3 ms·

The thing about irl blogs is how, if it's tech related, then it kinda follows you. So there's a pressure to keep things corporate to not scare away job opportun

The thing about irl blogs is how, if it's tech related, then it kinda follows you. So there's a pressure to keep things corporate to not scare away job opportunities. There's a reason why LinkedIn reads like garbage, and even if it's obvious, people neither point it out or stop.

pflenker 2y ago
Agreed. The minute I learned one of my directs was reading my small blog posting to it became much, much harder.
bdw5204 2y ago
I'm personally less averse to calling that stuff out these days because I found that I wasn't exactly getting job opportunities in the current market by playing it safe. Since being quiet and uncontroversial doesn't even work, what's the point? I think people are making a mistake by not saying what they actually think. The only reason I don't have a blog yet is inertia/laziness. It'll happen eventually.
- manuelmoreale 2y ago
  Do it! You’ll have a bunch of people happy to read it: https://manuelmoreale.com/i-ll-read-it https://manuelmoreale.com/i-ll-read-it
manuelmoreale 2y ago
It’s funny how different lives can be. I’ve never been part of the corporate world, been self employed basically my whole working life and my blog is not even a thought when it comes to work. I’d honestly be super happy if someone I interact with for work asked me about something I wrote because I write about things I care about and I’m always happy to chat with people.
- aadhavans 2y ago
  > I’d honestly be super happy if someone I interact with for work asked me about something I wrote As a student (who also has no corporate experience), I share this feeling. The few times I've been asked by other students about my blog, I've always been excited (perhaps a little too much) to share my thoughts and opinions in a conservation.
  - manuelmoreale 2y ago
    Well ping me via email and send me your blog and I’ll be more than happy to ask you about it because I love reading blogs. My address is on my profile here on HN
fullspectrumdev 2y ago
I’ve had this fear a few times - and when my last workplace started getting a bit weird (layoffs) I largely stopped publishing much of anything. I experimented with publishing under an alternate identity a bit, but it never stuck. Now I’m working through my backlog of drafts, dumping a load of stuff ASAP, and then trying to commit myself to some form of publishing schedule to force myself to “catch up” on the project backlog.
tpoacher 2y ago
also why gemlogs have taken off massively, even if gemini itself hasn't
prmoustache 2y ago
I am using a pseudonym on my blog and I tend to use a different pseudonym on all websites/services/medias I use. I have often pondered wether I should just publish under my own name or not. The thing is once you do that, there is no going back and I have never felt ready for that. I know it puts off some people who mistake that for anonymity and think this is ruining the web, that people can't behave if they aren't talking under their own name, I respect that. I am not looking for anonymity. I don't pretend to hide from authorities. However pseudonimity allows me to express myself while not engaging my current or future employers directly.
- _heimdall 2y ago
  > I know it puts off some people who mistake that for anonymity and think this is ruining the web Its interesting that we got to a point where anyone would consider anonymity to be ruining the web. When I was growing up in the 90s and early 00s anonymity online was the whole point. Everything online was behind usernames, and usernames weren't expected to be connected to your real identity at all. Thank you Facebook, you did a wonderdul job of convincing an entire generation that they should put their real name, profile photo, hometown, etc online and tied to everything they say online.
  - reaperducer 2y ago
    When I was growing up in the 90s and early 00s anonymity online was the whole point. Everything online was behind usernames, and usernames weren't expected to be connected to your real identity at all. You consider that the norm because that's what you grew up with. Before then, people would sign everything on the internet (and its predecessor networks) with their real names, work/home addresses, phone numbers, and more. That's why when you create a new user on a *nix box, it asks for that information.
    - defrost 2y ago
      .. and when Usenet appeared people commented in tech newsgroups with their realnames and a good number of them also posted in alt newsgroups under nom de guerres. That was the early 1980s as I recall them.

pflenker 2y ago

Agreed. The minute I learned one of my directs was reading my small blog posting to it became much, much harder.

bdw5204 2y ago

I'm personally less averse to calling that stuff out these days because I found that I wasn't exactly getting job opportunities in the current market by playing it safe. Since being quiet and uncontroversial doesn't even work, what's the point? I think people are making a mistake by not saying what they actually think. The only reason I don't have a blog yet is inertia/laziness. It'll happen eventually.

manuelmoreale 2y ago
Do it! You’ll have a bunch of people happy to read it: https://manuelmoreale.com/i-ll-read-it https://manuelmoreale.com/i-ll-read-it

manuelmoreale 2y ago

It’s funny how different lives can be. I’ve never been part of the corporate world, been self employed basically my whole working life and my blog is not even a thought when it comes to work. I’d honestly be super happy if someone I interact with for work asked me about something I wrote because I write about things I care about and I’m always happy to chat with people.

aadhavans 2y ago
> I’d honestly be super happy if someone I interact with for work asked me about something I wrote As a student (who also has no corporate experience), I share this feeling. The few times I've been asked by other students about my blog, I've always been excited (perhaps a little too much) to share my thoughts and opinions in a conservation.
- manuelmoreale 2y ago
  Well ping me via email and send me your blog and I’ll be more than happy to ask you about it because I love reading blogs. My address is on my profile here on HN

fullspectrumdev 2y ago

I’ve had this fear a few times - and when my last workplace started getting a bit weird (layoffs) I largely stopped publishing much of anything. I experimented with publishing under an alternate identity a bit, but it never stuck. Now I’m working through my backlog of drafts, dumping a load of stuff ASAP, and then trying to commit myself to some form of publishing schedule to force myself to “catch up” on the project backlog.

tpoacher 2y ago

also why gemlogs have taken off massively, even if gemini itself hasn't

prmoustache 2y ago

I am using a pseudonym on my blog and I tend to use a different pseudonym on all websites/services/medias I use. I have often pondered wether I should just publish under my own name or not. The thing is once you do that, there is no going back and I have never felt ready for that. I know it puts off some people who mistake that for anonymity and think this is ruining the web, that people can't behave if they aren't talking under their own name, I respect that. I am not looking for anonymity. I don't pretend to hide from authorities. However pseudonimity allows me to express myself while not engaging my current or future employers directly.

_heimdall 2y ago
> I know it puts off some people who mistake that for anonymity and think this is ruining the web Its interesting that we got to a point where anyone would consider anonymity to be ruining the web. When I was growing up in the 90s and early 00s anonymity online was the whole point. Everything online was behind usernames, and usernames weren't expected to be connected to your real identity at all. Thank you Facebook, you did a wonderdul job of convincing an entire generation that they should put their real name, profile photo, hometown, etc online and tied to everything they say online.
- reaperducer 2y ago
  When I was growing up in the 90s and early 00s anonymity online was the whole point. Everything online was behind usernames, and usernames weren't expected to be connected to your real identity at all. You consider that the norm because that's what you grew up with. Before then, people would sign everything on the internet (and its predecessor networks) with their real names, work/home addresses, phone numbers, and more. That's why when you create a new user on a *nix box, it asks for that information.
  - defrost 2y ago
    .. and when Usenet appeared people commented in tech newsgroups with their realnames and a good number of them also posted in alt newsgroups under nom de guerres. That was the early 1980s as I recall them.