You already know who I am, but I like your site! Cool vibe. Also an interesting idea to have comments pipe to SN -- I had suggested an idea of allowing SN comments on blogs, sort of like how Disqus used to do it before it turned into bullshit spam farming; but maybe this is close to as good.
Competition can only exist between parties that want the same thing.
This is a very powerful idea, and an optimistic one. If you're focused on being yourself and the things you care about, it inherently keeps you from having to get competitive with others. You're walking your own road and don't need to be threatened or upset by what others are doing. You don't need to be trapped by scarcity.
Easier said than done, but I think about it a lot.
Also an interesting idea to have comments pipe to SN -- I had suggested an idea of allowing SN comments on blogs, sort of like how Disqus used to do it before it turned into bullshit spam farming; but maybe this is close to as good.
Yes! I was thinking about this ever since I created my first blog post. We also have a very old ticket about it. I am planning to use my site as a testbed for this.
This is also related to me struggling with the question if I should just post a link with no context, copy the markdown content in here or do a 50/50: post the first half but then a "read more" with a link to my site.
The reason is that I like to show off my own site where I am in full control but I also know that stackers like to stay on SN.
But I think we shouldn't expect that people who already have their own sites copy-paste their content into SN. I think SN should embrace that people have their own sites like via embedded comments. I want to see original sites, not just original content!
Also, iirc, the original problem with contextless links was cheap behavior from people who posted links to content from other people, not to their own content.
I simply posted a link then since I also didn't like that I even have to think about this. I think that's a sign that a cult is forming, lol.
Easier said than done, but I think about it a lot.
Yes, the old tale of "jUsT bE yOuRseLf", lol. It's true but it's often very unhelpful and can make you feel even worse since it sounds so easy. But I think the problem is that people don't know who they are. How should they be themselves when they don't know what that means?
Yes, the old tale of "jUsT bE yOuRseLf", lol. It's true but it's often very unhelpful and can make you feel even worse since it sounds so easy. But I think the problem is that people don't know who they are. How should they be themselves when they don't know what that means?
When I think about it there's an additional wrinkle -- it's not just "be whoever you happen to be, you special snowflake" but rather: you are a person with a very distinct configuration, and if you find ways in which that configuration can find a place in the world, nobody will be able to out-you you.
One additional wrinkle, though (there are two wrinkles, apparently) is that you -- whoever you happen to be -- isn't static. You can add things to your self, and refine it. That's the vibe underlying this post, actually -- what is it, exactly, that we should add or change?
But I think we shouldn't expect that people who already have their own sites copy-paste their content into SN. I think SN should embrace that people have their own sites like via embedded comments. I want to see original sites, not just original content!
This is a very interesting idea -- it's like a more nuanced way for SN to inhabit the ecosystem: not all or nothing (either on SN or not) but little slices of SN projecting into the world in all these different ways. That's a cool vision. I wonder what the implications are?
Hacker News biases it algorithm to favor external links (according to a tweet awhile ago by pg that I can't find). @kr and I discussed this recently. It's like the difference between an inside joke and one that's appealing more generally. It also lines up with dang's thoughts on what makes for interesting internet discussions, specifically that "generic discussion is not interesting, at least not on internet forums."
These days there should probably be some demotion for links to paywalls and trackers and pages with ads, favoring personal blogs and the small web.
I forgot to ask since I am often overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I want to read1: How much time do you spend writing vs reading?
As someone I see as a writer, I would think that you write more than you read but as a dev, I know that we tend to read more code than we write. So I would guess it's the same for a writer?
I also noticed that reading more from other people helps me with my own writing (as I mentioned in my other comment with your writing style being inspiring). What I like to read from other people I try to incorporate into my own work.
update: I started reading the article and the first sentences are actually exactly about how much people write:
Quantity has a quality of its very own. Some writers are good - and they write all the time. The holy trinity of newsletter writers (Matt Levine, Byrne Hobart and Patrick McKenzie) write up to 700k words a year - so 2,000 words a day. I think Matt Levine’s schedule looks a little bit like waking up and doing 4000 words early in the morning about three times a week, then hitting send on his newsletter.
I am honestly not sure! But I remember that I checked out your old blog, but not enough. Maybe I clicked on "A place for becoming" and then got sucked in, not finding my way back haha
I think in our writing, you and I run parallel lines of a certain flavor of honesty, so that's cool
Your writing style is inspiring (best example for me is this), so I am glad that you see parallels since that's what I saw too. Makes me feel recognized!
What challenges have you faced in trying to be unique and authentic
The lame and obvious answer: people might not like you being you and think you're weird
The more unique and authentic answer: It's emotionally difficult to not fit in. I think we are hardwired to seek out the "cool kids". The question we should be asking ourselves however is: what does cool mean to YOU?
Imo, in school, the "cool kids" are just "cool" because they are themselves. They don't ask for permission to be who they are. They simply are.
It doesn't actually matter if they are smart, beautiful, arrogant, rich or whatever. The only thing that matters for their coolness (as perceived from the outside) is that they are authentic.
Being smart, beautiful, arrogant, rich etc. only makes being authentic easier since there is less attack surface for others. If you're rich and not authentic, people might pretend that you're cool but you're not in their eyes. They will just take advantage of your money but not want to be you.
Other kids see the real cool kids and want to be like them, completely missing the point. It's about being yourself, not about being like someone else.
Keep in mind that I am not saying that the cool kids are really authentic. They just look like it. In a room full of kids with no one having a fucking clue who they are, I think the bar for being perceived as authentic is pretty low.
I think most cool kids also get put into this role of being cool. They see others liking them which reinforces their existing behavior. They might not realize that this isn't who they are. But they like being that way, at least for now, so why change?
It takes time and courage to tell yourself apart from other people, to know what is important to you and not only because it's important to someone else you like (why?) and want to stay friends with.
I did a lot of masking during my social interactions, I just didn't know that's a thing and that I was doing it or thought that's normal. After I found out I was wearing a mask and was able to take it off, the biggest challenge was to keep the mask off in front of the people who have known me for years with only the mask on.
It's also actually pretty scary to take off a mask you have been wearing for so long, maybe even your whole life). You're worried what you're going to find under it.
and how have you overcome them?
Honestly? I just couldn't sleep for weeks. This changed my view on many things a lot. The insomnia wasn't voluntary though. I think I couldn't replicate it. I now no longer waste my time being someone else. I waste my time differently now.
I gotta be honest n say that I used to like the word authentic. Until it became Oxford Dictionary’s word of 2023 n became so overly used as to become trite haha
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