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The great blogging collapse: What happened to 100 successful blogs?

danielstanica.com

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Re: The great blogging collapse: What happened to 100 successful blogs?

#101

Post by kjs3 »

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #98
kjs3 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I blog stuff I want to remember I have a wiki for that, but I keep reading the Arbiters of the Internet around here claim wikis are even deader than personal blogs, so what do I know. :-)

I mean sure but is your wiki public? If not, that’s one extra step to access your content. If it’s public then it’s basically a blog right?

It's on a public IP, but isn't open to public users. I don't personally think 'the place I scribble stuff I want to remember down the road' is a blog, but I'm equally uninterested in arguing a distinction I don't think much matters. I don't know what you mean by 'extra step' unless you mean 'loging in', which is a hurdle I assume I'd have to jump over if I was posting a blog entry.

Edit: hit post too soon...

Re: The great blogging collapse: What happened to 100 successful blogs?

#102

Post by Hard_Space »

singhrac wrote: post #34

This article was AI generated and a waste of time. So many obvious LLM patterns that I stopped reading 10% of the way down the page.

Yes, it was polluted with multiple 'Not just [x] but [y]' examples - the most obvious tell of AI-generated text, among other aggravating examples. It was hard to read, but I was interested enough in the subject to slog through it.

Re: The great blogging collapse: What happened to 100 successful blogs?

#103

Post by bediger4000 »

draginol wrote: post #8

I think you could argue that this is following the same trend as forums (and usenet before that). You get a consolidation of where people go to read up on things that interest them. Look at Slashdot for example, it was once so popular that any site it linked to could be "slashdotted" from all the traffic. Now people go elsewhere. YouTube, TikTok, Reddit.

I had the same blog post get on HN and on Slashdot. HN link didn't get to the front page, got about 25 human visits. The link on Slashdot got the blog post 2500 visits, plus the Slashdot IP addresses visited tons of other posts and content on my web site. Maybe places don't get "slashdotted" any more, but a link on Slashdot seemingly gets you a ton more visits than a link on HN.

Also, Slashdot visitors use more MacOS and Linux than Windows. The reverse is true of the small number of HN visitors.

Re: The great blogging collapse: What happened to 100 successful blogs?

#104

Post by Hard_Space »

ghaff wrote: post #24
paulpauper wrote: post #10

Blogging as medium is thriving despite AI and LLMs. It has moved to Substack + Twitter and newsletters, and away from Google and Facebook as a source of traffic generation. Many people are easily making 6 figures on Substack now, and also combined with Twitter monetization. This didn't exist 5 years ago. There are way more blogs now compared to 2013, and much longer and technically proficient writing compared to the…

"Easily making six figures on Substack" is doing a lot of work there. But I agree that, if you're seriously looking to make money, Substack is probably a better avenue than having a blog someplace.

I don't know - the 'great enshittification' of Substack seems an inevitable event, for which reason I have stayed away from using it as a platform, except for a few experiments. It was initially populated by refugees from Medium, itself enshittified, and there seems no reason that Substack refugees won't eventually become a thing for the same reason. Reminds me of that Twilight Zone (or was it Night Gallery..?) episode with the guy who keeps moving from one sinking ship to another (Titanic, Lusitania, etc.).

Re: The great blogging collapse: What happened to 100 successful blogs?

#106

Post by hluska »

pona-a wrote: post #100
TFNA wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even most of my nerd friends are consuming less and less longform text. It has been years now since budding hackers can pick up their coding skills through YT videos and now TikTok, and suggesting they read through longform documentation or an OReilly book just makes one look out of touch. HN's audience is as susceptible to the trend the GP mentions as anyone else.

I'm currently learning electronics, as well as having just recently sat my Physics/Math finals. I can tell you with 100% certainty you CAN'T learn shit from /just/ video. Actual learning requires you to think about what you just read, maybe re-read it multiple times, stop to try and solve a example problem, etc - all of which require you to stop/rewind which video inherently disfavors. Besides, I think just like hand…

The only thing you’re saying with “certainty” is that you personally cannot learn only from video. Anything else is pure hubris.

Re: The great blogging collapse: What happened to 100 successful blogs?

#107

Post by xp84 »

heavenlyblue wrote: post #92
Zak wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The phones part is a red herring here. Phones work fine for reading text. Video outcompeting text as a mainstream medium for both information and entertainment is as old as television. Youtube would be a more reliable way to make money than a blog in 2026 even if it was primarily consumed on TVs or PCs.

Your post is a red herring, some platforms simply replaced bespoke blogging websites. How would I, without any special services, consume multiple blogs today? It's so much easier with instagram/social media.

> consume multiple blogs today? It's so much easier with instagram/social media

I beg to differ. Follow 12 “people” on Insta and you’re just telling the algorithm you’re into parent stuff, or fashion, or makeup, or cars, or attractive women, or attractive men. It’s not like even 50% of what they serve you will BE those 12 people you followed. Most of what you get will be related to the same niches, but it’ll be from randos and AI instead.

It’s nothing like how simple RSS, Google Reader, or even Flipboard in its original iteration, made it to follow a bunch of specific “creators.”

Re: The great blogging collapse: What happened to 100 successful blogs?

#108

Post by [deleted] »

kjs3 wrote: post #101
loloquwowndueo wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean sure but is your wiki public? If not, that’s one extra step to access your content. If it’s public then it’s basically a blog right?

It's on a public IP, but isn't open to public users. I don't personally think 'the place I scribble stuff I want to remember down the road' is a blog, but I'm equally uninterested in arguing a distinction I don't think much matters. I don't know what you mean by 'extra step' unless you mean 'loging in', which is a hurdle I assume I'd have to jump over if I was posting a blog entry. Edit: hit post too soon...

[deleted]

Re: The great blogging collapse: What happened to 100 successful blogs?

#109

Post by bobthepanda »

bediger4000 wrote: post #88
bobthepanda wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Audio is just easier to multitask with than reading.

This appears to be true for a plurality, or maybe just barely a majority of people. I don't find audio so easily multi-tasks, unless we're using different definitions. My example: I find it very difficult to do something described in an audio or video format - rewire a light switch, say. I find it way easier to have text with a diagram. I can stop and check the text at any time. I find it easier to go back to previou…

When i say multitask I mean that more literally. If you’re driving you can’t read, if you’re a passenger on public transit audio won’t make you motion sick, if you are cooking or cleaning you can have it on in the background, etc.

Reading requires the full use of your eyes, no way around that.

Re: The great blogging collapse: What happened to 100 successful blogs?

#110

Post by 6510 »

economistbob wrote: post #94

Everyone removed their blogroll. That is what happened. Someone gave Automattic (WordPress foundation that could receive "donations" from advertising platforms) the idea that making blogs mostly discoverable via paid advertising was a good idea. Automattic removed the blogroll by default, and then most of the blogs removed, and then most of the blogs vanished. Blogs were discovered via the huge list of other blogs. T…

Blog search was good, Technorati was good, google reader was good.

But I agree, if it doesn't have a blogroll it is safe to ignore the blog. It might even be considered the single identifier that separates the blogs from the spam.

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