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Ask YC: Why don't you write a blog?

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Re: Ask YC: Why don't you write a blog?

#11

Post by meredydd »

You know, given the context, I'm going to throw out a spurious analogy:

Maybe writing a blog bears some small resemblance to doing a startup. It takes more time than is reasonable, in the average case nobody else really notices, and once in a while it will propel a (partially-random) someone to fame and fortune. In other words, it's only really worth it for the sense of personal satisfaction it will give you.

Maybe it's my sense of self-preservation, preventing me from maintaining too many irrational behaviours simultaneously?

Re: Ask YC: Why don't you write a blog?

#13

Post by danielrhodes »

The desire to write a blog (and keep at it) comes from within. You must have a desire to consume the information and then spit it out again in a manner which you see as unique from other people. In some cases, that comes out in different ways (e.g. some people would start a podcast, but not a blog). Also, some people just aren't that into writing extensively.

Re: Ask YC: Why don't you write a blog?

#15

Post by swombat »

I blog, but not for any of the reasons you mentioned. I blog because I greatly enjoy writing and I greatly enjoy explaining my ideas to others.

It sounds clichéd perhaps, but you should write because you enjoy writing, not because you want to achieve all the secondary stuff that comes after you've written stuff for a long time and finally accumulated all those bells and whistles.

Daniel

Re: Ask YC: Why don't you write a blog?

#16

Post by PStamatiou »

I write a blog that I take fairly seriously and maintain well. As others have said, it's a huge commitment. At the moment I've been dealing with final exams and now vacation, but usually I spend 4 hours/day on my blog. Not that I post every day or multiple times per day, it's just keeping up with the news that might be involved in a later post, building something to write about, reviewing something, etc.

Re: Ask YC: Why don't you write a blog?

#17

Post by swombat »

tx wrote: post #8

99.9% of blogs are crap, including mine. I write it mostly for myself and to polish my English (not my native tongue). I don't believe one should be looking for "advantages" when deciding to start a blog. I hate to see what blogs are turning into: they aren't personal anymore and look more like expanded resumes. Blogs used to be just that: a personal diary of what's going on. And silly things like "Rails Blog" or "Ja…

Why should anyone be interested in your personal happenings?

On the other hand, if you have some perspective to contribute about Rails development, the value proposition to the reader is much clearer.

Daniel

Re: Ask YC: Why don't you write a blog?

#18

Post by swombat »

xirium wrote: post #10
nanexcool wrote: post #5

Writing a blog takes dedication and time. It is not for everyone. I've started three, and couldn't keep up with any of them.

> Writing a blog takes dedication and time. Yes. I've also discovered that blogging has to be done very frequently to obtain a significant audience. For example, Paul Kedrosky ( http://paul.kedrosky.com/ ) sometimes posts three times per day, seven days per week. I'd rather spend my time doing extended programming sessions. I'm also inclined to write 4000 word epics rather than 100 word stream-of-consciousness posts,…

That's just one method. There are numerous successful blogs that post much more rarely, much weightier posts. E.g.:

http://www.stevepavlina.com http://www.randsinrepose.com

To name but two.

4000 words might be a bit hard to digest for a blog post, but there's a happy medium in 1000-2000 words which you don't need to publish every day (or even several times a week, as Rands has shown), so long as it's worth reading.

Daniel

Re: Ask YC: Why don't you write a blog?

#19

Post by swombat »

PStamatiou wrote: post #16

I write a blog that I take fairly seriously and maintain well. As others have said, it's a huge commitment. At the moment I've been dealing with final exams and now vacation, but usually I spend 4 hours/day on my blog. Not that I post every day or multiple times per day, it's just keeping up with the news that might be involved in a later post, building something to write about, reviewing something, etc.

Few people can succeed with a blog that merely parrots back information that came from elsewhere. I would suggest spending those 4 hours a day actually doing something that you can write about.

Browsing news for 4 hours a day isn't really research, more likely to be procrastination.

Daniel

Re: Ask YC: Why don't you write a blog?

#20

Post by notauser »

swombat wrote: post #15

I blog, but not for any of the reasons you mentioned. I blog because I greatly enjoy writing and I greatly enjoy explaining my ideas to others. It sounds clichéd perhaps, but you should write because you enjoy writing, not because you want to achieve all the secondary stuff that comes after you've written stuff for a long time and finally accumulated all those bells and whistles. Daniel

100% of the stuff on my publicly-visible CMS (not a blog!) is stuff I think I will need again one day. All of those handy one liners, administration commands and the occasional longer piece go there - every time I have to look something up or do a bit of research I try and make a note of it.

The reason being that there is almost nothing worse than having to, 6 months later, do exactly the same research over again because you can't quite remember how you figured it out last time :/

The publicly visible bit is just because, well, I am documenting it anyway so I might as well let google index it. I always find it slightly amusing when I'm searching for an answer and one of my own solutions comes up that I had totally forgotten about.

As a result readership is very low (about 10k users/20k pages per month) but I'm not really bothered as I'm not selling advertising or looking for revenue or fame :)

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