I think I am a native speaker - Australian, is that "native" English? But I digress... - and I couldn't spot the error. I was going to write the same as your comment.
Maybe the fact that english is so damn flexible with so many exceptions and patterns I just saw what was intended and rolled with it without even registering?!?
The top comments are going nuts over "it's" ?!? Really? I didn't even blink.
When the top comments talked about the error I reread the line a few times and saw zero issues with it.
The words flowing out of my brain say it is a "referential possessive"
IE "it" in this case refers to the last noun referenced, and it has a singular relationship bound to the creator.
Yes it reverses the traditional concept of ownership (normally the creator owns the product) but that is the whole point - the website seemed to have a life of it's own and has been a burden/boon to the creator these past many years - so who really owns who in that relationship?
So yeah, looked up the Its vs It's and supposedly it should be its.
But I honestly still understood perfectly what it was conveying so I'm fine with it either way.
I believe that will get you out of 99% of the "it's vs its" problems you find in day to day life.
Bonus: If you're almost sure you need "it's" but not totally, just read the sentence as "...blah blah IT IS blah blah..." and if that doesn't make sense use "its" instead.
Edit: Some would gatekeep English, I don't personally care except that it seemed to give you a lot of stress and I hate to see someone upset, truly, so I thought I might help. I have a lot of trouble with grammar rules, too, so I have certain ways of thinking that I figure could help you and others. In reality, its or it's will read the same in your head and have further context as you read, so it doesn't really matter.
I understand contractions, but “its” doesn’t track with possessive nouns, which is why this is such a pervasive “error”. English has some dumb rules that we don’t need to protect.
Maybe the fact that english is so damn flexible with so many exceptions and patterns I just saw what was intended and rolled with it without even registering?!?
The top comments are going nuts over "it's" ?!? Really? I didn't even blink.
When the top comments talked about the error I reread the line a few times and saw zero issues with it.
The words flowing out of my brain say it is a "referential possessive" IE "it" in this case refers to the last noun referenced, and it has a singular relationship bound to the creator.
Yes it reverses the traditional concept of ownership (normally the creator owns the product) but that is the whole point - the website seemed to have a life of it's own and has been a burden/boon to the creator these past many years - so who really owns who in that relationship?