why post

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why post is a question that can help you post things more intentionally, perhaps less or more often, and provide motivation to post on your own site instead of social media silos or in addition for more distribution per the POSSE method.

Why post something? The answer is likely to be very personal, much more so than the general question of why IndieWeb.

Asking “why post” can make you question something you were going to post, can redirect you from posting something on a silo to instead posting on your own site, and can motivate you to post new things that you may have not previously considered posting.

Questions you can ask yourself before deciding why you post

From an empirical perspective, start by analyzing what you already post, and where, and reflecting on why you post what you already posting, e.g.:

Do you post on silos?

• What kinds of things do you post on social media (or other) silos?
• Why do you post any one specific post on a silo?
• Is that something you could post to your own site instead? (and POSSE)
• If so, try it. If not, why not?

Do you post on public mailing lists?

• What kinds of things do you post on mailing lists?
• Are they things you could post on your own site first? And POSSE to the mailing list with a link back to your post permalink?

Do you post long comments or issues?

• Do you post long comments on someone else’s post? See if you can write your own self-standing post on the subject, and then summarize / link to it in the comment on the other post.
• Similarly, especially for developers, do you post philosophical or deeper points in GitHub issues? Consider posting those insights and points on your own blog, and summarizing/citing them in GitHub instead.

Brainstorming

Why you (might want to) post (or just why write). Share your reasons why you post, maybe they'll help motivate someone else!

• Dries's comment (https://dri.es/comment/134646#comment-134646 - 404 since at least 2021-04-25):

  I write for myself first. Writing, in many ways, pushes me to think; writing is my process to flesh out ideas.

  I write for the conversations second. I use this blog to think out loud in a public space, and to start conversations with people thinking about the same topics.

• Shawn Wang: Learn In Public: Posting as a mode of "learning in public":

  You already know that you will never be done learning. But most people "learn in private", and lurk. They consume content without creating any themselves. Again, that's fine, but we're here to talk about being in the top quintile. What you do here is to have a habit of creating learning exhaust. Write blogs and tutorials and cheatsheets. [...] Don't judge your results by "claps" or retweets or stars or upvotes - just talk to yourself from 3 months ago. I keep an almost-daily dev blog written for no one else but me.

See Also

• Split reasons blogging#Why_to_blog in general (i.e. why have a blog as (part of) your personal site) vs why post something in particular, keep a "why have a blog" section in the blogging page distinct from why post.
• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/26/blogging-freedom-outdated-format
• 2023-12-30 Everyone Should Blog, And That Includes You

Posts on why and how to blog:

• Open Source Blogging
• Blogging and Me
• Reason number 12,250 why blogging rules
• Blogumentation - Writing Blog Posts as a Method of Documentation
• 2018-03-31 Writing on the web
• GetBlogging.org - guide to starting a blog
• post
• to-do: re-organize this page to more clearly appeal to specific audiences, e.g. "why post on a personal site" (directed at beginners that either don't have a personal site or have one but haven't developed a habit of posting there first / instead of silos/platforms), "why post now" (reasons why you should post about something in a timely fashion), "why post while doing something else" (project progress, learning something)
• to-do: consider & document reasons why to post something publicly, only for a specific audience, or private posts only for yourself
• to-do: add something about why post for a particular public (perhaps while consider multiple publics)
• 2021-07-13 Why I Blog. You Should Too!
• why post about your own indieweb and personal ownyourdata accomplishments, you may help inspire others to pursue similar accomplishments! Just seeing someone else do it shows it's possible, provides inspiration, and a sense of comradery that you're not alone in your ideals & pursuits
• ^ example: https://artlung.com/blog/2024/10/31/owning-my-own-bookmarks-over-20-years/#comment-1188449

  ... you’ve inspired me to finally tag and organise my own massive pile of bookmarks.

• why post on your site before random new social media whether solo or not, and write & post BEFORE you build your own SSG/CMS or get stuck on making the perfect design: 2024-11-03 Jeremy Keith summary of other post: https://adactio.com/links/21527
  • "Please publish and share more - Jeff Triplett’s Micro.blog
    
    
    
    
    November 3rd, 2024
    
    
    
    It’d be best to publish your work in some evergreen space where you control the domain and URL. Then publish on masto-sky-formerly-known-as-linked-don and any place you share and comment on.
    
    You don’t have to change the world with every post. You might publish a quick thought or two that helps encourage someone else to try something new, listen to a new song, or binge-watch a new series.
    
    
    Also, developers:
    
    
    Write and publish before you write your own static site generator or perfect blogging platform. We have lost billions of good writers to this side quest because they spend all their time working on the platform instead of writing.
    
    
    Designers, the same advice applies to you: write first, come up with that perfect design later." @Jeremy Keith November 3, 2024