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Why I Keep a Research Blog

gregorygundersen.com

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Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#31

Post by tombert »

aliceryhl wrote: post #29
tombert wrote: post #25

Due to some frustrating policies of the company I work for, I was told that I can't blog about anything technical, without the risk of being fired and possibly even sued due to some ridiculous non-compete that I really shouldn't have signed. I still write the posts, they just live on a hard drive in my basement, because there's still value in writing. I just wish I could give back to the community and/or benefit from…

You should probably quit.

You're probably right, but these kinds of insane, all-encompassing non-compete clauses are pretty common in most large corporations (at least in my understanding), and if I were to leave I'd be sacrificing all my stock grants and the like. There's no point in me quitting if I don't think I can get something better.

I could of course go to a startup or something, but I have a wife in school and a mortgage to pay. I don't really mind upheaving my life to take a bit of a risk on a startup, but I think it might be a bit selfish if there's a risk of it causing problems for other people.

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#32

Post by Darkphibre »

rytill wrote: post #30
loceng wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: "Writing is Nature's way of showing you how sloppy your thinking is" This is why I dislike the down voting capability on sites. There's an impulse the person dislikes what they read or from how they interpreted it, and then they are able to quell that feeling with a single action vs. having to put the effort into thinking and articulating into words what they're feeling, why they are feeling it, and allow it to b…

What forum rules would you like to see experiments with?

Not op, but one idea: Ask for an articulate reason for downvoting. Increases the barrier of downvotes, and if people don't feel that it's articulate they could then downvote the downvote (with their reasons why).

Frequently downvoted reasons could be added to a blacklist that requires additional elucidation before being able to submit the downvote.

This has been an interesting thought experiment. I'd expect the results might besimilar to Robot9000: https://blog.xkcd.com/2008/01/14/robot9000-and-xkcd-signal-a...

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#33

Post by KennyCason »

Wow, I'm very glad to have discovered your blog as of today. I'm really enjoying your posts and clear writing style. I just read your "Proof of the SVD" blog post. I can tell I am going to learn a lot already. Thanks for putting in so much effort!

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#34

Post by funnybeam »

tombert wrote: post #31
aliceryhl wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should probably quit.

You're probably right, but these kinds of insane, all-encompassing non-compete clauses are pretty common in most large corporations (at least in my understanding), and if I were to leave I'd be sacrificing all my stock grants and the like. There's no point in me quitting if I don't think I can get something better. I could of course go to a startup or something, but I have a wife in school and a mortgage to pay. I do…

Any reason why you couldn’t renegotiate your contract? I’m sure you could frame it in a non threatening way and get the bit that bothers you redefined

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#35

Post by ndarwincorn »

tombert wrote: post #31
aliceryhl wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should probably quit.

You're probably right, but these kinds of insane, all-encompassing non-compete clauses are pretty common in most large corporations (at least in my understanding), and if I were to leave I'd be sacrificing all my stock grants and the like. There's no point in me quitting if I don't think I can get something better. I could of course go to a startup or something, but I have a wife in school and a mortgage to pay. I do…

The trick is declining to sign them, provided you have enough tact to do so in a way that doesn't signal that you're hard to work with in general.

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#36

Post by thiagomgd »

mbeex wrote: post #23

I have been looking for a blogging environment for this kind of topics for some time. So, my question to the author: What kind of software / tools /styles are behind this blog in the technical sense? I see mathjax, probably some static site generator(?), what else are you using?

If I can give my 2 cents, think about how you would like to write and publish, and where do you want to focus. I've tried to use static site generators (mostly Hugo), but in the end, I've realized that I spent way more time making little tweaks to my theme, creating short codes "to help me create content", than actually writing.

Now, I plan on just having a blog to myself, to post what I've been reading, with some highlights/notes, and for that, a free wordpress.com is way better than anything else, as it's very easy to add different types of media/embed content without a worry, and to use their android app to write on the go if I want.

So really, whatever you use, first decide on your ideal workflow, and then find the solutions :)

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#37

Post by loceng »

rytill wrote: post #30
loceng wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: "Writing is Nature's way of showing you how sloppy your thinking is" This is why I dislike the down voting capability on sites. There's an impulse the person dislikes what they read or from how they interpreted it, and then they are able to quell that feeling with a single action vs. having to put the effort into thinking and articulating into words what they're feeling, why they are feeling it, and allow it to b…

What forum rules would you like to see experiments with?

The easiest one would simply be removing the down vote mechanism. If with an existing site then can compare with the years' prior stats - assuming they've been recorded; I don't know if HN does. There are a number of things you could monitor - would be interesting to see if any sets of people with the same behaviour change their behaviour more than just down voting, like if they stay on the site more or less, if they comment more or less; perhaps doing word use analysis on these different sub sets before and after the down vote change, what language are people who are prone to down voting using vs. those who only comment or only up vote but don't down vote, etc.

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#38

Post by loceng »

Darkphibre wrote: post #32
rytill wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What forum rules would you like to see experiments with?

Not op, but one idea: Ask for an articulate reason for downvoting. Increases the barrier of downvotes, and if people don't feel that it's articulate they could then downvote the downvote (with their reasons why). Frequently downvoted reasons could be added to a blacklist that requires additional elucidation before being able to submit the downvote. This has been an interesting thought experiment. I'd expect the resul…

If keeping down votes I like the idea of at least a minimum reply character length - those could then be added and act as comments.

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#39

Post by keithnz »

I don't blog (anymore), but I keep a personal diary and "guides". The diary is to note down various insights and random thoughts. My guides are consolidated learning around a particular topic and key information that I will know I will need to come back and refer to. I make guides for anything, principles of design, languages, frameworks, specific tools, specific websites, books, and games. Some are purely informational, some capture my thinking about something

Re: Why I Keep a Research Blog

#40

Post by joe_the_user »

loceng wrote: post #27
agentultra wrote: post #13

"Writing is Nature's way of showing you how sloppy your thinking is" [0] Writing is my primary tool. I keep a blog... and journals. I keep a journal for my reading: what I've read, what I thought about it, choice things I'd like to recall. I keep a journal of my mathematical reading, thoughts, and work. Programming too! Keeping your writing in a blog and sharing it with others puts a bit of pressure on you to keep a…

Re: "Writing is Nature's way of showing you how sloppy your thinking is" This is why I dislike the down voting capability on sites. There's an impulse the person dislikes what they read or from how they interpreted it, and then they are able to quell that feeling with a single action vs. having to put the effort into thinking and articulating into words what they're feeling, why they are feeling it, and allow it to b…

The only voting site I use is HN and here, a good number of the people who down vote will also comment.

That HN hides the votes of each post is useful because you only wind-up with a vague guess as to how other posts are received.

I suspect that not offering down votes would not make people more likely to comment. I will vote and then comment to reinforce my vote.

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