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

I just started my blog (its been work in progress for over a year now). I agree with several others that it takes time, and commitment to keep good content flowing. I spent almost all day yesterday putting out two posts. But if felt good. And its because its my way of giving something back. Some of the best information I gather is from blogs. Whether it be someone detailing the inner workings of rails routes to a one liner that saves you an hour of work. And they have helped me, so this is my way of helping someone back.

One of my blog posts details the issues I had trying to get Console2 to work the way I wanted it to. I wrote my experiences with it, and can hope that someone out there is having the exact same issue that I had, and benefit from it.

Creating new content is hard, writing well is even harder. A blog gives you the ability to work on both simultaneously. But on the flip side, who says it has to be brand new content? Write what you think is useful, maybe only to you. Treat it as a journal of thoughts, a repository of solutions to problems that you came across, a bank of opinions on things that matter to you, a list of articles that reverberated with you, it does not matter. What does matter is you being the authentic you.

Those who think most blogs are bs, yes, most are. But seriously, are you telling me that you have never come across a blog that worked for you? If yes, why couldn't that have been your blog?

I agree with Daniel that one should write to make things clearer to others. Putting an idea/suggestion/article under public (???) scrutiny is like cleaning up your house when your parents are coming over. You are forced to clean up your act, maintain focus and continuity and ensure that everything is its place.

In conclusion, blog if you feel the need. Blog if you think you have something useful to say, or add to a discussion, or even "retweet" (or reblog, in this case). I have had several people begin following me on twitter, probably because I retweet a lot. I act as a news filter/trusted source for those who dont want to have to read everything @techcrunch puts up. And if you don't want that, unfollow, or unsubscribe. But it takes time, it takes effort on my part, and it may detract you from what you should have been doing.

Hopefully I answered some questions here.

What I hate about blog: Authors are mostly full of ego and does little fact check on what they are ranting about. Reading blogs turn out most of the time to be a great waste of time.

Why don’t write a blog myself? If I have to I will write about my own projects; for now I’m too busy. I generally prefer forums if I want to give my opinion on specific subject.

Stevey on why you should blog:

http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/you-should-write-blogs

I'm starting mine to make a clear separation on which ideas or knowledge belongs to my employer and which can be public, and therefore, I may reuse it later. I really don't care too much on who read them but on publishing them.

I don't know about everyone else here; but I like to read YC while I'm figuring out other problems. If I'm typing something up, I'd prefer to write code than prose.