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I Stopped “Creating Content”

refactoringenglish.com

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Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#221

Post by butlike »

__rito__ wrote: post #127
danielciocirlan wrote: post #59

You “create content” if what you’re after is just money, and “content” is this malleable goo you have to produce and shove it down the algorithm so that it gets “traffic”, another form of goo that gets “funneled” and “converted” into money. In other words, it loses all (human) meaning. So yes, if you care at all, you shouldn’t “create content”. You should be writing essays, recording tutorials, training, music, conve…

What you are saying is true. But YouTube/FB algorithms are deliberately skewed towards regular posters. It's like your content of love that you produce once or twice a month won't be shown to the users at all. Where do I get the time after job, family, friends and self-study? So I don't create content like that at all. I write. And that's all. But I also want to make videos. The recording, editing timeline is way too…

I would say creating content isn't important until you reach a critical mass of users (at which point it might help you stay relevant), since I don't think it converts well when you're a smaller creator.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#222

Post by rightbyte »

andai wrote: post #132

So the main issue here is that corporate language is dehumanizing? Well, "human resources" might have been a hint, I suppose! I have to agree. It is dehumanizing. But, it's unfortunate, because the language of business is the language of business. We have this one. We don't have a separate, identically shaped one, made up of nicer sounding words. Would be nice if we did, though.

> We don't have a separate, identically shaped one, made up of nicer sounding words.

We do though. It is a kind of virtue signaling to use the evil version.

E.g. "Human Resources Department" is called "Personnel Department" in non evil business speak.

To be fair "HR" is going the way of Thermos nowadays though.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#223

Post by butlike »

keiferski wrote: post #18

I actually really like the term content creator , because it removes the artificial boundaries that come with being a writer, photographer, filmmaker, etc. and just lets you make stuff. The medium doesn't matter if you're a content creator, to a large extent. The alternative is "art" but that comes with a lot of other baggage that often sounds unintentionally pretentious, especially if you aren't actually creating pa…

Perhaps it's pretentious because you're _not_ an artist. The labels matter, to an extent. I'd rather see a movie from a filmmaker over a movie from a content creator, for instance.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#224

Post by butlike »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #118
Jtarii wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are making meaningful things then you shouldn't be afraid to sound pretentious. Everyone's so terrified that they might stand out.

Heh. I have written stuff that has changed the world. Not in a big way, but thousands and thousands of people around the world use my stuff daily, and no one knows I had anything to do with it. I’m still at it. I’m getting ready for the first public test of a fairly ambitious app. My friends use my stuff all the time, and they are always gobsmacked, when they find out I did it. I do it for free, and tend to follow my…

So what did you create? Can't really have a discussion beyond "good job?" without knowing.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#225

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

butlike wrote: post #224
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh. I have written stuff that has changed the world. Not in a big way, but thousands and thousands of people around the world use my stuff daily, and no one knows I had anything to do with it. I’m still at it. I’m getting ready for the first public test of a fairly ambitious app. My friends use my stuff all the time, and they are always gobsmacked, when they find out I did it. I do it for free, and tend to follow my…

So what did you create? Can't really have a discussion beyond "good job?" without knowing.

Nope. I see you already dinged the post. I think we’re done, here.

Good ol’ HN.

Have a great day!

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#226

Post by hotsalad »

danielciocirlan wrote: post #59

You “create content” if what you’re after is just money, and “content” is this malleable goo you have to produce and shove it down the algorithm so that it gets “traffic”, another form of goo that gets “funneled” and “converted” into money. In other words, it loses all (human) meaning. So yes, if you care at all, you shouldn’t “create content”. You should be writing essays, recording tutorials, training, music, conve…

What this reminded me of was the fiasco of the McDonald's CEO referring to the Big Arch as a "product". Is it a product? Sure. That is about the least specific word he could have used for it, and it implies that he doesn't care that it is a cheeseburger, but that any type of item produced by any company he happened to lead would have made him equally happy.

It is likely true that he is just there to run a business and feels no sense of pride in its specific offerings, but the accidental honesty was amusing.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#227

Post by tombert »

flir wrote: post #146
tombert wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A long time ago Simon Peyton Jones said Haskell tries to "avoid success at all costs". He was being cheeky, but it honestly is how I try and approach most of what I do that isn't directly related to my employment (as a software person). My blog posts are just for me; I don't market them, I don't expect anyone else to read them, I don't spam links to all my friends every time I post anything. I have no idea if my writ…

Commonplace book. Mine just happens to be (theoretically) public. (This takes a lot of pressure off - I publish notes, half-finished thoughts, stuff I'll "get around to later" with no shame).

As a rule, I only write stuff if I feel like I have an opinion or take on something that isn't very common. I've abandoned half-written posts because I realized that I am not saying anything particularly unique or interesting, and I don't really see the point of writing about it.

Granted, being uninteresting has never really stopped me from writing long comments on HN...

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#228

Post by tombert »

sodapopcan wrote: post #209
throwaway201606 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate this clarrification comment: had originally read this as option B and was wondering "why would they say this?"

I always read it as option b as well. I figured it meant they wanted to avoid the "too many cooks" problems that plagues all popular languages, and especially avoid extreme pressure from powerful "clients" to make specific changes. IE, was about control. But ya, now that I see nine_k's comment, option makes a lot of sense.

I always took it as "make the 'best' decision [1] without regard for whether or not it's going to be popular or make the language more business-friendly".

[1] however you choose to define "best"

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#229

Post by criddell »

butlike wrote: post #223
keiferski wrote: post #18

I actually really like the term content creator , because it removes the artificial boundaries that come with being a writer, photographer, filmmaker, etc. and just lets you make stuff. The medium doesn't matter if you're a content creator, to a large extent. The alternative is "art" but that comes with a lot of other baggage that often sounds unintentionally pretentious, especially if you aren't actually creating pa…

Perhaps it's pretentious because you're _not_ an artist. The labels matter, to an extent. I'd rather see a movie from a filmmaker over a movie from a content creator, for instance.

People here use meaningless titles all the time. That somebody calls themselves an artist shouldn't raise eyebrows anymore than somebody calling themselves a software engineer.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#230

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

sodapopcan wrote: post #211
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an artist (former, really[0]), I can confirm that the medium really, really matters. It can inform the creation, as much as the creator. There are top-shelf authors that insist on writing everything in cursive, in legal pads (God help the poor schlubs that have to transcribe it, though). They insist that they can’t be creative, otherwise. There are musicians (like Rhiannon Giddens), that always perform barefoot. M…

You wrote all that without mentioning Marshall McLuhan? ;) Also, I really like your artwork! I've bookmarked that link.

I don’t really consider him to be actually relevant, when discussing organic creativity.
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