On Starting My Blog
Below is a brief summary of why decided to create this site and start my blog.
Independent sites like this as a medium for sharing
I think it's great that individually run websites/blogs like this are making a bit of a comeback. More and more people are becoming nostalgic of the sense of discovery and community that being online used to promote, especially for personalised sites that reflect the character and interests of it's creators.
This is something that corporate social media platforms, in all their polish and aesthetic minimalism, fail to deliver. They don't host the content created by their users, they pump it through their algorithmic pipeline alongside a side stream of advertising. I could post the exact same stuff that I do on here on BlueSky or in an Instagram description, but then I'd be subject to their rules and the quirks and constraints of their platform. I'd have control over the content itself, but not it's environment. It's like renting a house as opposed to owning it and not being allowed to nail any artwork to the walls. Not to mention I'd have to be competing myriad other highly flashy posts because attention through novelty is how these businesses make money.
I want people to read what I write because they find it interesting, not because it happened to be the next thing the algorithm served them. And I want to have written it because I find it interesting, not for the sole purpose for sharing with others as part of a transaction for affirmation and a higher like counter. And I want it to happen in my own space; one which I can control and customise to reflect me. It's more personal. I'd argue that small sites like these facilitate a more human connection, despite rejecting the well-trodden avenue of "social" media. I feel as though it's a lot easier to get an understanding of who someone is (what their characteristics are and what's important to them) by looking at what they've created in their own space, rather than what they've simply posted on an the face of some omni-present platform with a business model which necessarily provides a conflict of interest.
Modern social media also caters almost exclusively to visual short-form content, hence the popularity of Instagram reels and TikTok. Writing is less flashy and attention-grabbing. It takes more time and effort on behalf of the reader than it does to mindlessly swipe up for an immediate hit of novelty-derived dopamine. But the effort and patience is rewarded with much more nuance, detail, and depth. See always bet on text by graydon2 - they provide an interesting read on the virtues of writing as a medium.
This isn't all to say that social media is pure evil and devoid of all soul and value (with the exception of those dark bot-filled AI-driven Facebook click farms of course). I still use a couple of platforms and enjoy doing so. I guess I'm just trying to point out that there's stuff that the short form visual stuff can't communicate very well; it has shortcomings and it needs to be supplemented by the long form stuff. I feel that imbalance when I use the internet today and in creating this blog, I'm doing my small part in restoring that balance.
Why I want to blog
Writing is a form of thinking. It's basically just a dictation of an internal monologue, with some tweaks here and there for clarity. It's a useful tool to think about, explore, and organise otherwise disparate ideas and thoughts. By writing about things I find important to me, I hope to better understand the ideas I have and/or come across, with the intent to better understand them or integrate them into my life.
Having my ideas sifted, organised, and distilled for my own benefit is great and all, but thanks to the public nature of publishing to this site, those ideas may be useful or inspirational to others. It feels good to help others, and just as I have been inspired by other bloggers ramblings and writings, I too may help or inspire the few readers who may find themselves trickling through this corner of the internet. No like buttons or karma farming or psychologically targeted feelings of shallow gratification. The focus is on the content, not the chase of approval. Just interests, thoughts, and musings that may not even be read by anyone else.
Great and respected artists don't create masterpieces for the sake of profit or fame. They create out of an internal drive - a need to create. I'm not saying I'm a great artist (or even a good one for that matter), but I find I do have that same need to create stuff to fund a sense of meaning and achievement in my life. Whether it be a something traditionally arty, a programming project, or even a process improvement project at work. The need to make something new is ever-present and writing up the pages and posts on this site seems to offer a nice constructive outlet for that.
Another benefit to writing is the opportunity to practice writing itself - to get better at a skill which is still essential for good communication. Especially within our current age of AI where these skills are being outsourced more and more often.
Related to this topic is Why I write by Nayuki, which I found interesting and in part inspired me to start this blog. I highly recommend giving it a read.
My goals
I have no strict quantitative goals for now. I won't be holding myself accountable for "writing x number of posts per month" or anything. I just want to write about things that I find interesting at certain points of my life when they're most pertinent and inspiring for me. The topics should be allowed to float up organically and not be a product of the requirement for output for the sake of reaching some arbitrary quota.
With that I have just one goal: to maintain the drive to write throughout the year. (And subsequently act on that drive to post stuff here).
To conclude
I hope that some of you find whatever it is I end up posting here to be useful or interesting. If you have any feedback, gripes, or commendations about anything on this site, please don't hesitate to contact me and let me know!