A response to Joan Westenberg's "The Case for Blogging in the Ruins"
Heads up: If you haven't read the original article, you should do so right now! It is amazing and will give context about my ramblings here. In fact, if you just read Joans original article, get distracted by the thought of starting your own blog, I couldn't even be mad (just slightly disappointed).
In March, I read Joan's article and was sold immediately. My old blog was down at the time (for reasons™), so I didn't have anywhere to write about it. I consequently resolved to revive my blog. As a software engineer, I got stuck on the step of picking a static site generator and the project went nowhere.
During my original research however, I discovered Makko, an extremely elegant SSG because of its simplicity. My previous blog was built using Quartz and it had way too many bells and whistles, so Makko was a breath of fresh air. I then continued to ... not use it, for some reason, and started building my own SSG instead.
Fast forward to August and here I am writing this article using Makko.
Yes, blogs aren't Twitter or Tumblr. You can't just repost or comment on someone else's blog post.
Actually, you can. I lied.
Write a response on your own blog. Send the author an email with the link. Put a link to their original post on your blog. Maybe they will do the same. Maybe they will write a four thousand word post calling you a fucking idiot.
But they will probably care.
Writing blog posts creates meaningful discourse. Calling people idiots on Twitter for choosing the wrong JavaScript framework is a waste of time. But writing a blog post about why X JavaScript framework is superior to Y JavaScript framework would at least result in something you can be proud of.
Joan writes at length about why writing (a blog) is important. And I completely agree with her. However, I have a second, simpler reason: I like writing. It tickles the funny parts of my brain.
Also, writing is useful. That argument you keep having? Write a blog post about your opinion. Send that instead of hitting the character limit on the angry tweet you'd write instead. That question people keep asking you? Write a blog post about it. It will help you sort your thoughts. Then, send the link.
If you do not have a blog already, you should go start one right now! Write, ramble and yell at the methaphorical (possibly non-existant) reader. Your writing has to matter to you, but at least there is the possibility it might matter to someone else for more than five minutes.
Grab any static site generator (or try Makko!) and a provider like Github Pages and start writing. Alternatively, use a tool like Bear and start writing immediately.
As Joan also mentions, go buy a domain so your rambles stay yours. You can get a decent one for 10€ a year. If you do not want the yourname.com, get a domain with your countries TLD or even the .blog TLD (that is gonna cost you more like 20€ a year though).
Thank you for reading my rambles and I'd be delighted to hear your thoughts.
by Greg