, but I’m glad I did this time. It allowed me to clearly perceive the progress I’ve made. Back in January, I knew what I intended to build, but it took months to truly understand the soul of the Digital Caveman project.
Looking back, 2025 was the year I finally aligned my digital life with the philosophies I love and promote: Local-First and POSSE.
I wish you a great 2026!