Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why I still blog after 15 years

jonashietala.se

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 230 posts

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#61

Post by jahewson »

JohnMakin wrote: post #47
jollyllama wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still, it's surprising that they can't even conceive of doing anything without profit motive as an incentive. This isn't the first time I've heard of this kind of inter-generational dialogue. Perhaps Millennials and Gen-X are uniquely idealistic (or naïve) generations.

The "Hawk Tuah" girl is a perfect example to me. She had a funny moment, and I think 15-20 years ago it probably would have just been a funny meme for a few years and a "oh you're that girl from the meme" at parties for her entire 20's. Like that's exactly how that would have played out. Now she quit her job, has sponsorships, got a major podcast deal - over a single viral moment. It's nutty to me, personally, but pe…

That was pretty much the situation with reality TV twenty years ago. Everyone was aghast that some random person could appear on a show and instead of being cast aside for our amusement at the end, they were able to build a personal brand and get a career out of it. It’s predators all the way down.

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#62

Post by jl6 »

ReleaseCandidat wrote: post #48
JohnMakin wrote: post #36

> "I keep this blog for me to write, not necessarily for others to read." This is now to me the "old school" internet creator attitude (that I still possess). I don't blog as much any more but do create content elsewhere - a lot of it is for my own enjoyment and creative outlet, to blow off steam, whatever - the fact that other people may want to watch it is secondary. I do try to do things people want, but only if I…

> content creation I seriously hate the term "content" used for "creative output". It is a terrible, derogatory word, that makes me sad. Content is only there to have something to sell, to fill the blank space around ads, the actual content of the content doesn't matter. That people refer to themselves as "content creators" is a sign that they see the value of their creative output only to make money.

Nobody ever thought to themselves: I sure could go for some content right now.

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#63

Post by dunefox »

xenodium wrote: post #59

If you have stopped blogging, been meaning to get back on it, or simply want to start, but been put off by the popular platform options, I'm working on a blogging platform myself that sheds the crummy modern bits of the web: https://lmno.lol . Here's my own blog https://lmno.lol/alvaro (about 10 years worth of posts). You can read the blogs on your phone, your desktop, your terminal. No JS needed. Coincidentally the…

Does it support latex formula and code highlighting? There are some things I absolutely need in a blog, and I can't seem to find a simple one that supports everything.

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#64

Post by blackbrokkoli »

JohnMakin wrote: post #36

> "I keep this blog for me to write, not necessarily for others to read." This is now to me the "old school" internet creator attitude (that I still possess). I don't blog as much any more but do create content elsewhere - a lot of it is for my own enjoyment and creative outlet, to blow off steam, whatever - the fact that other people may want to watch it is secondary. I do try to do things people want, but only if I…

Genuine question:

If you write only for yourself, what motivates you to actually finish, and more importantly, polish a post?

I write for myself all the time, in private: I have a journal, a paper notebook, thousands of notes in Obsidian. Yet doing a blog post feels like a massive undertaking every single time, especially the later writing and editing: explaining stuff that is obvious to me and no one else, replacing idiosyncratic abbreviations, fixing formatting issues, fixing blogging engine or hosting stuff. I think I struggle with these parts because doing those tasks doesn't benefit me very much.

So how do you do these things within the framework of writing for oneself? Any takes on this?

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#65

Post by anthonypasq »

doctorwho42 wrote: post #55
ReleaseCandidat wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> content creation I seriously hate the term "content" used for "creative output". It is a terrible, derogatory word, that makes me sad. Content is only there to have something to sell, to fill the blank space around ads, the actual content of the content doesn't matter. That people refer to themselves as "content creators" is a sign that they see the value of their creative output only to make money.

Welcome to the hyper capitalist world that has been created over the past 60 years. This is the result of always needed growth in your economic system.

this seems like a complete non-sequitur to me

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#68

Post by dandigangi »

JohnMakin wrote: post #36

> "I keep this blog for me to write, not necessarily for others to read." This is now to me the "old school" internet creator attitude (that I still possess). I don't blog as much any more but do create content elsewhere - a lot of it is for my own enjoyment and creative outlet, to blow off steam, whatever - the fact that other people may want to watch it is secondary. I do try to do things people want, but only if I…

Agreed! I find myself writing or other content that I don't share around. Just sits on my site. Helped me by getting it out of my head and if someone stumbles on it, great. If not, all good!

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#69

Post by jhp123 »

JohnMakin wrote: post #36

> "I keep this blog for me to write, not necessarily for others to read." This is now to me the "old school" internet creator attitude (that I still possess). I don't blog as much any more but do create content elsewhere - a lot of it is for my own enjoyment and creative outlet, to blow off steam, whatever - the fact that other people may want to watch it is secondary. I do try to do things people want, but only if I…

The idea of content creation as a full time career is literally ancient, e.g. musicians have been paid for thousands of years. The Napster-era ideology that "information wants to be free" is the outlier.

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#70

Post by JohnMakin »

jhp123 wrote: post #69
JohnMakin wrote: post #36

> "I keep this blog for me to write, not necessarily for others to read." This is now to me the "old school" internet creator attitude (that I still possess). I don't blog as much any more but do create content elsewhere - a lot of it is for my own enjoyment and creative outlet, to blow off steam, whatever - the fact that other people may want to watch it is secondary. I do try to do things people want, but only if I…

The idea of content creation as a full time career is literally ancient, e.g. musicians have been paid for thousands of years. The Napster-era ideology that "information wants to be free" is the outlier.

This is a dishonest framing, I think. The scale and type of content, especially the way it is expected to be consumed, on top of a hyper-monetized ad framework was not a thing in ancient times. I also think very few people picked up a lute in those days with the idea that they were only going to play if it made them money (artists have for much of modern history notoriously made a poor living). The point I was making was not that an artist making a living from their art is a new thing, no one is making that point.
Post reply on HN