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Why I Like Obsidian

ddanieltan.com

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Re: Why I Like Obsidian

#241

Post by rubymamis »

Zambyte wrote: post #164
iCarrot wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's built with Electron so not entirely opaque. Car manufacturers don't release their source code either, yet people trust something as important as their life to it daily.

> Car manufacturers don't release their source code either, yet people trust something as important as their life to it daily. I personally find it extremely disturbing. Two bads don't make a good.

What's so disturbing?

The incentives are aligned -> If a specific car model won't be safe, people won't buy it. Also, there is regulation in place.

I think we need exactly the right combo in software too. Obsidian is not open source, but you can gauge what they track in their privacy policy. You can try to confirm it using apps like Little Snitch. Also, all their notes are just plaintext so your data is portable.

Re: Why I Like Obsidian

#242

Post by jasonpeacock »

dustincoates wrote: post #41

I like Obsidian, too, having recently switched over from 9 years of OneNote (the fact that there's a tool to import my OneNote notes helped a lot). The most important tip for getting started with Obsidian, in my mind, is to absolutely ignore all of the Obsidian "power users." I'm 99% convinced that no one actually uses zettelkasten seriously, but even if so, it's overkill for when you're just checking out the app. An…

"I'm 99% convinced that no one actually _understands_ zettelkasten"

Fixed that for you ;)

For real, anyone interested should go read the original book (How to Take Smart Notes[1]) and you learn that it's not about creating backlinks between your notes (that's just a wiki or personal knowledge base). It's about capturing ideas inspired by your reading, etc. and linking them other ideas.

Yes, building your own personal knowledge base can be very powerful, but that's something different.

[1] https://a.co/d/5Ntl43P

Re: Why I Like Obsidian

#243

Post by pilgrim0 »

Obsidian is nice, I use it to write articles. But I don’t like to take notes in it. IME notes are something transient, so recording them as files generates too much pollution/trash. Having paper notebooks around is much more fun, gets me in a flow easier, there’s close to no commitment with structure, the mind works better, can use colored pens, etc. Plus, it’s so much fun to go through old notebooks, it has historical weight, it makes me remember other aspects of my life surrounding the events, you can tell the mood of the writing, etc. So, my take: Use the tool relevant to the desired output format.

Re: Why I Like Obsidian

#244

Post by ParetoOptimal »

bloopernova wrote: post #161
dustincoates wrote: post #41

I like Obsidian, too, having recently switched over from 9 years of OneNote (the fact that there's a tool to import my OneNote notes helped a lot). The most important tip for getting started with Obsidian, in my mind, is to absolutely ignore all of the Obsidian "power users." I'm 99% convinced that no one actually uses zettelkasten seriously, but even if so, it's overkill for when you're just checking out the app. An…

I tried zettlekasten and found I just didn't use it enough to justify the effort involved. Instead I just have an org-mode folder that I dump documents in. I search across them with Deft in Emacs. Sure, the links between documents can be incredibly useful to some people, but I've found I'm more chaotic than that.

I use links, but only when important. And when I notice a really important group of pages I make an index page.

Re: Why I Like Obsidian

#245

Post by theshrike79 »

ssgodderidge wrote: post #68
dustincoates wrote: post #41

I like Obsidian, too, having recently switched over from 9 years of OneNote (the fact that there's a tool to import my OneNote notes helped a lot). The most important tip for getting started with Obsidian, in my mind, is to absolutely ignore all of the Obsidian "power users." I'm 99% convinced that no one actually uses zettelkasten seriously, but even if so, it's overkill for when you're just checking out the app. An…

100% agree. The barrier to using Obsidian can seem intimidatingly high before jumping in. I tried and failed a few different systems before I just started using the daily notes as scratch pads. From there, I figured out more and more slowly over time. I’m now at a kind of system that works for me, but probably won’t work for anyone else. This is the way.

Obsidian has the sama problem as Bullet Journaling does.

It's really simple and not complicated unless you want it to be, but then you watch a video about one Mega User who is really into the System and get demoralised by the amount of crap and whizbangs you see.

Re: Why I Like Obsidian

#246

Post by timetraveller26 »

pilgrim0 wrote: post #243

Obsidian is nice, I use it to write articles. But I don’t like to take notes in it. IME notes are something transient, so recording them as files generates too much pollution/trash. Having paper notebooks around is much more fun, gets me in a flow easier, there’s close to no commitment with structure, the mind works better, can use colored pens, etc. Plus, it’s so much fun to go through old notebooks, it has historic…

Not disagrreing with you but it's sorta funny that you say files pollute more than paper.

Re: Why I Like Obsidian

#248

Post by theshrike79 »

benhurmarcel wrote: post #218
hoherd wrote: post #69

I was unaware of this until a few weeks ago, so I'd like to raise awareness for anybody who it affects: Obsidian is not FOSS, and purchasing a license is required for any work that generates revenue at a for-profit company of 2 or more people. https://obsidian.md/license Obsidian looks awesome to me, and for a long time I've been thinking about adopting it, but this licensing issue caused me to back away and look for…

I think it’s pretty likely that a lot of Obsidian users use it for their professional activity without paying. Personally I haven’t considered it because of that. I have no use for a complex notes app in my private life, and there’s no way my employer would pay for the subscription.

> I have no use for a complex notes app in my private life

I thought so too, but then I noticed I was searching the internet for the same things over and over again. (Or asking it from GPT).

Then I started writing stuff down as I searched it, with a sentence or two of my own text + a few tags.

Now I can find stuff directly from Obsidian (or more like from the set of markdown files on my drive) instead of having to sweep the internet _again_ for the same thing.

Re: Why I Like Obsidian

#249

Post by weberer »

paradite wrote: post #128

Currently using Joplin with self-hosted NextCloud WebDAV. It has a couple of minor UI/UX issues, even with the plugins. Anyone tried both? How does Obsidian compare against Joplin?

I've tried both. No UI issues to complain about in Joplin. But Obsidian seems to use its own style of title bars, and it uses the GTK file chooser when my OS is using KDE.

Re: Why I Like Obsidian

#250

Post by theshrike79 »

swozey wrote: post #201
AJ007 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would suggest editing and reading the markdown files in other editors to make avoid getting "locked in." You certainly could create your own lock-in by making some unique workflow that requires a combination of plug-ins to function. The plugins are all third party, some of them are just annotating the existing markdown files, some are just visual.

So you only use Obsidian for its vaults/syncing?

My workflow isn't reliant on Obsidian's plugins, they just make stuff easier.

Like having a template for my Daily Note that also automatically includes all files tagged #todo using Data View. Or a few global shortcuts via Keyboard Maestro that open specific notes on Obsidian.

I could maybe whip up a similar system in a day on top of any editor that can render Markdown and handle links, but now I don't need to.

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