The article describes the author's walk through various companies (Sun, Joyent, Oxide) and how his blogging evolved with (and thanks to!) them. Not quite what I expected, particularly the points about how Sun truly encouraged blogging, so it was interesting in that regard. The many links to older articles help paint a good picture of this story.
As for "conclusions"... I also hit the 2-decade mark earlier this year (https://blogsystem5.substack.com/p/20-years-of-blogging) and I can spot similar thoughts to mine: blogging has evolved from short/informal posts to longer-form more structured pieces, and the smaller "throw-away" articles that one would write in the past now happen in other platforms like Twitter or Reddit. Which matches... the trend for everyone else too?
I believe for someone who wants to dive into blogging, start with "throw-away" articles otherwise giving pristine structure and stack will lead to analysis paralysis. Slowly and steadily hone your skills - writing and devops side of hosting your site.
If you blog, do you go back and look at old pieces?
I do that occasionally, mostly to reshare on social media or here. Gotta chase those karma points.
But sometimes someone will ask a question in slack or via email that reminds me "I wrote something about that once!" and I'll dig up a piece to share.
As a gift for a family member who had a non-technical blog, I once gathered posts together, edited them, and turned them into a book. That was a ton of fun.
I'm doing that a lot at work actually because I have blogged extensively about Bazel before (and other related build topics) and many of those posts are coming handy to answer questions that people have at this "new" place. It has kinda become a meme. "Ah yeah, there is a post for that!"
Yes. I also have a "random blog post" button which I like to hit from time to time. It's nice to see where I was years ago and what was going on in my life back then. (my blog spans more than 20 years by now)
With search engines polluted with SEO spam and AI vacuuming up content to ultimately sell it on, I lost the motivation to write publicly. I no longer feel I'm directly in touch with and helping the average Joe. Does anyone else feel like this? I can't I'm comfortable with my decision but nothing in the last year has made me reassess it.
I mostly blog for myself. It helps me clarify my thoughts and really understand what I'm writing about. It also helps me remember myself as I was 5 or 10 years ago.
If it weren't public, I don't think I'd do it. I've rarely kept a journal or diary.
I hear you about AI, though. Aren't there headers you can add to dissuade those crawlers?
You don't have to absolutely write for the public. Maybe some articles here and there but consider blogging as a documentation of some sort or "dear diary" but digital, running on the greatest and best tech stack.
If anything, all the spam and lack of real discussion that shows up on my daily feeds has encouraged me to search for smaller authors and bloggers, who I find are more insightful anyways. Not all hope is lost!
I have found no good way to smaller authors. I've seen a few web rings that give me cool but completely random websites. HN is the best I've got so far.
A curated and subscribable list of smaller authors categorised by area, where the sites aren't wall-gardened and laiden with trackers, would seem to fit the bill.
The article describes the author's walk through various companies (Sun, Joyent, Oxide) and how his blogging evolved with (and thanks to!) them. Not quite what I expected, particularly the points about how Sun truly encouraged blogging, so it was interesting in that regard. The many links to older articles help paint a good picture of this story.
As for "conclusions"... I also hit the 2-decade mark earlier this year (https://blogsystem5.substack.com/p/20-years-of-blogging) and I can spot similar thoughts to mine: blogging has evolved from short/informal posts to longer-form more structured pieces, and the smaller "throw-away" articles that one would write in the past now happen in other platforms like Twitter or Reddit. Which matches... the trend for everyone else too?
I believe for someone who wants to dive into blogging, start with "throw-away" articles otherwise giving pristine structure and stack will lead to analysis paralysis. Slowly and steadily hone your skills - writing and devops side of hosting your site.
If you blog, do you go back and look at old pieces?
I do that occasionally, mostly to reshare on social media or here. Gotta chase those karma points.
But sometimes someone will ask a question in slack or via email that reminds me "I wrote something about that once!" and I'll dig up a piece to share.
As a gift for a family member who had a non-technical blog, I once gathered posts together, edited them, and turned them into a book. That was a ton of fun.
I'm doing that a lot at work actually because I have blogged extensively about Bazel before (and other related build topics) and many of those posts are coming handy to answer questions that people have at this "new" place. It has kinda become a meme. "Ah yeah, there is a post for that!"
Yes. I also have a "random blog post" button which I like to hit from time to time. It's nice to see where I was years ago and what was going on in my life back then. (my blog spans more than 20 years by now)
With search engines polluted with SEO spam and AI vacuuming up content to ultimately sell it on, I lost the motivation to write publicly. I no longer feel I'm directly in touch with and helping the average Joe. Does anyone else feel like this? I can't I'm comfortable with my decision but nothing in the last year has made me reassess it.
I mostly blog for myself. It helps me clarify my thoughts and really understand what I'm writing about. It also helps me remember myself as I was 5 or 10 years ago.
If it weren't public, I don't think I'd do it. I've rarely kept a journal or diary.
I hear you about AI, though. Aren't there headers you can add to dissuade those crawlers?
You don't have to absolutely write for the public. Maybe some articles here and there but consider blogging as a documentation of some sort or "dear diary" but digital, running on the greatest and best tech stack.
If anything, all the spam and lack of real discussion that shows up on my daily feeds has encouraged me to search for smaller authors and bloggers, who I find are more insightful anyways. Not all hope is lost!
I have found no good way to smaller authors. I've seen a few web rings that give me cool but completely random websites. HN is the best I've got so far.
A curated and subscribable list of smaller authors categorised by area, where the sites aren't wall-gardened and laiden with trackers, would seem to fit the bill.