I just don't think there's ever going to be a platform that won't be at risk of being corrupted or shut down. If you care about control of your own blog, host it yourself. I realize not everyone can do this, but it's getting easier and easier. With static site generators and services like Netlify, it's practically free too.
If I could bring one thing back to the internet it would be blogs
411–420 of 637 posts
Re: If I could bring one thing back to the internet it would be blogs
#412> The other day I searched for an hour and couldn't find even one. They used to be endless. Oh there are still endless blogs. There are definitely a lot of defunct ones - but many have become active again recently. I review the unknown ones I come across here: https://www.kickscondor.com/hrefhunt/ (I skip software and startup blogs, because they are so numerous.) You just can’t use the old avenues (Google searches, c…
Hi kicks! I didn’t know you were on HN, ever since discovering it I’ve been promoting the IndieWeb, and yours was the first site I came across; to me the IndieWeb and microformats is the web we should have gotten instead of one dominated by platforms .
Where are you promoting things, dvtrn? Good to meet you.
Re: If I could bring one thing back to the internet it would be blogs
#413Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those blogs from the time before were written for the purpose of writing, not for the purpose of getting lots of viewership. The blogs the author misses aren't written to make money off of ad traffic, they were just written to put down ideas. Today that need is filled with Facebook/Twitter/... and even there with the currency of likes/comments those motivations get twisted. Some of the internet has also shifted to a…
> The blogs the author misses aren't written to make money off of ad traffic, they were just written to put down ideas. This is what I've been pointing out for years as the lost core of the internet.
I think it lives on in big platforms like Reddit, but I agree that it used to be far more prevalent on the net than it is.
Youtube is a good example. It used to be so fun to just throw up videos on the internet, without caring how far they would really go. I definitely think there are great content creators on it nowadays and I'm glad that they're being paid for their hard work, but it still feels like we've lost something.
Re: If I could bring one thing back to the internet it would be blogs
#414Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those blogs from the time before were written for the purpose of writing, not for the purpose of getting lots of viewership. The blogs the author misses aren't written to make money off of ad traffic, they were just written to put down ideas. Today that need is filled with Facebook/Twitter/... and even there with the currency of likes/comments those motivations get twisted. Some of the internet has also shifted to a…
Well, this is why I don’t have a blog. I have a lot of strong opinions that might be interesting to some people, but I don’t want to miss opportunities because some HR person googled my name and found a post they disagreed with. Or, in the future, not a real person but an algorithm.
Its better in a way. Stupidity rejects you and you end up being in a happy place where you dont have to bend your mind.
Re: If I could bring one thing back to the internet it would be blogs
#415Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, this is why I don’t have a blog. I have a lot of strong opinions that might be interesting to some people, but I don’t want to miss opportunities because some HR person googled my name and found a post they disagreed with. Or, in the future, not a real person but an algorithm.
Start an anonymous blog. I have one. Also an anonymous hacker news account. :)
I did write a lot of articles anonymously back then(was afraid due to validation/criticism as I was learning) but later I found out that my blogs are legit and people liked them. And later couldn't associate with real me.
Now making System design videos with real face and name and able to reach a subset of the audience.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn1XnDWhsLS5URXTi5wtFTA/
Re: If I could bring one thing back to the internet it would be blogs
#416If I could bring one thing back it would be just plain old _websites_, when people would make a place on the internet dedicated to some topic that was organized in a way _other than_ chronological order, and just became a great resource where important information was always easy to surface.
Here's a great example that will probably trigger some nostalgia for anyone who grew up on the late 90s internet:
Re: If I could bring one thing back to the internet it would be blogs
#417The 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…
Those blogs from the time before were written for the purpose of writing, not for the purpose of getting lots of viewership. The blogs the author misses aren't written to make money off of ad traffic, they were just written to put down ideas. Today that need is filled with Facebook/Twitter/... and even there with the currency of likes/comments those motivations get twisted. Some of the internet has also shifted to a…
>Those blogs from the time before were written for the purpose of writing, not for the purpose of getting lots of viewership.
This right here. You all need to calm down like you're all so unique you are all owed 1000s of views a day. Write for the sake of writing- it's rewarding in and of itself.
Re: If I could bring one thing back to the internet it would be blogs
#418I personally enjoyed my journey of creating my new blog since the start of the year. It has been quite an interesting process as an attempt to share what I've learnt on my job as a Software Engineer. I find public posts to be quite exciting given the exposure to critiques it will have! I guess that's my way of gathering feedback and learning from the community! Here's one of my latest posts to share the learnings I have from some meaningful articles I came across. I do post on sales + engineer & design patterns, hope you find it meaningful (:
https://blog.phuaxueyong.com/post/2020-05-14-first-half-of-m...
Re: If I could bring one thing back to the internet it would be blogs
#419Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The blogs the author misses aren't written to make money off of ad traffic, they were just written to put down ideas. This is what I've been pointing out for years as the lost core of the internet.
The internet has stopped being an internet but rather being a few large intranets.
It’s the corporate internet, upload/download ratio, it’s the lack of IP address space.
It’s social media, it’s private blogging platforms and it’s the plight for power.
It's the way you're given knowledge, slow with thought control and subtle hints
It's the fast talk they use to abuse and feed my brain
It stretches for as far as the eye can see
It's reality, fuck it, it's everything but me
Atmosphere - Scapegoat, with some blogging additions
Re: If I could bring one thing back to the internet it would be blogs
#420What do you mean "back"? Blogs very well exist. I read a number of them. I write one, for heaven's sake (probably a dozen people or so reads it but it's ok that's how it is meant to be). They are living in the shadow of facebooks and twitters of the world, but who cares. Turns out, popularity is not everything, and unless you plan to make living out of it (which I most definitely don't) you don't need to compete with anybody on anything.