Is the publishing platform ready for prime time?

Check their own example: Ali Abdaal — a page they themselves advertise as an example of a Ghost setup, on the Ghost.org homepage.

Have you ever happened upon a page that loads slower? 

This is the most horrible code you can imagine. Ghost loves javascript.

Javascripts that mess up your browser’s processing, resulting in jerky scrolling! In 2024. Who wants jerky scrolling?

Ghost is a joke. Avoid at all costs. Spend a few weeks learning WordPress instead and find a good host for both your domains and your wordpress installations.

I’ve discovered several problems with Ghost’s cache settings. When a new user happens to visit your Ghost page, your page is not updated. 

The Ghost installation does not fetch the updated content until a new user requests it, through visiting your page. Only then does Ghost wake up and update the page. This means that only the second visitor to your page will actually see the new and updated page. And this does not work each and every time either. This is a bad solution, but when I emailed the staff about this and other problems, the Ghost staff did not want to acknowledge the problem.

You get much more freedom with your own WordPress installation at a reputable host, and it’s not more complicated than Ghost. If you find a responsive host/ISP who replies quickly to your support questions it’s miles better than the small Ghost team, who take days to reply to a question.

Don’t use WordPress.com though, it’s a giant money pit / subscription scam, where they charge you for every little extra feature. 

You even have to pay to add extra email addresses or simple things like re-using a theme you’ve already bought on another of your wordpress.com domains. That won’t happen if you use an independent ISP’s WordPress setup.

Avoid Ghost.org.