Re-laying the groundwork

This site has been live for many years now, verging on a decade. Its entire existence has been a singular place to journal, share thoughts, mind dump, laugh, cry, vent… Journaling.

A public blog isn’t the best place to journal.

I’ve migrated journaling¹ to a private digital space. It’s a much better place for these words for so very many reasons, and it’s been amazing. I’m keeping this site alive for things I do want to share publicly. This post will be the groundwork for how I’ll use the site, rules and guardrails, and other helpful tips to keep it on track. I’ll refer back if I need a reminder.

These are in no particular order:

Schedule

I may write often, or hardly at all. There is no schedule and no expectations. Do it for the joy.

Subjects

Write about things that are interesting. They don’t have to be interesting to anyone else. New learned things or discoveries. Activities and tasks that stretch beyond the normal routine.
The best blogs define a narrow focus for readability. This will not be a best blog.

Not subjects

No lengthy opinions. No opinions at all. No complaints, beefs, or takedowns. Don’t over-share. No shower thoughts. Avoid things that are already very well covered.

Categories

The categories currently set are: Adventures; Technology; Projects; Casual
That’s a good start, think hard about adding others. This list of categories and the above subjects should set the direction of what the site will be about

Tone

No unique point of view or specially held knowledge is required. It’s likely someone else has already written about it, and did it better. Humor and sarcasm are fine but think twice. Explain things clearly, but avoid over-explaining.

Images

Use images early and often. Galleries are great. Header and post thumbs should be related to the post. But if they aren’t that’s okay too. Images are not required, the site should be able to handle those situations in a well-designed manner.

Social Media

Sharing on social media is fine, as long as it’s worth sharing and is tagged correctly. There is no need to share in order to establish a bigger audience. Share only if it’s truly shareable. Only share on the fediverse. Do not auto-share.

Discussion

Comments should be allowed. Connection to web mention might be interesting but may not be necessary or worth the effort. Good thing to look into though.

Some Examples

Here’s some examples of tempting things to write about, or not write about. Avoid these

Don’t post

Todoist tip post

Post about Todoist app, and how removing it from Fantastical cleaned up the calendar feed. Is it a thing that was done? Yes. Is it interesting to others? Maybe but who cares. It’s an opinion piece. Some people may want a todoist list in a calendar feed.

Post

Buttercup repair post

A post documenting a hypalon repair on Buttercup. Boat repair posts abound on the web but this is Buttercup, and it’s a unique repair that has a right to be documented in some way. It may be tempting to not post because it’s too short or not informational or there are plenty of others. Don’t fall for it.

Conclusion

This is a living document and may change. Changes from the original post date will be noted as such, and dated. Deprecated items will be struck but not removed.

#journal/2023/08/23