4 ms·

On Being a Loser, or Should You Start a Blog?

11 points by feross 5y ago

dangus 5y ago
After reading this article a few times I’m still not sure what’s going on here. You can start a blog for a lot of reasons. I don’t think anyone gets into it in 2021 thinking that it’s an ticket to a career-level income, but at times that’s what this author assumes someone writing a blog wants to do it for. I guess the takeaway from this post is not to quit your day job to blog…but isn’t that takeaway ridiculously obvious? There’s also a weird dichotomy with this article where at times it tells you to do or not do things but then it tells you not to listen to other people who are telling you to do or not do things. Any anyway, would it be so wrong for someone to write a blog just for the sake of other people reading? The author tells us to keep our writing private and only show close friends. Why? And why should we listen to that advice? I’m also not really sure why it matters that three random authors I’ve never heard of are “losers,” or what we all get out of placing that label on anyone (and it’s not like a sample size of three indicates a trend). It seems like an unnecessary discussion.
- borroka 5y ago
  The blog post makes zero sense. Apart from the circle-jerk references to writers in the same space, should people not exercise because they might not be widely appreciated by people passing by? I started writing with good frequency a few months ago and people can read me, not read me, whatever. I enjoy writing, and it is more than enough motivation for me. Maybe some people would appreciate what I write, others will continue reading Hobart, Alexander etc., which, by the way, I find a boring group of writers: always the same dry topics, always the same books that they read, so US-centric that if it wasn't for some anthropological digression, one would expect the rest of the world to be as big as Ohio.
cafard 5y ago
I'm not a William Golding fan, but shouldn't you know the difference between the lord of the flies and the one-eyed man?

11 points by feross 5y ago

After reading this article a few times I’m still not sure what’s going on here. You can start a blog for a lot of reasons. I don’t think anyone gets into it in 2021 thinking that it’s an ticket to a career-level income, but at times that’s what this author assumes someone writing a blog wants to do it for. I guess the takeaway from this post is not to quit your day job to blog…but isn’t that takeaway ridiculously obvious? There’s also a weird dichotomy with this article where at times it tells you to do or not do things but then it tells you not to listen to other people who are telling you to do or not do things. Any anyway, would it be so wrong for someone to write a blog just for the sake of other people reading? The author tells us to keep our writing private and only show close friends. Why? And why should we listen to that advice? I’m also not really sure why it matters that three random authors I’ve never heard of are “losers,” or what we all get out of placing that label on anyone (and it’s not like a sample size of three indicates a trend). It seems like an unnecessary discussion.

borroka 5y ago
The blog post makes zero sense. Apart from the circle-jerk references to writers in the same space, should people not exercise because they might not be widely appreciated by people passing by? I started writing with good frequency a few months ago and people can read me, not read me, whatever. I enjoy writing, and it is more than enough motivation for me. Maybe some people would appreciate what I write, others will continue reading Hobart, Alexander etc., which, by the way, I find a boring group of writers: always the same dry topics, always the same books that they read, so US-centric that if it wasn't for some anthropological digression, one would expect the rest of the world to be as big as Ohio.

cafard 5y ago

I'm not a William Golding fan, but shouldn't you know the difference between the lord of the flies and the one-eyed man?