4 ms·

I think "use paper" is good for lots of things. But if I'm trying to quickly make notes of lots of things, I end up not being able to find things. Org-roam (or

I think "use paper" is good for lots of things. But if I'm trying to quickly make notes of lots of things, I end up not being able to find things. Org-roam (or some other similar system) is what I've found to be a good substitute for paper. The thing about both paper and Org-roam/Emacs, is that it's under your own control, and can be tailored to meet your own actual needs, not how someone else thinks you should do things. That's where Apple Notes etc. fall down.

QuantumGood 2y ago
Workflowy is also good, keeps getting better. Used it for many years with a small team, but mostly for myself.
_g0wg 2y ago
I'm also an org-roam and paper guy, but I've designed my system to be platform-agnostic. It's all in the naming conventions. Files are named hierarchically with periods. I have top-level categories that have changed little over the years. `con.` for concepts, `lit.` for documents, `proj.` for projects... you get the point, I'm not listing all of them unless someone really just wants me to. My go-to example is always Star Wars. `lore.sw` is my top-level Star Wars note. I also have `lore.sw.chron` which is the chronological watching order. There's also `game.sw` which contains a list of Star Wars games I've found. This extends to non-note files as well. For images of something I use `.img.[date].#.[ext]`, so for example I have some pictures of my cat named `ppl.neck.img.2024.03.15.1.raw`. I have a video of him murdering a bird too, `ppl.neck.vid.2024.05.22.murdering-a-bird.mp4`... As you can see, sometimes I replace the number with a nice title. The modularity of it all is great. I can add anything anywhere at any point in the hierarchy without having to re-name things. I name things exactly what they are. The hierarchy can be sparse, parent notes don't have to exist. I can name something `stuff.something.i-dont-know.gif` without having any notes for `stuff.` or `stuff.something.` I have notes on paper as well, and they use the same system, with the hierarchical name printed in bold at the top of the paper. `self.passwords` is a paper note for obvious reasons. I also keep most of my `sys.internal.` documentation on paper because my computer might not work when I need it most, though a lot of them do have computer versions which I just print out when I change because it's too much to write by hand.
- _g0wg 2y ago
  Replying to my own comment here. I decided to list all of the top-level categories because it's something I'm kind of proud of, as it seems to be able to categorize anything I can throw at it: agenda.: single file, my main TODO. I can also add `.agenda.` anywhere in any hierarchy to make a topic-specific agenda. archive.: I just slap `archive.` on the front of any filename I want to archive. con.: notes about concepts cook.: my cookbook film.: movies, shows, etc.. Contains both notes and actual films game.: game notes, downloads, old versions, mod version archive, skins, settings exports, etc. grp.: social groups, movements, governments, companies, religions, etc. Mostly notes from school and research from work, but some political stuff too. home.: my house inbox.: single note, anything can go in here for later processing if I'm feeling lazy journal.: journal, organized by date (journal.2024.08.27). Hasn't been used in years. lang.: languages of all kinds; spoken, programming, everything. There's `lang.lisp` next to `lang.latin` lit.: literature, documents, etc.. Organized as `lit.author.series.document.chapter`. I have a lot of books. log.: logs, never used this one actually lore.: research about fictional worlds (I'm into worldbuilding) meta.: about this collection music.: playlist dumps, song downloads ppl.: people prod.: products proj.: projects school.: school stuff, organized as `school.institution.course.unit.chapter.assignment.document` self.: me social.: social media soft.: software sys.: my systems veh.: my vehicles Bonus: I also have `woodheart.` for my worldbuilding project, which contains a copy of most of the above categories within it.
- GFischer 2y ago
  You have somehow reinvented the USENET organization method :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet#Organization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet#Organization

QuantumGood 2y ago

Workflowy is also good, keeps getting better. Used it for many years with a small team, but mostly for myself.

_g0wg 2y ago

I'm also an org-roam and paper guy, but I've designed my system to be platform-agnostic. It's all in the naming conventions. Files are named hierarchically with periods. I have top-level categories that have changed little over the years. `con.` for concepts, `lit.` for documents, `proj.` for projects... you get the point, I'm not listing all of them unless someone really just wants me to. My go-to example is always Star Wars. `lore.sw` is my top-level Star Wars note. I also have `lore.sw.chron` which is the chronological watching order. There's also `game.sw` which contains a list of Star Wars games I've found. This extends to non-note files as well. For images of something I use `.img.[date].#.[ext]`, so for example I have some pictures of my cat named `ppl.neck.img.2024.03.15.1.raw`. I have a video of him murdering a bird too, `ppl.neck.vid.2024.05.22.murdering-a-bird.mp4`... As you can see, sometimes I replace the number with a nice title. The modularity of it all is great. I can add anything anywhere at any point in the hierarchy without having to re-name things. I name things exactly what they are. The hierarchy can be sparse, parent notes don't have to exist. I can name something `stuff.something.i-dont-know.gif` without having any notes for `stuff.` or `stuff.something.` I have notes on paper as well, and they use the same system, with the hierarchical name printed in bold at the top of the paper. `self.passwords` is a paper note for obvious reasons. I also keep most of my `sys.internal.` documentation on paper because my computer might not work when I need it most, though a lot of them do have computer versions which I just print out when I change because it's too much to write by hand.

_g0wg 2y ago
Replying to my own comment here. I decided to list all of the top-level categories because it's something I'm kind of proud of, as it seems to be able to categorize anything I can throw at it: agenda.: single file, my main TODO. I can also add `.agenda.` anywhere in any hierarchy to make a topic-specific agenda. archive.: I just slap `archive.` on the front of any filename I want to archive. con.: notes about concepts cook.: my cookbook film.: movies, shows, etc.. Contains both notes and actual films game.: game notes, downloads, old versions, mod version archive, skins, settings exports, etc. grp.: social groups, movements, governments, companies, religions, etc. Mostly notes from school and research from work, but some political stuff too. home.: my house inbox.: single note, anything can go in here for later processing if I'm feeling lazy journal.: journal, organized by date (journal.2024.08.27). Hasn't been used in years. lang.: languages of all kinds; spoken, programming, everything. There's `lang.lisp` next to `lang.latin` lit.: literature, documents, etc.. Organized as `lit.author.series.document.chapter`. I have a lot of books. log.: logs, never used this one actually lore.: research about fictional worlds (I'm into worldbuilding) meta.: about this collection music.: playlist dumps, song downloads ppl.: people prod.: products proj.: projects school.: school stuff, organized as `school.institution.course.unit.chapter.assignment.document` self.: me social.: social media soft.: software sys.: my systems veh.: my vehicles Bonus: I also have `woodheart.` for my worldbuilding project, which contains a copy of most of the above categories within it.
GFischer 2y ago
You have somehow reinvented the USENET organization method :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet#Organization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet#Organization