
A hello world post - abusedmedia
https://fabiofranchino.com/blog/hello-world/
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twic
> I’ve always felt a bit guilty. That particular feeling in the gut when you
> owe something to someone.

So, firstly, everything this guy got was freely given. There was no
expectation of reciprocation, so he doesn't owe anyone anything. That's part
of the beauty of the internet gift economy.

But, i bet that he has given something back. Maybe not contributing content of
his own. But has he ever voted up a post? Voted down a comment? Flagged
something? Reported a bug? Enabled usage statistics reporting in some
software? All of those are tiny, but non-zero, contributions to making the web
better.

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fredley
Yes, in fact my 2017 website re-write stalled because I wanted to keep a blog,
but I'm fundamentally shy about sharing things. These words could have been
written by a more confident me. Maybe it's time to have another go.

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blowski
I have the opposite problem - I worry that I comment too much. It takes a lot
of effort for me to recognise which of my opinions are baseless and unworthy
(probably most of them), and to leave them unsaid.

~~~
ddorian43
I think if you are in a state that you worry about it, then you're good!

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maaaats
> _Do you ever feel guilty being a lurker?_

Well, I expect zero lurkers to actually respond to this, hehe.

~~~
arkokoley
Your comment actually made me want to respond :D

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FascinatedBox
In a way, yes. I tell myself somewhat often that I should write more, yet each
time I don't. The blog I have sits empty, in large part because I'm not sure
how interesting others might find the content.

~~~
lloeki
> I'm not sure how interesting others might find the content.

Even if you're not, you may very well be sooner than you might think just
because you'll be training yourself to be so. Also, if you found something
interesting, odds are in your favour than someone else will too.

So, take a chance and jump. But don't do it for others, do it because _you_
want to.

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TheLilHipster
The internet doesn't create the content, people do. I feel your guilt is
misplaced.

You shouldn't be wanting to give back to the internet, you should be wanting
to give back to other people.

So long as you're a genuine-at-heart and mindful person, this should be a
regular occurrence for you regardless.

Every human interaction you have is an opportunity to give back :)

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GrumpyNl
So when i listen to music you also want me to sing. You have writers and
readers, im a reader and a huge fan of writers, who i support when i can.

~~~
rijoja
Yeah division of labour is a corner stone of modern society. The title do you
think it be fun to do ... would appeal to me more than to try to guilttrip
people into doing something / humblebrag. However I do find the post
inspiring.

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blunte
I only feel guilty when, through hard work, I find a solution to a problem
that I couldn't find online... but then I don't publish the problem and
solution.

Generally though, I feel I don't have anything profound enough to say to add
to the noise that already is the internet. I don't mind people who do add
noise (as long as I'm not forced to consume it).

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WA
I don't feel guilty, but the topic of writing a blog comes up in my journal
quite often.

I have a dev blog I post to every 2-3 months. Nothing regular, but if a thing
costs me a lot of time to figure out, I'll write a post and hope it'll save
others time when they search for that particular topic.

I think this is really the only way for most people. Nobody knows me, nobody
gives a shit about me, why would they follow me as a person?

Giving back to the internet is a good thing, but only if the stuff is read by
someone. So either post in a community or have your blog be found through
Google.

Everything else is just noise.

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amadio
The problem I have is that I like consuming information so much more than
producing it that I never have the willpower to stop reading, watching videos,
etc, and start producing something.

I do feel that I would have a fair amount to share back of what I learn.
However, when I think about the limited time we all have to live, and how
nasty people can be online for even the most trivial matters, I always reach
the conclusion that my time is better spent learning. As an Italian friend of
mine used to say, “my objective in life is to die wise”.

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lucideer
I've been a serial lurker on a few internet communities for a long time. On
one or two of them, I've gotten over the initial shyness and in one or two
cases even become an extremely prolific contributor.

It's quite organic, never a deliberate decision, but I guess if you find a
particular community very rewarding over time you may slowly grow comfortable
enough to contribute very actively.

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windlessstorm
I always think about writing a blog. Maybe just rattling about the everyday
things I am learning or doing and share it. Just there's a huge mental barrier
of "I am still so very novice" and I postpone it to when I will be at some
better level. I guess I will say fuck it and start someday.

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drops
I lurk on Twitter all the time, but I don't tweet mostly because I don't know
what to tweet about, or just forget to do it. When I have some thoughts about
something, putting them on the internet is the last thing I remember about.
Maybe it's a matter of habit

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lurkamabob
> Do you ever feel guilty being a lurker?

No, not when it comes to the decision not to have a blog, or a facebook page,
or a twitter account, or a non-throwaway HN login.

Others may disagree, but I see profound narcissism in the popularity of these
(plat)forms of expression, which are mostly about signalling.

If you feel guilty about "not contributing" then contribute in some meaningful
way. Contribute features, support, and/or bug fixes to open-source projects
(or start one from scratch if you've an unreachable itch.) Teach people how to
do stuff. And have enough self-confidence not to need to "share" literal or
metaphorical selfies.

~~~
uep
I think you're right about narcissism being the motivation for a lot of the
posts on those social media platforms, but I disagree with your stance.
Particularly because I think blog posts are a significant source of technical
information[1].

Those that are not, I don't find that they get in my way too much. If someone
wants to keep what amounts to an online technical journal... search engines
are pretty good at filtering chaff.

I do not participate in those social activities, but I don't consider it a
great virtue that I do not. It would probably be good practice for writing
documentation for my fellow developers.

[1] Cloudflare and randomascii's blog posts being some of my favorites; and I
don't think the motivation is much different if at all.

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jasonkostempski
Best to get the first grammatical error out the way early, relieves a lot of
pressure :)

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baybal2
Heh, I myself was a very quiet internet persona for most of my life, though
I've been on the internet for longer than I remember myself as an adult (my
parents first got a dsl in 1998). The last two years though... I've been
personally affected by Canada quietly denying renewing work permits to a
hundred or so Russian nationals and I began to turn way more emotional in
internet conversations since then.

When I was a child, I was of no high opinion of 30+ plus adult men with
families wasting time on vain talks in place where their opinion mean nothing.
Now, I myself will soon become one of them.

How ironic.

