271–280 of 637 posts
There's really never been a better time to control your site, own your content and start working on your voice.
Read David Perell for more the benefits of writing publicly more often.
The problem as I see it is the Google algorithm. It force content creators to write it in a certain way that in many cases might be way too long and not ’to the point’. I dont remember the last time I searched for something on Google and it showed me a high quality opinion article in a random blog. nowadays everything is around SEO and blogs, as much as I understand why google does that, I think it's the main reason…
Food blogs are the perfect example of this. Instead of an introduction and a recipe, you get a massive wall of text, such that you have to scroll for what seems like an eternity until you get to the actual recipe. Drives me nuts!
The best way to bring back blogs is to start with your own. It looks like this is the author's fourth post and s/he hit a home run with the top post on HN. But that's rarely how things work. The thing few people tell you when you start blogging is how futile it will seem - for a long, long time. You'll start by posting something you put a lot of work into. You'll publish, thinking of all the comments and emails you'l…
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it's a figurative euphemism - when a big company buys a blogging platform, changes the privacy policies and bans content, you can say they "shut it down".. like how the cops can shutdown a house party
Whatever google has or has not done, that's not why I can't get traction. That's not it.
Running a blog is either free or nearly free. With Github pages, Blogger, Netlify, and many more platforms, the only cost you're going to incur is a domain name and even that isn't mandatory. If you do want one, you can easily get a domain name for a tenner a year or less.
Technicality isn't a convincing argument either, there are many ways to get started with just a push of a button and the range of options spans far and wide if you want more. Premade templates, static site generators, WYSIWYG editors and more have made the barrier to entry lower than ever.
Which brings me to my last point, audience. Audience is one of the most recurring themes of woes and, I would say, the most childish. Wanting to be heard is a reasonable wish, along with wanting to belong and many other basic traits. However, demanding to be heard is something else entirely. Your blog wont attract thousands of regular readers from day one and in hoping so, you're simply setting yourself up for failure. The truth is, if you write good content, the readers will come.
Even with that said, I would argue that having readers isn't a good end for your means in and of itself. Much like chasing popularity just because, obsessing over SEO, analytics and all that other jazz is simply trying to feed your ego. Tame your ego, and write about what matters to you. If you're only writing for others, then maybe writing isn't the best way to use your time.
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I often notice when I start writing on a particular topic, I learn more about my thoughts and opinions of it and realize my thoughts are wrong or not really novel. Halfway in I give up since I feel like, "oh, this actually isn't really adding anything new to the conversation". Then I leave with a new humbleness about my beliefs but also a sense of "when am I actually going to know enough to warrant writing about it?"…
That happens to me too. You really thing you have something interesting to tell, and then bam, just a silly thought... good that I realized that before publishing it.
The best way to bring back blogs is to start with your own. It looks like this is the author's fourth post and s/he hit a home run with the top post on HN. But that's rarely how things work. The thing few people tell you when you start blogging is how futile it will seem - for a long, long time. You'll start by posting something you put a lot of work into. You'll publish, thinking of all the comments and emails you'l…
Blogs haven't gone anywhere, now they're just "posts" on major platforms. That's what people chose, because it's easier. They gave up content rights and many, many possibilities for the ease of posting and the near instant views and feedback.
Still, something doesn't feel quite right about Medium to me.
The best way to bring back blogs is to start with your own. It looks like this is the author's fourth post and s/he hit a home run with the top post on HN. But that's rarely how things work. The thing few people tell you when you start blogging is how futile it will seem - for a long, long time. You'll start by posting something you put a lot of work into. You'll publish, thinking of all the comments and emails you'l…
My problem with blogging is that I can’t just write in a vacuum, I must always write in response to something and when I have something worth responding too I can write more usefully.
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1) there is no real "tragedy of the commons" in the general case. Google Elinor Ostrum to verify. Even Garret Hardin (originator of the concept) has conceded this, at least in part. The crux is that the "commons" as described by Hardin has essentially never existed in the form that he wrote about - things that are "commons"-like are actually always a complex mixture of law, tradition, culture and social sanctions gov…
Reddit is privately held but has quite of an impact on the public. Facebook is the same, as are other notable walled garden/social networks. There’s a term for that: utility company.
The best way to bring back blogs is to start with your own. It looks like this is the author's fourth post and s/he hit a home run with the top post on HN. But that's rarely how things work. The thing few people tell you when you start blogging is how futile it will seem - for a long, long time. You'll start by posting something you put a lot of work into. You'll publish, thinking of all the comments and emails you'l…