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Why I still blog after 15 years

jonashietala.se

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Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#101

Post by 7speter »

jl6 wrote: post #62
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.

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

I think your comment kinda provides the reason why the term “content” is used; there are so many verticals out there that its just easiest to say “I’m a content creator.” From there, if the audience remains captive, you can explain that you make videos about sewing sweaters with embedded controllers for cats.

Also, don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty conflicted on the term. I just like to believe people are using it in good faith when they describe themselves, and don’t just see “content” as a means towards an end.

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#102

Post by DowagerDave »

JohnMakin wrote: post #82
soulofmischief wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watched her podcast and some interviews, and it's clear that, while not the most educated person, she exudes charisma and has a relatable sense of humor. She seems like a natural entertainer. As for education, she's from the south and her mom is an absent drug addict so I give her a pass (I have the same background and it is extraordinarily difficult) I think she's a special case, and she'll prove that over time. I…

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with what she did or that she does not have talent. It’s more crazy to me that this is seen as a natural progression of someone’s online career.

The part I don't like is an entire army of people now think doing exactly the same thing is a viable strategy to similar success. We should view this as a lottery win, not career development

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#103

Post by syntaxfree »

blackbrokkoli wrote: post #64
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…

> especially the later writing and editing: explaining stuff that is obvious to me and no one else

I don’t do this. I write expecting the audience to pretty much have read the entirety of my blog to understand any single entry. I like to think there’s a mystique to it — I’ve long enjoyed unpacking the ideas of obscure thinkers, myself.

Then: I’ve known of maybe 10 people over a combined five years that have made the effort to read a lot of my stuff.

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#104

Post by syntaxfree »

sergiotapia wrote: post #90
blackbrokkoli wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

for me, i've saved myself time and energy at least 10 times by writing stuff down and publishing it on my blog/forums. i know i help people, but i mainly do it for Future Sergio.

Are you somehow closely related to one Tito Tapia?

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#105

Post by JohnMakin »

DowagerDave wrote: post #94
JohnMakin wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t write too much anymore, one of my blogs got a lot more exposure and attention than I was comfortable with and people online in general are weirdo freaks and annoying to deal with. I guess I didn’t fuss too much with that stuff, the quality was likely poorer than it could have been. Same with my video stuff, I just don’t care that much if it’s polished. Audience feedback sometimes helps but isn’t that motivati…

>> and people online in general are weirdo freaks and annoying to deal with. This is definitely the current internet and not the typical experience back when blogging was very popular. It's too easy to access and produce low-quality contributions today, which (ironically?) is something that blogs countered and also probably led to their decline.

> This is definitely the current internet and not the typical experience back when blogging was very popular.

This has been my experience for much of the last ~15 years as an extremely niche internet personality but it is definitely worse lately, particularly the amount of outrage people can generate out of nowhere over the most benign things - my response is always an exasperated "you're perfectly free to simply not consume this." But people then take it waaaaay too far.

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#106

Post by nineteen999 »

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 relatively new, and I hate it.

I do too, but IMHO unfortunately us older generations have a lot to answer for when it comes to this. My teenage daughter plus all of her friends all want to be content creators. It's the 21st century equivalent of becoming a pop star or being a TV personality. As an industry we've automated away a lot of the jobs that these kids otherwise could have had, handed them a bunch of shitty tools and algorithms and shown them that this is a way to make money. I don't find their attitude all that surprising.

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#107

Post by sivers »

jl6 wrote: post #62
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.

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

I know my up-vote of this comment is supposed to be enough, but I just have to add, as an extra praise @jl6 here:

That's the funniest sentence I've heard in a long time.

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

Love it love it love it.

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#108

Post by Kye »

DowagerDave wrote: post #99
s1artibartfast wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always struggle to understand this sentiment. There seems to be a huge labor shortage, particularly for physical and skilled labor. Auto mechanics change 120/hr for labor, someone recently quoted me 40k to spend a week landscaping my residential back yard, and an arborist wanted 3k for a single day of chainsaw work pruning a big tree.

none of those things are accessible to someone who has say, a 4-yr fine arts degree. They're also extremes and not typical, unless your car is at the dealer, your backyard is on a make-over show, or that tree is hanging over your house & powerlines

Yep. Once you have any level of education past high school, lots of the better jobs just won't hire you. They assume you're biding your time until a better job comes by and any time or money spent training you will be wasted.

The "labor shortage" is a fantasy created by people with jobs to offer having unrealistic expectations.

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#109

Post by aksss »

felideon wrote: post #28

> I worry that if I add statistics to the blog it’ll change from an activity I perform for the activity’s sake, to an exercise in hunting clicks where I write for others instead of for myself. If I ever finally find the motivation to start a blog, I think this is a key point. Vanity metrics would be demotivating.

Letting the metrics steer the ship is a fool’s errand in this kind of blogging, but I do find it an interesting novelty to see how people are getting to my stuff, search terms for organic visitors, etc. It doesn’t drive what I write, but it’s kind of neat to confirm that there are, in fact, a couple other people on the planet interested in the same things.

Re: Why I still blog after 15 years

#110

Post by s1artibartfast »

DowagerDave wrote: post #99
s1artibartfast wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always struggle to understand this sentiment. There seems to be a huge labor shortage, particularly for physical and skilled labor. Auto mechanics change 120/hr for labor, someone recently quoted me 40k to spend a week landscaping my residential back yard, and an arborist wanted 3k for a single day of chainsaw work pruning a big tree.

none of those things are accessible to someone who has say, a 4-yr fine arts degree. They're also extremes and not typical, unless your car is at the dealer, your backyard is on a make-over show, or that tree is hanging over your house & powerlines

I guess my fundamental question is why arent these jobs accessible? They dont reqire any degree at all, so it seems like they should be open to both the 4 year art graduate and a high school graduate.

I live in a high cost of living area, but these are typical prices here. Call 10 autoshops and thats the typical rate. Even people on yelp operating out of their house arent much cheaper. Heck, residential plumbers charge $150-200/hr.

So what is the bottleneck? Is it regulatory barriers to opening businesses? Is it a lack of knowledge? Is it poor discovery in the information age? Unions?

It seems like there are lots of people making great money doing these things, and lots of people looking for work.

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