Why I Suck at Blogging
For a long time, I've wanted to really get into blogging. I'm into lots of different things -- computers, politics, philosophy, science, religion, lolcats -- and in the course of those interests, I come across some very interesting things. Often, I feel compelled to share what I find with others.
The problem? It's not my personality:
http://www.personalitypage.com/INTP.html
http://typelogic.com/intp.html
I've long been someone who values truth above all else, as embodied in rationally- and empirically-based arguments; who "just gets" things at a certain point and goes with streams of intuition; whose beliefs are always subject to revision at a future date. Someone like that doesn't just write something down for the whole world to see... at least not without mulling over it for weeks, or months, or...
I thought about this as I watched one of Jon Stewart's excellent interviews:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=212824&title=Arianna-Huffington
Arianna: Don't overthink it. Don't overwrite it. It's more the way you would e-mail a friend.
Jon: So, it's a first draft.
Arianna: It's a first draft of history. Exactly.
Jon: But isn't that a waste of people's time?!
Arianna: Blogging is not about perfectionism. It's about intimacy, immediacy, transparency, and sharing your thoughts.
Jon: But why should I give people the dreck? Shouldn't I try and focus it and make it as good as I can? Because, my other thoughts... there's a reason I haven't put them on the show!
Then, it hit me! I need an INTP blog: a blog program that supports revisions. Sure, most blog sites let you edit posts. But when people leave comments, it's frozen in time. How can a blog be adapted to accommodate someone who is constantly re-thinking and re-evaluating his thoughts? Who may reverse conclusions from one day to the next if new evidence becomes available? Whose beliefs are always tentative? There needs to be some way to adapt a blog to show the evolution of thought... to preserve the journey more than an edit and to track the progression more than a series of posts.
Is there one? I don't know of one. But I could write it! The tutorial for CakePHP -- a framework to which I became quite accustomed at my last job -- is a simple blog that can be customized easily enough to be slick and powerful. A few extra classifications for posts and it could accommodate easily enough for those times when I decide "no, I don't agree with this anymore," while still preserving what existed before.
Ultra-ambitious long-term goal: build a cheap new computer to use as a server, leave it hooked up and on 24/7, and host it myself.
The problem? It's not my personality:
http://www.personalitypage.com/INTP.html
http://typelogic.com/intp.html
I've long been someone who values truth above all else, as embodied in rationally- and empirically-based arguments; who "just gets" things at a certain point and goes with streams of intuition; whose beliefs are always subject to revision at a future date. Someone like that doesn't just write something down for the whole world to see... at least not without mulling over it for weeks, or months, or...
I thought about this as I watched one of Jon Stewart's excellent interviews:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=212824&title=Arianna-Huffington
Arianna: Don't overthink it. Don't overwrite it. It's more the way you would e-mail a friend.
Jon: So, it's a first draft.
Arianna: It's a first draft of history. Exactly.
Jon: But isn't that a waste of people's time?!
Arianna: Blogging is not about perfectionism. It's about intimacy, immediacy, transparency, and sharing your thoughts.
Jon: But why should I give people the dreck? Shouldn't I try and focus it and make it as good as I can? Because, my other thoughts... there's a reason I haven't put them on the show!
Then, it hit me! I need an INTP blog: a blog program that supports revisions. Sure, most blog sites let you edit posts. But when people leave comments, it's frozen in time. How can a blog be adapted to accommodate someone who is constantly re-thinking and re-evaluating his thoughts? Who may reverse conclusions from one day to the next if new evidence becomes available? Whose beliefs are always tentative? There needs to be some way to adapt a blog to show the evolution of thought... to preserve the journey more than an edit and to track the progression more than a series of posts.
Is there one? I don't know of one. But I could write it! The tutorial for CakePHP -- a framework to which I became quite accustomed at my last job -- is a simple blog that can be customized easily enough to be slick and powerful. A few extra classifications for posts and it could accommodate easily enough for those times when I decide "no, I don't agree with this anymore," while still preserving what existed before.
Ultra-ambitious long-term goal: build a cheap new computer to use as a server, leave it hooked up and on 24/7, and host it myself.