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Why blog if nobody reads it?

andysblog.uk

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Re: Why blog if nobody reads it?

#71

Post by chistev »

Pooge wrote: post #67
chistev wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can donate here - https://buymeacoffee.com/chistev12 I don't have a RSS feed but I have a newsletter with a subscribe button. What do you mean by posts are not links? You mean you can't click on them to get to the detail page? Edit: What's wrong with my Twitter account?

> What do you mean by posts are not links? Not GP, but he is right; the behavior of your website is semantically incorrect. Looks like you redirect the users to your blog posts by using instead of . I also agree that your website should absolutely not require JavaScript to work. Clicking on links is something that is possible with 0 lines of JavaScript. > I don't have a RSS feed but I have a newsletter with a subscri…

> Not GP, but he is right; the behavior of your website is semantically incorrect. Looks like you redirect the users to your blog posts by using instead of .

I'll fix this. Thanks.

> This is also not very hacker-friendly behavior. Why should users give you their email addresses when a RSS feed is much easier to implement and use?

I'll do this too. Thanks.

Re: Why blog if nobody reads it?

#72

Post by righthand »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #15
righthand wrote: post #10

Publish a blog so an LLM can use it and make money for someone already wealthy.

You laugh, but Chat-GPT "Deep Research" cites my technical blog very frequently. With attribution, no less. Within the next ~2 years, I expect that most of the people who read my blog will find it via LLM.

And never attribute anything to you, but I’m sure ChatGPT will be cited. If OpenAI campaigns that DeepSeek is stealing their IP, is DeepSeek stealing your IP or is OpenAI?

Re: Why blog if nobody reads it?

#74

Post by righthand »

ghaff wrote: post #60
righthand wrote: post #10

Publish a blog so an LLM can use it and make money for someone already wealthy.

I pretty much hate the mindset of don't do something if it might make someone else money even if you otherwise want to do it. One of several issues I have with the non-commercial creative commons license.

I didn’t say don’t do something. I said do something and understand a modern consequence. Go ahead publish but don’t be surprised when your work isn’t attributed correctly in the future and empowers people you may not agree with.

Blogs aren’t the only form of publishing and sharing.

Maybe after the AI winter subsides it might make sense again. A world where people were encouraged to publish to share knowledge ended up being publish to support Google’s hold on the net, now evolved to publish so people can read 5% of what you wrote distilled through statistical summation.

It makes all long form content look bad, not just the bad long form content. It continues to enable the societal trend of only consuming short form content. Which in turn enables reactionary and low information behavior instead of critical thought.

Re: Why blog if nobody reads it?

#75

Post by rasso »

ZeWaren wrote: post #6

I document technical things on my blog and hardly anyone reads it. But later on when I need that thing again, I just go there and I have the perfect documentation available for the topic (it's perfect since I wrote it hahaha).

Care to share your blog‘s url?

Re: Why blog if nobody reads it?

#76

Post by User23 »

Edsger Dijkstra kept a kind of primitive blog on paper[1]. Largely, so far as I can tell and with a few published exceptions, it was meant for himself.

It's a goldmine of course. Personally I find some of his snarkier papers entertaining, but the real value is in seeing how his understanding of CS developed.

[1] https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/

Re: Why blog if nobody reads it?

#77

Post by plufz »

snozolli wrote: post #39
ZeWaren wrote: post #6

I document technical things on my blog and hardly anyone reads it. But later on when I need that thing again, I just go there and I have the perfect documentation available for the topic (it's perfect since I wrote it hahaha).

Same. I keep a couple of blogs on different topics and try to write up any challenge I come across. Not only does it help to cement ideas in my head and expose areas I'm foggy about, but I've referred back to my previous experience this way countless times.

Do you get any traffic? Does it feel worth the extra time compared to just doing local notes?

Re: Why blog if nobody reads it?

#78

Post by afterburner »

ghaff wrote: post #54
afterburner wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just self-marketing. Nothing new.

That trivializes it, I think. A ton of what people do related to their jobs is marketing at some level. A lot of people here probably resent marketing and self-promotion (to a certain level) but that's the way the world works. If no one has any idea what you do, either directly or through your manager, guess who is getting the chop if the company cuts back even a little.

That's fine.

I would also argue self-marketing is important when you have lazy or bad managers.

Re: Why blog if nobody reads it?

#79

Post by [deleted] »

JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B wrote: post #44
kenmacd wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously facetious, but I'd hope most people would want their blog post read by LLMs. I suspect (hope) a lot of blog posts are written to share knowledge. In that regard having that knowledge trained in to LLMs (ideally open ones, but even closed ones) could further that goal.

What was knowledge sharing is now called "making Zuck and Sammy richer."

[deleted]

Re: Why blog if nobody reads it?

#80

Post by righthand »

ZeWaren wrote: post #6

I document technical things on my blog and hardly anyone reads it. But later on when I need that thing again, I just go there and I have the perfect documentation available for the topic (it's perfect since I wrote it hahaha).

Your intention is still to pass on the knowledge though regardless of traffic otherwise why even publish if it’s just for you? What is the difference from the Documents dir at that point?
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