[HN Gopher] Publish Everything (Pretty Much)
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Publish Everything (Pretty Much)
Author : KentBeck
Score : 63 points
Date : 2023-08-10 14:34 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (tidyfirst.substack.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (tidyfirst.substack.com)
| Decabytes wrote:
| I too write a Substack and I have also experienced this. There
| have been articles that I've written that have out performed my
| expectations, articles that I was sure would do well and flopped,
| articles that didn't do well when I initially posted, then
| suddenly receive a lot of traffic a few months later due to a
| share, etc.
|
| Very rarely do I write an article, know it will go viral, and
| then have it do well. It's still hard when I have a string of bad
| weeks where nothing does well, because I still want to grow my
| audience and viewership. I have to remind myself that I started
| writing because I just desperately wanted to see a certain type
| of content put out into this world. This means that there are
| lots of times I write about things I know won't do well ( a
| history about BSD, a tutorial about using xml with C#). As my
| readership grows it can be hard to write those types of articles,
| but I'm trying to stay true to myself.
|
| Most of the time writing is fun, but there are definitely weeks
| were it's hard to feel inspired. But for some reason for me
| writing just feels like breathing. It's something I have to do,
| even if I don't always enjoy it.
| bluGill wrote:
| Publish where? The article says twitter which is designed for
| short not in depth discussion. (And some questionable politics)
| Karellen wrote:
| Took me a while to parse that headline. I was trying to figure
| out what "land-publishing" was.
|
| I realise that most typographic style guides recommend not
| putting spaces around em-dashes which separate clauses in a
| sentence, but I always have trouble distinguishing between em-
| dashes and hyphens in most fonts. As a result, I often mistake
| non-spaced em-dashed clauses with hyphenated words, leading to
| confusion.
|
| I note that the original article does not use the word "land"
| anywhere at all; not in the title, nor the body. The un-
| editorialised headline "Publish Everything (Pretty Much)" is
| (IMO) much clearer.
| pwdisswordfishc wrote:
| Except that's an en-dash, not an em-dash. So it's still
| confusing even if you can distinguish the latter from a hyphen.
|
| Though it's only Android fonts that make hyphen the same length
| as the en-dash.
| [deleted]
| 23B1 wrote:
| I won't be publishing any of my writing publicly until there's a
| way to insure it isn't being used by some tech bro to pump the
| valuation of a company designed to replace me.
| galoisscobi wrote:
| Here you go: https://platform.openai.com/docs/plugins/bot
| 23B1 wrote:
| OpenAI isn't the only player in this field my friend!
| samsquire wrote:
| Do we need to spell out why something is interesting or useful?
| Show don't tell?
|
| Or are we all looking for an aesthetic that we love and want to
| see more of but we know it when we see it?
|
| I've been journalling about computers since 2013. I am looking
| for something higher and beautiful.
| rpastuszak wrote:
| I think either works and I read with different purposes I mind.
|
| Get your work out there and see.
| thumbuddy wrote:
| Au contraire. Publish nothing, delete the key results, and put
| intentional bugs in every home project. Otherwise you will be
| stolen from, or exploited. Sit back and wait and watch the rare
| few people approach your ideas. Reach out to them with interest
| and make best friends for life.
|
| I know the op isn't about this but love putting nuggets like this
| out there
| barrysteve wrote:
| Publishing and building reputation with a robber baron is not
| worthless...
|
| (unless it's Musk :p)
| BSEdlMMldESB wrote:
| comes down to what your goal really is.
|
| you are either being sarcastic, or just super cynical.
|
| in any case, I don't have enough fucks to give out for fame, my
| intention is different from the person who wrote the article
| who clearly enjoys the attention; to each our own
|
| nonetheless, the signal is clear (and I agree with it) the
| author of something is usually the worst judge of which of
| their work is 'best', and ultimately, the "best hits" will not
| be their own choice but the choice of them inspired by the
| authored piece.
|
| --
|
| closer to the middle: do be wary of publishing too much, as if
| there weren't already a deluge of content
| heikkilevanto wrote:
| Some 25 years ago I got my own domain, and put up my first
| personal web page. It said something like "My web site is not
| even under construction yet. I put a page up when I have
| something to tell the world, not before!" - That text is still up
| there, basically unchanged. There are other things on that web
| server, but they are password protected and for my personal use
| only.
|
| As you can see, I disagree with the idea of publishing
| "everything" and hoping that some of it might go viral or get a
| lot of likes.
| RetroTechie wrote:
| Do AI's absorbing your 'wisdom' count as views? :-)
|
| I like my published stuff / comments etc getting attention. But
| only as a sign of people internalizing it, learning, enjoying,
| reflecting on their views & so on. Transferring knowledge,
| exchanging ideas, sharing projects, help fix problems others are
| having, that kind of thing.
|
| Like on HN: if there's a story with maaany comments, I don't
| usually bother aside from reading. For a story no-one cares
| about, same thing. In between, if what I'd like to add is already
| mentioned, not much point in elaborating. But if not: sure, add
| your opinion or datapoints.
|
| Same with science papers (I don't write those): if your paper
| advances the state of the art, then publish! If it might, or adds
| datapoints to hotly debated subject, yes plz. But if it's just
| 101st attempt that's been chewed on by everyone and their dog &
| few if any peers will ever read your paper, why bother? (and why
| bother with such research - find more interesting subject). More
| crap out there just makes the interesting stuff harder to find.
|
| Btw: doesn't mean you can't re-visit a subject that's last been
| done long ago, or by few others, and where tools / environment /
| knowledge has changed since then.
|
| Or if you publish some project which has been done by many, but
| yours is more up-to-date or better _documented_ than existing
| ones, sure add value to what 's out there.
| anon7331 wrote:
| Why publish at all? Who cares if something blows up and goes
| viral? Why should I spend any time publishing anything?
|
| Personally, I'd rather spend time doing something that enriches
| my life and/or the lives of people I care about.
| LightBug1 wrote:
| I agree with this ... unless publishing enriches your life
| and/or the lives of people you care about.
| kqr wrote:
| Great question!
|
| For me a large part of publishing is getting to hear the
| thoughts of the clever people in my readership.
|
| If I'm obviously wrong, anyone can point that out to me, but if
| I'm only subtly wrong, it takes popularity to have the right
| person read the article and correct me.
| codazoda wrote:
| For me, the most rewarding part is to help people. I love
| getting a random email saying "thanks" for a few sentences I
| jotted down that saved someone else time or money or made their
| life better somehow.
|
| My most valuable example actually came from a tiny web app I
| created. I got a email telling me that someone had lost 212 lbs
| and my app was part of their success. I was sure the number was
| a typo so I responded and confirmed. When I reached out 6 years
| later they said:
|
| "I weigh 163.8 this morning down from a high of 387. It has
| changed my life and the weight has stayed off (but I'm never
| off the program)."
|
| I think your words, no matter how simple, would be powerful to
| others.
| fsociety wrote:
| Often we are so focused on scale and quantitative data we
| forget to value impact like this. Sounds amazing!
| 0x6461188A wrote:
| What was the tiny web app?
| OfSanguineFire wrote:
| In a world where so much is done online, one's reputation and
| job opportunities, too, might depend on what you can show for
| yourself online. No matter what business you are in, building
| an online presence is highly recommended. Creating content that
| goes viral can draw clients, get you a better offer from your
| current employer's competitor, or reveal other income streams
| that might allow you to leave a current job that you hate.
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