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> I'm not that interesting; I don't have anything to show off; and inevitably it'll either become a chore or go out of date. The main goal of my blog was not t

> I'm not that interesting; I don't have anything to show off; and inevitably it'll either become a chore or go out of date. The main goal of my blog was not to be interesting or show off (even though I do include my side projects etc.), but to write about specific issues I managed to solve. As a software developer, I'm googling for problems all the time. 95% of the time I land on StackOverflow or GitHub issues. But it's about those 5% that I find a blog post which really helps me. My goal was to contribute back the same way. If you don't like to actively maintain a blog, just set up a GitHub repo + GitHub Pages (or even go for plain GitHub Gists). As long as the information can be found via a search engine, it's good enough. Finally - don't create a blog just because you feel obliged to. It's totally fine as a developer not to have a blog.

bloopernova 8y ago
> My goal was to contribute back the same way. YES! So much of our computing-related triumphs come from documentation that other people wrote. Even super basic stuff that no senior developer or sysadmin would dream of asking, that stuff still needs to be written down by someone. I have a dozen or so Markdown documents of varying sizes that I need to finish, proof and polish before putting them online. I sorely lacking in motivation (and sleep)
- bluehatbrit 8y ago
  Release the documents first, then finish or polish them. If you get bored with them, someone else might want to finish them off or extend them. But unless you publish them, they're only benefiting you. You might also find more motivation if they're already out there.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
  My quotes file recently reached 1MB of plain text, 160,257 words. I started this file 17 years ago! This is enough to fill three average sized novels! One day... I might have a go at weaving a narrative through it.
  - jkeuhlen 8y ago
    What do you mean by quotes file?
    - TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
      It’s a text file where I’ve copy and pasted paragraphs and comments I’ve found interesting from books and online, and a few of my own thoughts. Each entry is preceded by the date the entry was made, and followed by a reference to the source. Because I’ve used some of the material multiple times I’m vaguely aware of the overall structure, and I use it as a bit of a knowledge-base. As an example I’ll probably pop this comment in there later, so some of the materiel is mundane. Some of it seemed profound in the context of my life at the time, but might make less sense years later out of context. I’ve only ever deleted a handful of entries in that 17 years. I guess parts of it are a bit like a diary too, but I’ve never been very good at intentionally keeping a diary.
      - malodyets 8y ago
        Once upon a time they called it a commonplace book
        mr_overalls 7y ago
        Pretty interesting that the roots of Evernote begin in Early Modern Europe. I've been doing this for years (on paper, no less) without knowing that it had a name. Edit: Here's an article that gave me some good ideas about different things to do with my book. https://thoughtcatalog.com/ryan-holiday/2013/08/how-and-why-to-keep-a-commonplace-book/ https://thoughtcatalog.com/ryan-holiday/2013/08/how-and-why-...
        TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
        I didn’t understand what the parent was trying to say until I read your comment. Commomplace book - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book
ses1984 8y ago
Out of curiosity, why not use a free platform like stack overflow or a github issue to publish your solutions?
- darekkay 8y ago
  There's nothing wrong with those options either. But some problems are opinionated or not specific enough for Stack Overflow (e.g. "what are the alternatives to include comments on a static site"). There's also the certainty that my content remains independent from other platforms and it remains available online as long as I keep paying for my server + domain.
- JohnFen 8y ago
  Not the OP, but the reason that I don't use those platforms is, essentially, control. I don't trust any of them to exist forever, or to continue to operate in a way that works for me. Keeping everything on a site that I am in control of eliminates the issues of uncertainty. (I do answer direct questions on Stack Overflow and such, I just don't keep my accumulated works or investigative notes on third party sites.)
leftyted 8y ago
> The main goal of my blog was not to be interesting or show off That's what they all say. Humans are social creatures and the main motivator for anyone to do anything in public is to "show off" or "be interesting". "All is vanity". That isn't necessarily a bad thing. Without a desire to compete, impress, prove our worth and so on we'd be living in huts. But it's something to be aware of and something that should be tempered. I think the pendulum is swinging away from modesty plus self-reflection and towards "people documenting their lives in public".
- jartelt 8y ago
  I think your view is too cynical. People also can be motivated by altruism or by wanting to pay it forward. I've answered plenty of questions on facebook/reddit/etc. and do so because people have answered my questions in the past. The part you are correct about is that it is easy to then get wrapped up in how many visitors your blog gets or how many upvotes your answer gets. Those vanity metrics definitely pull on the vanity strings. But, some people definitely do not care about "showing-off" when they put something up online.
  - leftyted 8y ago
    > But, some people definitely do not care about "showing-off" when they put something up online. If you don't care about showing off then you won't publish anything. People who are actually altruistic won't tell you about their altruism. This isn't cynicism. The hunger for respect, admiration and recognition is not a bad thing. But it is necessary for people to understand what motivates them. And it is necessary for us to construct a society in which respect is earned by performing actions that are broadly beneficial to that society (as far as we can estimate, anyway). Today, anyone can broadcast. But that doesn't mean that everyone should broadcast. The old gatekepers weren't perfect but they served a necessary purpose. Who are the new gatekeepers?
    - jartelt 8y ago
      > If you don't care about showing off then you won't publish anything. People who are actually altruistic won't tell you about their altruism. My point is that I think your thesis is too cynical. Many people start out writing their blogs or answer questions on public forums with the intent of trying to help other people out. The motivation can be of the form "I solved this problem and I am going to write about it because maybe my solution will save someone else time" rather than "I solved this problem and I am going to write about it so that everyone visits my website and I get famous." Maybe they become more motivated by vanity and blog metrics later on if their blog takes off. But, many people write stuff online with the intent to help others out and not solely out of hunger for respect, admiration and recognition. > Today, anyone can broadcast. But that doesn't mean that everyone should broadcast. The old gatekepers weren't perfect but they served a necessary purpose. Who are the new gatekeepers? You lost me here.
loblollyboy 8y ago
thats what stack overflow is for
sl1ck731 8y ago
I tried doing what the OP described, become some interesting blogger person, but threw in a 2 or 3 line article about some mundane error I had with a tool one day mixed in with all the other wordfluff. Surprisingly the error code drew a ton of traffic compared to anything interesting I could have possibly thought about writing.
- kaycebasques 8y ago
  You stumbled upon a technical writing best practice. Always include the exact error code and message in documentation because people often search for that exact string.
  - bookofjoe 7y ago
    Analogous: supply a link rather than tell someone to look it up.
- DrScump 7y ago
  and/or the exact text of the message. A vague search is fine if there are few matches,but there's a lot of cruft out there.
ryanstorm 8y ago
Agreed. I try to frame my posts to have helpful information first and foremost, for others in the same situations or even for my future self. Or for trip report type posts, for any others that were on the trip with me.
JohnFen 8y ago
> But it's about those 5% that I find a blog post which really helps me. My goal was to contribute back the same way. This is the main reason that I keep a personal website.
tmaly 8y ago
I tend to mix it up on my blog. If there is a problem I encounter, I write about the solution. I also like to write about ideas I strung together that I sourced from books, podcasts, and other posts. I followed the same path as OP in regards to blogging in early 2000's then kinds letting my site languish. I have been trying to write a bit more over the last year. I have found that checking out the analytics on the blog from time to time also helps me guage what topics to write about.
ErotemeObelus 7y ago
> As a software developer, I'm googling for problems all the time. Who would learn more? The one who searches for answer or the one who answers questions?

bloopernova 8y ago

> My goal was to contribute back the same way. YES! So much of our computing-related triumphs come from documentation that other people wrote. Even super basic stuff that no senior developer or sysadmin would dream of asking, that stuff still needs to be written down by someone. I have a dozen or so Markdown documents of varying sizes that I need to finish, proof and polish before putting them online. I sorely lacking in motivation (and sleep)

bluehatbrit 8y ago
Release the documents first, then finish or polish them. If you get bored with them, someone else might want to finish them off or extend them. But unless you publish them, they're only benefiting you. You might also find more motivation if they're already out there.
TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
My quotes file recently reached 1MB of plain text, 160,257 words. I started this file 17 years ago! This is enough to fill three average sized novels! One day... I might have a go at weaving a narrative through it.
- jkeuhlen 8y ago
  What do you mean by quotes file?
  - TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
    It’s a text file where I’ve copy and pasted paragraphs and comments I’ve found interesting from books and online, and a few of my own thoughts. Each entry is preceded by the date the entry was made, and followed by a reference to the source. Because I’ve used some of the material multiple times I’m vaguely aware of the overall structure, and I use it as a bit of a knowledge-base. As an example I’ll probably pop this comment in there later, so some of the materiel is mundane. Some of it seemed profound in the context of my life at the time, but might make less sense years later out of context. I’ve only ever deleted a handful of entries in that 17 years. I guess parts of it are a bit like a diary too, but I’ve never been very good at intentionally keeping a diary.
    - malodyets 8y ago
      Once upon a time they called it a commonplace book
      - mr_overalls 7y ago
        Pretty interesting that the roots of Evernote begin in Early Modern Europe. I've been doing this for years (on paper, no less) without knowing that it had a name. Edit: Here's an article that gave me some good ideas about different things to do with my book. https://thoughtcatalog.com/ryan-holiday/2013/08/how-and-why-to-keep-a-commonplace-book/ https://thoughtcatalog.com/ryan-holiday/2013/08/how-and-why-...
        TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
        I didn’t understand what the parent was trying to say until I read your comment. Commomplace book - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book

ses1984 8y ago

Out of curiosity, why not use a free platform like stack overflow or a github issue to publish your solutions?

darekkay 8y ago
There's nothing wrong with those options either. But some problems are opinionated or not specific enough for Stack Overflow (e.g. "what are the alternatives to include comments on a static site"). There's also the certainty that my content remains independent from other platforms and it remains available online as long as I keep paying for my server + domain.
JohnFen 8y ago
Not the OP, but the reason that I don't use those platforms is, essentially, control. I don't trust any of them to exist forever, or to continue to operate in a way that works for me. Keeping everything on a site that I am in control of eliminates the issues of uncertainty. (I do answer direct questions on Stack Overflow and such, I just don't keep my accumulated works or investigative notes on third party sites.)

leftyted 8y ago

> The main goal of my blog was not to be interesting or show off That's what they all say. Humans are social creatures and the main motivator for anyone to do anything in public is to "show off" or "be interesting". "All is vanity". That isn't necessarily a bad thing. Without a desire to compete, impress, prove our worth and so on we'd be living in huts. But it's something to be aware of and something that should be tempered. I think the pendulum is swinging away from modesty plus self-reflection and towards "people documenting their lives in public".

jartelt 8y ago
I think your view is too cynical. People also can be motivated by altruism or by wanting to pay it forward. I've answered plenty of questions on facebook/reddit/etc. and do so because people have answered my questions in the past. The part you are correct about is that it is easy to then get wrapped up in how many visitors your blog gets or how many upvotes your answer gets. Those vanity metrics definitely pull on the vanity strings. But, some people definitely do not care about "showing-off" when they put something up online.
- leftyted 8y ago
  > But, some people definitely do not care about "showing-off" when they put something up online. If you don't care about showing off then you won't publish anything. People who are actually altruistic won't tell you about their altruism. This isn't cynicism. The hunger for respect, admiration and recognition is not a bad thing. But it is necessary for people to understand what motivates them. And it is necessary for us to construct a society in which respect is earned by performing actions that are broadly beneficial to that society (as far as we can estimate, anyway). Today, anyone can broadcast. But that doesn't mean that everyone should broadcast. The old gatekepers weren't perfect but they served a necessary purpose. Who are the new gatekeepers?
  - jartelt 8y ago
    > If you don't care about showing off then you won't publish anything. People who are actually altruistic won't tell you about their altruism. My point is that I think your thesis is too cynical. Many people start out writing their blogs or answer questions on public forums with the intent of trying to help other people out. The motivation can be of the form "I solved this problem and I am going to write about it because maybe my solution will save someone else time" rather than "I solved this problem and I am going to write about it so that everyone visits my website and I get famous." Maybe they become more motivated by vanity and blog metrics later on if their blog takes off. But, many people write stuff online with the intent to help others out and not solely out of hunger for respect, admiration and recognition. > Today, anyone can broadcast. But that doesn't mean that everyone should broadcast. The old gatekepers weren't perfect but they served a necessary purpose. Who are the new gatekeepers? You lost me here.

loblollyboy 8y ago

thats what stack overflow is for

sl1ck731 8y ago

I tried doing what the OP described, become some interesting blogger person, but threw in a 2 or 3 line article about some mundane error I had with a tool one day mixed in with all the other wordfluff. Surprisingly the error code drew a ton of traffic compared to anything interesting I could have possibly thought about writing.

kaycebasques 8y ago
You stumbled upon a technical writing best practice. Always include the exact error code and message in documentation because people often search for that exact string.
- bookofjoe 7y ago
  Analogous: supply a link rather than tell someone to look it up.
DrScump 7y ago
and/or the exact text of the message. A vague search is fine if there are few matches,but there's a lot of cruft out there.

ryanstorm 8y ago

Agreed. I try to frame my posts to have helpful information first and foremost, for others in the same situations or even for my future self. Or for trip report type posts, for any others that were on the trip with me.

JohnFen 8y ago

> But it's about those 5% that I find a blog post which really helps me. My goal was to contribute back the same way. This is the main reason that I keep a personal website.

tmaly 8y ago

I tend to mix it up on my blog. If there is a problem I encounter, I write about the solution. I also like to write about ideas I strung together that I sourced from books, podcasts, and other posts. I followed the same path as OP in regards to blogging in early 2000's then kinds letting my site languish. I have been trying to write a bit more over the last year. I have found that checking out the analytics on the blog from time to time also helps me guage what topics to write about.

ErotemeObelus 7y ago

> As a software developer, I'm googling for problems all the time. Who would learn more? The one who searches for answer or the one who answers questions?