I agree with both of you; it feels fundamentally egocentric to broadcast one's thoughts on the web. But it's been an interesting exercise for me on many levels.

I agree with both of you; it feels fundamentally egocentric to broadcast one's thoughts on the web. But it's been an interesting exercise for me on many levels. The feedback you get from friends and strangers can be valuable - like this discussion. And clear writing == clear thinking. I find that in the process of writing I edit and re-edit my thoughts and sometimes change my mind. That's helpful in and of itself. As for public-ness making it difficult to quit -- many people (PG included) have written about this [1]. My goal in making my work public is not to benefit from this social pressure, though that would be a nice side-effect. I want to document my hard work, and ensure that the good parts of what I work on don't die. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html