4 ms·

I think a lot of bloggers write primarily for themselves. But I also think many are secretly or subconsciously hoping it'll find some kind of audience. Which ma

I think a lot of bloggers write primarily for themselves. But I also think many are secretly or subconsciously hoping it'll find some kind of audience. Which makes sense, because if you literally do not care at all whether anyone else reads this or finds it useful, you wouldn't bother publishing it. A blog is a communication device, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to do it solely for yourself. I think to myself a lot (sometimes out loud) and I write for myself a lot, but I wouldn't talk into a phone with a dial tone to myself :) So perhaps this piece is also useful for people who write primarily for themselves, but also would like to remove any barriers to others finding and enjoying the fruits of their efforts.

azangru 8y ago
> if you literally do not care at all whether anyone else reads this or finds it useful, you wouldn't bother publishing it Remember the diaries (I wonder when they gained popularity? in the 18th century? in the 19th? surely they've been with us longer than that). They could be read by others, and indeed there was a tradition for young lovers to give each other their diaries to read, but they were (or were supposed to be) written primarily for those who wrote them. Same for laboratory logs (or other professional logs; I am not sure who kept them besides sea captains). They could be read by others, and might be informative to others, but were written primarily for the writer himself. As for publishing, web publishing is so easy and makes the writing so accessible it's arguably easier to "publish" your writings on your web site than to keep them in a notebook in a drawer.
- ryanwaggoner 8y ago
  But those are two different forms of writing: keyboard vs longhand. It’s not easier to blog than write to a local text file.
  - azangru 8y ago
    > It’s not easier to blog than write to a local text file. For many developers who have harnessed static site generators that turn local markdown (or orgmode, etc.) files into htmls, it is essentially one and the same thing.

azangru 8y ago

> if you literally do not care at all whether anyone else reads this or finds it useful, you wouldn't bother publishing it Remember the diaries (I wonder when they gained popularity? in the 18th century? in the 19th? surely they've been with us longer than that). They could be read by others, and indeed there was a tradition for young lovers to give each other their diaries to read, but they were (or were supposed to be) written primarily for those who wrote them. Same for laboratory logs (or other professional logs; I am not sure who kept them besides sea captains). They could be read by others, and might be informative to others, but were written primarily for the writer himself. As for publishing, web publishing is so easy and makes the writing so accessible it's arguably easier to "publish" your writings on your web site than to keep them in a notebook in a drawer.

ryanwaggoner 8y ago
But those are two different forms of writing: keyboard vs longhand. It’s not easier to blog than write to a local text file.
- azangru 8y ago
  > It’s not easier to blog than write to a local text file. For many developers who have harnessed static site generators that turn local markdown (or orgmode, etc.) files into htmls, it is essentially one and the same thing.