

Why I blog - wyclif
http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2011/08/why-i-blog.html

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acangiano
I think people underestimate the learning aspect. As a blogger, you don't have
all the answers, but you'll find out about many of them thanks to the
conversation that will ensue. It helps you learn and grow. I always find this
aspect of blogging to be freeing and enticing.

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jseliger
Yeah. Paul Graham mentions this in "The Age of the Essay:"
<http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html> . I talk about it too in this essay:
[http://jseliger.com/2010/09/27/signaling-status-blogging-
aca...](http://jseliger.com/2010/09/27/signaling-status-blogging-academia-and-
ideas) , albeit from a slightly more academic perspective.

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mkr-hn
Writing on its own will bring your thoughts to the surface where you can
really think about them. Doing it on a blog lets others help you think about
them.

Blogging is crowdsourcing introspection.

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patio11
_Blogging is crowdsourcing introspection._

I like that line. Often, the act of writing something forces me to commit to a
particular thought rather than the Heisenberg-uncertainty haze that is usually
bouncing around in my brain, and it is often the case that once the thought
has been nailed down it looks a lot less compelling than it did when it was
still a probability function.

~~~
matwood
_Often, the act of writing something forces me to commit to a particular
thought_

This is the main reason I write things down. Writing something down forces me
to commit _and_ defend a certain idea, even if only to myself. Writing it down
for the world to see forces me to defend the idea to additional level of
scrutiny. In short, writing something down helps me keep from BSing myself.

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Veera
1) To improve my writing/skills. 2) To reach out people of different
countries/skill sets (which would have never possible/tough with out a blog)
3) To contribute back to the community. 4) To build a virtual identity of
myself (when I meet some people for the first time, they usually start with
"hey.. you write that blog, right!?)

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mdoerneman
_Blogging is a bit like public speaking, and people are scared of it for good
reason. You are really putting yourself out there._

Totally agree. After my first blog post I woke up the next morning with the
same feeling I get after a night of too much drinking, asking myself "what did
I do?".

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jtaby
I recently started out my first blog which has ever found any audience at all.
The response has been amazing and it's been a very rewarding experience both
personally and professionally, and I hope to keep it up.

I agree with most of the article's points, except when it comes to commenting.
My thinking is that commenting systems often degrade into back-and-forth, one-
on-one bickering and end up distracting from the main points being raised in
the blog post.

The exception of course, would be technical blog posts, where comment threads
often include more in depth tips, corrections, and tidbits of related
information.

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studiofellow
I think the key point for me is committing to blog, rather than just starting
one. No one wants to be another person with a blog last updated a year ago.
This is great motivation!

