This piece in The Verge (by Monique Judge) touches on many/most of the reasons I never stopped blogging.
In the beginning, there were blogs, and they were the original social web. We built community. We found our people. We wrote personally. We wrote frequently. We self-policed, and we linked to each other so that newbies could discover new and good blogs.
Social media wasn’t a thing that existed back then, so all our pontificating on various topics took place on our personal weblogs, and the discussions happened in the comments section of said blogs.
The biggest reason personal blogs need to make a comeback is a simple one: we should all be in control of our own platforms.
Personal stories on personal blogs are historical documents when you think about it. They are primary sources in the annals of history, and when people look back to see what happened during this time in our lives, do you want The New York Times or Washington Post telling your story, or do you want the story told in your own words?
I do think of my blog as a history of sorts. What was I reading, watching, thinking since 2002? This is where you’ll find it (if anywhere).
We are now in an age where people come on the internet to be the worst possible versions of themselves, and it’s an ugly sight to behold.
Not here.
In the past 20 years I’ve encountered countless wanna-be bloggers that never really get around to posting consistently because they get sidetracked by “setting up” and futzing with their blog. Endlessly searching for the perfect tool; the perfect layout; the perfect hosting service. They’re like “photographers” who never get around to taking photos because they’re so busy setting up the dark room. The illustration below is perfect.
