The blogging experience at ten years

Zeitgeist 2 Minutes

My first post on this blog was ten years ago this week. I almost missed the anniversary, but WordPress reminded me about it earlier in the week.

I originally started the blog in 2013 for two main reasons.

First, I did NaNoWriMo in 2012, but a week into November in 2013, it was obvious I wasn’t doing it again that year. It seemed like starting a blog would be a decent alternative. Maybe writing blog posts would help in finding my voice. Thankfully it did. Blogging isn’t fiction writing (usually) but it is a form of writing, and so is still practice. I’m now slightly embarrassed by the early posts, where that voice was pretty shaky. But in retrospect they were a necessary part of the journey.

Second, back then I was a frequent commenter on numerous sites. A big one was Huffington Post, which at the time had a bustling online community. However, it also had moderation which was inconsistent, often heavy handed, and frequently partisan. After I’d seen numerous comments disappear into the void, there and on other sites, the idea of having a place to comment on things happening around the web and world, without worrying about moderators or space limitations, seemed appealing.

The early posts in the first few weeks are pretty representative of what the blog would be about over the years: the mind, science, philosophy, science fiction, etc. Although I’ve never felt constrained on subject matter. Which is why there are occasional posts on politics, history, writing, meta posts like this one, and even one on exercise.

I’ve enjoyed the writing journey, but the real joy is the online friends discovered along the way. Conversations on personal blogs is a pretty different experience from the ones on public sites or most social networks. Most of the commentary here is more thoughtful. The occasional troll does come through, but they can be blocked, and most individual blogs aren’t worth their attention anyway.

One social network I’ve found that moves in the direction of the blogging experience is Mastodon. Which is why I was excited by WordPress’ recent fediverse integration. It allows two thoughtful communities to interact. As I mentioned the other day, I’m not sure where this interoperability will eventually lead, particularly if other large services like Tumblr or Threads federate. (Tumblr looks questionable right now.) But for now, it seems like progress.

And if it leads to more people coming back to blogging, I think the world will be a more thoughtful place. I definitely recommend it for anyone who has something to say. Having your own corner of the internet, which you control (at least to an extent) is far better than having the archive of your thoughts subject to the whims of some social media exec.

I learned a long time ago not to try to predict what I’ll post about in the future. All I can say for sure is I have no plans to stop. There are too many of you, my online friends, to give it up anytime soon. As always, thank you for the interesting conversations. It remains a refuge in a world that needs more of them.

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25 thoughts on “The blogging experience at ten years”

  2. Thank you Mike for making my own life so much more enjoyable over these years, and mainly in the academic sense that generally preoccupies my obsessions. I guess I’ve been around here for 8 years since it was just before Trump became president in 2016. (And hopefully for the only time!) As James said, keep it coming!

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    1. Thanks Eric.! I’ll always be grateful for our discussions during my blogging winter. They helped ensure I didn’t walk away.

      Definitely let’s hope we don’t have to go through another Trump term.

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  4. There are a lot of people out there vying for ‘followers’, but there doesn’t seem to be any point if those followers aren’t in the least bit interested in going beyond clicking ‘like’ buttons. You, on the other hand, have cultivated a highly-engaged group of thoughtful readers, and that is truly something to be proud of.

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    1. Thanks Tina. I have to admit, early on, I was just as much a follower chaser as anyone else. But it quickly became apparent just racking up the number was an empty exercise. After a few months, I actually removed the count from the site, mainly to stop thinking about it. Just looked at the number. Meh. I know the real number of people paying attention is much smaller.

      I think I’ve mentioned before that some of the best techniques I’ve learned to drive engagement I picked up from you. Ask questions and have conversations. That tends to attract the right crowd. Although it does take time.

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  7. Hmm…I have been through a similar thought process recently although I have been writing my blog for a mere 5 years.

    My financial blog I am about to bin – I just don’t care to comment on markets anymore. It bores me stiff. I am still actively researching and trading but frankly I have nothing to say on the subject to anyone else.

    Finance on the internet is largely about snake-oil salesmen trying to sell products which don’t work and it becomes a little tedious if all you can say is – “sorry, you are talking dangerous nonsense”.

    I am also binning my social media presence. I have deleted my accounts on Facebook, Twitter (or whatever the ghastly thing is called now) and the awful Linked-Out.

    I have further deleted most personal details on my more “thoughtful” website and will do so elsewhere, like Gravatar.

    Partly, I see absolutely no reason to benefit the owners of these entities at my own expense. I believe social media should be formed on a Wikipedia model, or that of the Tor browser. Had I the energy I might have done something about it.

    But yes, I do find writing useful. It helps me to come to conclusions about the world in a loosely philosophical manner.

    While I continue to respect science, my interest has waned.

    Largely because I am old and will never live long enough to find out what consciousness is or what if anything happened before the Big Bang.

    Were I a time traveler I would fast forward to find out what progress, if any, occurs over the next few thousand years. On this planet or any other.

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    1. Hey, I think anyone who’s been blogging for more than a year is a seasoned veteran.

      I can’t blame you for vacating Xitter. I promised I’d stay there as long as there were interesting people, but they’re getting progressively thinner. And as soon as Musk wants financial info to stay (even for $1 a year or whatever), I’ll likely be done. Ironically, if he lets me use Paypal, where I have control to cut him off anytime, I might consider it. But I suspect most of those interesting people will be gone by then.

      A lot of people have moved to Blueksy. (BTW, it doesn’t sound like you’d be interested, but I have invite codes. Let me know if you’d like one.) Personally I prefer Mastodon, but for some reason people are flocking to BS instead. It is better than Xitter, but mostly I think because it’s still exclusionary.

      I personally think the metaphysical problem of consciousness is solved. The trick is getting people to accept the solution. That still leaves a lot of scientific problems, but to me they’re all in the category of Chalmers’ “easy problems”.

      On science, my interest waxes and wanes, depending on what’s in the news. You don’t see major discoveries very often. And most of the day to day news is too inside-baseball. I keep an eye on it, but I have to admit to hovering over it less than I used to.

      Anyway, hope your social media purge doesn’t include these blog conversations. I’d miss our conversations.

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  8. Well I’m very glad you’re liking it, ’cause that means you’ll keep going!

    You’re an exemplar. I may not be able to match your inviting style, but I can start small. I recently “copied off the smart kid” (as I like to say) and added Category drop-downs to the header of my WordPress site.

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    1. Thanks Paul. We all learn from each other. (I noted to Tina above what I’d learned from her.) Glad you were able to learn something in turn from my stuff. I know I’ve learned a lot from you in our conversations over the years.

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  9. I started blogging because, as a writer, I was basically told that I had to. I’m not sure if that’s true anymore, or if it was ever really true, but I am glad that I got peer pressured into doing it. There aren’t that many people I know in real life who share my interests in space or science. Blogging has given me an outlet to talk about those interests and to connect with people who are interested in those things, too.

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    1. I remember that advice. Everyone needed to be blogging for career purposes. A few years later it had shifted to everyone needed to be on Twitter, or other social media. Not sure what the conventional wisdom is now.

      I agree it was never really necessary, although it could be beneficial. But it’s probably not something a writer should bother with unless they enjoy it. When someone’s heart isn’t in it, it shows, and that doesn’t seem helpful.

      Good point on connecting with people with similar interests. It’s definitely a big part of the draw. There aren’t many people around me who like to talk about consciousness, quantum mechanics, space, writing, or other nerdy topics.

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      1. Exactly. In my original comment, I was tempted to say it would be a lonelier life for me, if I didn’t have blogging, but that’s not quite true. I do have good people around me IRL. But if I hadn’t started blogging, I would have missed out on something special.

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  11. Ten finger, ten toes, ten years, we love the number 10 (or two if you identify as binary…)
    Any original followers from back then still lingering? One’s thoughts, exposed, I wonder where that desire comes from? We don’t meet at taverns, the local well or the town square anymore. Is this us voicing our opinions with digital neighbors who hopefully find resonance with our thoughts?

    Regardless, I’m happy to have found yours.
    -am

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    1. Just realized I missed your comment last week. Sorry!

      Not many of the originals around anymore, and the ones that are post / comment a lot less than in the old days. Some of them had move most of their efforts to Twitter, until its decline.

      On voicing opinions, not sure. For me, it started with what I laid out in the post. But what brought me back to online discussions a year or two earlier was the desire to make arguments and see what counter-arguments others could make against them, basically to stress test the conclusions I had reached. But finding those interested in the same things turned out to be a very nice benefit.

      Thanks. Very happy to have found yours as well!

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  12. I’m grateful for your many interesting posts and the many thoughtful dialogs. Please continue to host this ace of an intellectual community for as long as you can!

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