Ask HN: How do you document your knowhow, past projects and lessons?

For my own work:

A Leuchtterm1917 dotted notebook + mechanical pencil + ink/gel hybrid pen.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ENUIKC/ref=s9_acsd_hps...

For work I do under employment I tend to use org-mode and publish to whatever format suits them best. Often one of PDF, HTML, or Markdown.

I have been experimenting with using an org-mode based publishing system that syncs with my ReMarkable... it is taking over some of my note-taking. But I'm a chronic journal-keeper and have over a decade of notes and experience with my system.

I'm testing out tiddlywiki (https://tiddlywiki.com/) as of right now. I really like it so far. Used to use org-mode, then plain old google docs. Right now for me it's between onenote and tiddlywiki.

That is an interesting use of gmail drafts. I'm sure you stretched the usability to the limit and found pros and cons going to a wiki.

I use orgmode, starting with a buffer with a few headings, URLs, and paragraphs on a topic. The buffer may be killed the same day or turn into 100k words spread over a few files a few years later, still easily searchable with org-agenda or grep and automatically exported to HTML for viewing on mobile. I don't bother with images or mobile editing due to complications--those are the main drawbacks.

Markdown to Evernote, but I'm also keen on embedding little screencasts in my notes. It's sometimes a great memory jog to have an old terminal session reanimated and popping up in response to your keyword search results.

It's also been useful for a 'show rather than tell' approach to technical Confluence documentation.

I've previously used LICEcap and Screenflow, but SnagIt also has some nice video capture options, with an option to convert to animated GIF. Also becoming a bit of a fan of Camtasia, but the output is regular video.

How do you organize your paper notes?

I take a lot of "scratch" notes on paper, but often end up copying them into the computer at the end of the workweek. Usually they are quite a mess, and preserving them as-is makes for a challenge when using them in the future.

The other nice thing about notes on the computer is that they are easy to move around, tag, edit, etc. I can also integrate a tool like Zotero into my workflow, using pandoc-citeproc to keep a true bibliography and reference list.

I'm not saying you need all of those things, obviously. But I find them really helpful, and I would like to know how your system obviates the need for things like that. Do you write URLs by hand?