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You Should Start a Blog

timkastelle.org

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Re: You Should Start a Blog

#11

Post by Myrmornis »

Haha I think hacker news just sent me to the worst page in the Internet. Over-earnest, self-congratulatory guff about "blogging" and "innovation".

I think my friend Kris Marciniak (Rallynotes.com) first got me interested in blogging. Valeria Maltoni inspired me with the potential in conversation beyond the automotive forums where I’d experienced real world connectivity as a result of sharing ideas online. Now here I am, discussing blogging as it pertains to innovation on a blog about as geographically far away from me in phoenix as you can get, as someone who sees publishing as his life’s work. And it all started with a blog.

Kinda makes me want to write more. Thanks, Tim.

Re: You Should Start a Blog

#13

Post by deckiedan »

edent wrote: post #6
unethical_ban wrote: post #2

I'd love to. What platform should I use? Requirements: * No Wordpress, Joomla or Drupal * Easy to configure and deploy * Internal comments subsystem preferable I was looking at rigging up Dokuwiki. It obviously has the ability to publish data/articles, it has plugins to give a discussions page, user/ACL support and it's pretty simple to deploy. Drawback is it's not designed by default with the "reverse chrono" orderi…

Why not use WordPress? It's simple to install, configure, and deploy. Works on any web host. Internal comments. Auto-updates to keep you running on the latest version if you want.

Honestly, This.

If you're really interested in /writing/, then just go with one of the hosted solutions such as Wordpress.com, blogger, whatever. It's easy enough to use, requires virtually no set up time to get running, and lets you forget about any techy details.

I know that it's often more fun and more interesting as a hacker-type to think about the optimum way to blog, rather than actually doing it... This is my problem too.

But what you want to establish is the habit of writing. Once you've got that, you can easily port your posts over to another system (and clean up any on the way).

I've recently set up a few Wordpress sites for some people. And much as I despise the insanity underneath, if you're just wanting to write, then it's a very nice platform.

Re: You Should Start a Blog

#14

Post by brudgers »

ekianjo wrote: post #10
edent wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not use WordPress? It's simple to install, configure, and deploy. Works on any web host. Internal comments. Auto-updates to keep you running on the latest version if you want.

wordpress as default does not handle lots of traffic without crashing. You need to use cache plugins to make it work well with lots of visitors. Not a "solid" solution out of the box.

If your blog crashes from too many hits, congratulations. Few people write that well. Their audiences tend to forgive them.

Most blogs die from loneliness- even more never launch because it's so much easier not to write.

Re: You Should Start a Blog

#15

Post by dagw »

unethical_ban wrote: post #2

I'd love to. What platform should I use? Requirements: * No Wordpress, Joomla or Drupal * Easy to configure and deploy * Internal comments subsystem preferable I was looking at rigging up Dokuwiki. It obviously has the ability to publish data/articles, it has plugins to give a discussions page, user/ACL support and it's pretty simple to deploy. Drawback is it's not designed by default with the "reverse chrono" orderi…

Focus on writing, not on platform. Sign up for a blogger (or whatever) account and just start writing. Once you've published a dozen posts or so and gotten into the habit or writing, then you can go back and consider what you want/need in a blogging platform going forwards. Focusing on setting up the perfect blogging platform before you've written anything is just procrastination.

Re: You Should Start a Blog

#16

Post by pacomerh »

ekianjo wrote: post #10
edent wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not use WordPress? It's simple to install, configure, and deploy. Works on any web host. Internal comments. Auto-updates to keep you running on the latest version if you want.

wordpress as default does not handle lots of traffic without crashing. You need to use cache plugins to make it work well with lots of visitors. Not a "solid" solution out of the box.

Assuming millions will read your articles yes.

Re: You Should Start a Blog

#17

Post by onli »

unethical_ban wrote: post #2

I'd love to. What platform should I use? Requirements: * No Wordpress, Joomla or Drupal * Easy to configure and deploy * Internal comments subsystem preferable I was looking at rigging up Dokuwiki. It obviously has the ability to publish data/articles, it has plugins to give a discussions page, user/ACL support and it's pretty simple to deploy. Drawback is it's not designed by default with the "reverse chrono" orderi…

Wordpress is a really good choice if you just want to blog.

Other alternatives than already mentioned:

1. Go oldschool, use serendipity: http://www.s9y.org/. Really easy to install, easy to use/configure, full support for everything blogging related. And there is a cache-plugin (which of course also exists for wordpress).

2. There are quite some new takes on the classical blogging system. Habari is an example: http://habariproject.org/en/, has an interesting backend interface. Ghost on the other hand would be too new for me.

If you want to have an internal comment system, static content blogs are the wrong way to go, afaik.

Re: You Should Start a Blog

#18

Post by middus »

unethical_ban wrote: post #2

I'd love to. What platform should I use? Requirements: * No Wordpress, Joomla or Drupal * Easy to configure and deploy * Internal comments subsystem preferable I was looking at rigging up Dokuwiki. It obviously has the ability to publish data/articles, it has plugins to give a discussions page, user/ACL support and it's pretty simple to deploy. Drawback is it's not designed by default with the "reverse chrono" orderi…

I'd love to write. Which pen should I use?

Short answer: it does not matter. Writing matters.

Re: You Should Start a Blog

#19

Post by flud43 »

devindotcom wrote: post #5

> Blogs were invented to teach. The mission of blogging is to empower all of us to go directly to each other with our expertise. >Blogging helps you turn your flow of ideas into a stock of content. >You create opportunities. I’ve met a ton of cool people through my blog. >Finally, blogging helps you build your skills. Remember, the big gap is the one between doing nothing and doing something, not the one between lous…

Deep.

Re: You Should Start a Blog

#20

Post by shittyanalogy »

intull wrote: post #7

In my an elective at my college, we had to create blogs for our projects. My professor insisted on that for one main reason - "You think once when you develop. You think twice before presenting it. But you think thrice when you put it down in a blog". When I had to blog every week about my project, I didn't just verify what I had written, but was compelled to read a lot more because what I write can be viewed by anyo…

Which is why tumblr is a wealth of researched and thought through, informative posts.
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