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The reason I don't write is that I'm unconvinced that a worthwhile number of people will find my writings and actually read them in 2023. I'm fine with doing a

The reason I don't write is that I'm unconvinced that a worthwhile number of people will find my writings and actually read them in 2023. I'm fine with doing all my writing on HN. If you look at the comments section of my profile, it might as well be a microblog.

MezzoDelCammin 3y ago
I just did look. 19k karma is indeed nothing to sneeze at. Difference is though that in the HN comments it's someone else who picks the topic and time. Much as I appreciate the discussion here, occasionally I think there's some value in just doing a writeup on a topic. Or, a memory dump. If for no other reason, than for the therapeutic value of cleaning up the mind... And forcing the random musings that make sense in the head through the filter of written language just to see what actually makes sense.
jodrellblank 3y ago
The argument in the article does not involve anyone reading your writing: "That’s the promise: you will live more curiously if you write. You will become a scientist, if not of the natural world than of whatever world you care about. More of that world will pop alive. You will see more when you look at it."
jyunwai 3y ago
I wonder if there is a way to easily export one's own Hacker News comments. It might be useful for you to back your comments up one day, as there can be value in searching through your past writing and also having a backup (which never hurts).
- krapp 3y ago
  Write a script to download them using the Hacker News API.[0] First, get the user endpoint: https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/user/<username>.json https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/user/<username>.json (ex: https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/user/jl.json?print=pretty https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/user/jl.json?print=pre...) then iterate the "submitted" array and make a request to each ID at the item endpoint: https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/item/<ID>.json https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/item/<ID>.json (ex: https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/item/8863.json?print=pretty https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/item/8863.json?print=p...) Then save each JSON response somewhere. You won't be able to get the content of flagged and banned messages. If you do this more than once you'll also need to keep track of the last ID you downloaded, or the updates endpoint to catch edits, I think, although the readme is a bit vague about how exactly that works. [0]https://github.com/HackerNews/API https://github.com/HackerNews/API
- Tomte 3y ago
  https://github.com/dogsheep/hacker-news-to-sqlite https://github.com/dogsheep/hacker-news-to-sqlite
rramadass 3y ago
This is exactly my reason too for not putting up my own website/blog.

MezzoDelCammin 3y ago

I just did look. 19k karma is indeed nothing to sneeze at. Difference is though that in the HN comments it's someone else who picks the topic and time. Much as I appreciate the discussion here, occasionally I think there's some value in just doing a writeup on a topic. Or, a memory dump. If for no other reason, than for the therapeutic value of cleaning up the mind... And forcing the random musings that make sense in the head through the filter of written language just to see what actually makes sense.

jodrellblank 3y ago

The argument in the article does not involve anyone reading your writing: "That’s the promise: you will live more curiously if you write. You will become a scientist, if not of the natural world than of whatever world you care about. More of that world will pop alive. You will see more when you look at it."

jyunwai 3y ago

I wonder if there is a way to easily export one's own Hacker News comments. It might be useful for you to back your comments up one day, as there can be value in searching through your past writing and also having a backup (which never hurts).

krapp 3y ago
Write a script to download them using the Hacker News API.[0] First, get the user endpoint: https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/user/<username>.json https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/user/<username>.json (ex: https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/user/jl.json?print=pretty https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/user/jl.json?print=pre...) then iterate the "submitted" array and make a request to each ID at the item endpoint: https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/item/<ID>.json https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/item/<ID>.json (ex: https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/item/8863.json?print=pretty https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/item/8863.json?print=p...) Then save each JSON response somewhere. You won't be able to get the content of flagged and banned messages. If you do this more than once you'll also need to keep track of the last ID you downloaded, or the updates endpoint to catch edits, I think, although the readme is a bit vague about how exactly that works. [0]https://github.com/HackerNews/API https://github.com/HackerNews/API
Tomte 3y ago
https://github.com/dogsheep/hacker-news-to-sqlite https://github.com/dogsheep/hacker-news-to-sqlite

rramadass 3y ago

This is exactly my reason too for not putting up my own website/blog.