If it’s new to you, then it may also be new to others
I have often struggled to produce blog content. 5 years ago when I would blog it would be relative to my life. However I eventually learned that I was producing very personal creative writing and “publishing” it.
Now I don’t really blog, when I write it’s in a journal or a manuscript of some sort. I often think about writing technical information from my coding interests but have found that I have nothing to say. Thinking more on this I have decided that the web has become a misguided in it’s “blog blog blog” messaging. It should be “write write write” since blogging which is “write then publish” is almost a futile exercise in a world of SEO spam and soon Spam-AI-generated content.
Furthermore, why do I need to publish regurgitated information into the public eye? So my blog can rank up and then what? I become a blogger? I become a low-key resource for people? AI/Spam bots come and scrape my writings to further their own interests?
There’s something to be said for transparency of information as well. Great let’s all share, but at what point are we just filling the coffers with 90% ephemeral regurgitation and the other 10% is organized into a informational database (ie Wikipedia).
I don’t know what to write on my blog because I have nothing to say or give for free to everyone (that won’t do their own research) and that’s okay.
I agree a lot of blogging effort could be redirected to Wikipedia instead, which is less likely to see all that effort fall to linkrot within a couple years (or sometimes less than a year, drawing from my experience going back to blog posts I had saved - heck a story I submitted two days ago already has a broken link! Ridiculous). Writing Wikipedia isn’t as fun, though. I like writing with my own voice. You get to add little jokes, references to other interesting things. There are pretty much two types of blog posts I write:
Here is a cool thing I did
Here is a better explanation of something I found frustrating to learn from existing sources
The first is just self-promotion but also psychologically pleasant as a way to cap off a long period of effort. It will also be neat to go back and read it yourself, years later, like a journal. The second involves (I know this is an absolutely horrible turn of phrase but it is what it feels like) giving birth to a “knowledge baby” by getting all my thoughts on paper so they stop ricocheting around my head. And maybe someone else finds it useful.
Why do all this? Why not do all this? Blogging is fun, if you do it when the urge strikes you. Having to push out however much content per week or month sounds like a boring slog. Embrace variety and non-uniformity. Do different hobbies at different times of the year. Nobody uses RSS feeds anymore, you don’t have to care about subscribers. Just submit your posts to various news aggregators (HN, lobsters, reddit) whenever you get around to writing them.
Also, if you’re a contractor (like me) a blog is a way to get noticed and get contract offers in your email inbox. Not my main motivation but it’s nice when it happens. This is also why a lot of people write textbooks these days. Write something on a topic? You’re an expert on that topic.
Honestly this is a great way to wrap up an evening. Something might feel small, but all that information was in pieces and real effort and experience went into combining those details together. It would be great if this were more celebrated for even the small things.
I have often struggled to produce blog content. 5 years ago when I would blog it would be relative to my life. However I eventually learned that I was producing very personal creative writing and “publishing” it.
Now I don’t really blog, when I write it’s in a journal or a manuscript of some sort. I often think about writing technical information from my coding interests but have found that I have nothing to say. Thinking more on this I have decided that the web has become a misguided in it’s “blog blog blog” messaging. It should be “write write write” since blogging which is “write then publish” is almost a futile exercise in a world of SEO spam and soon Spam-AI-generated content.
Furthermore, why do I need to publish regurgitated information into the public eye? So my blog can rank up and then what? I become a blogger? I become a low-key resource for people? AI/Spam bots come and scrape my writings to further their own interests?
There’s something to be said for transparency of information as well. Great let’s all share, but at what point are we just filling the coffers with 90% ephemeral regurgitation and the other 10% is organized into a informational database (ie Wikipedia).
I don’t know what to write on my blog because I have nothing to say or give for free to everyone (that won’t do their own research) and that’s okay.
I agree a lot of blogging effort could be redirected to Wikipedia instead, which is less likely to see all that effort fall to linkrot within a couple years (or sometimes less than a year, drawing from my experience going back to blog posts I had saved - heck a story I submitted two days ago already has a broken link! Ridiculous). Writing Wikipedia isn’t as fun, though. I like writing with my own voice. You get to add little jokes, references to other interesting things. There are pretty much two types of blog posts I write:
The first is just self-promotion but also psychologically pleasant as a way to cap off a long period of effort. It will also be neat to go back and read it yourself, years later, like a journal. The second involves (I know this is an absolutely horrible turn of phrase but it is what it feels like) giving birth to a “knowledge baby” by getting all my thoughts on paper so they stop ricocheting around my head. And maybe someone else finds it useful.
Why do all this? Why not do all this? Blogging is fun, if you do it when the urge strikes you. Having to push out however much content per week or month sounds like a boring slog. Embrace variety and non-uniformity. Do different hobbies at different times of the year. Nobody uses RSS feeds anymore, you don’t have to care about subscribers. Just submit your posts to various news aggregators (HN, lobsters, reddit) whenever you get around to writing them.
Also, if you’re a contractor (like me) a blog is a way to get noticed and get contract offers in your email inbox. Not my main motivation but it’s nice when it happens. This is also why a lot of people write textbooks these days. Write something on a topic? You’re an expert on that topic.
Very much insight and reminder from your comment to write what really matters. Thanks!
Me myself, I blog because:
Honestly this is a great way to wrap up an evening. Something might feel small, but all that information was in pieces and real effort and experience went into combining those details together. It would be great if this were more celebrated for even the small things.