Do you censor your own blog?
Someone asked me recently, "Do you censor your blog?" As in, "do you only write about stuff that you think readers will be interested in?" At the time, I said, "No - I write whatever the hell I want." However, I've come to realize that this is not exactly true. When I first started writing this blog, back in August 2002, I wrote about everything. I didn't care, I was writing to write and nobody was reading me.
Then, in November of 2002, along came the opportunity to help write a book. This was pretty damn exciting for me, as I think that being a published author is pretty cool (BTW, if I never started blogging, I'd have never gotten the Pro JSP or the Spring Live deals).
What has happened over the last year or so is something I never expected. Hopefully it's just in my head and it isn't really true. I've started to feel like an authority on web development - so I feel that I can't really post dumb questions, problems, etc. on this site. I feel that if I do, I'll lose credibility. It doesn't help that I've gone from 2 visits a day to over 4000. Damn - I'm censoring myself. That's just wrong...
I'm tempted to say, credibility be damned, actions speak louder than words - and run with it. After all, most of the hits on this site come from Google - and the reason is because I've copied and pasted so many errors/exceptions into this blog. More errors = more hits = more money from Google Ads? ;-)
Posted by Unknown on March 10, 2004 at 07:50 PM MST #
Posted by Lance on March 10, 2004 at 08:13 PM MST #
Posted by Matt Raible on March 10, 2004 at 08:22 PM MST #
I'm a Google visitor ... It seems that every question I ask of Google, you answer!
I started using Struts about this time last year, and Hibernate sometime in August or September, and as I've been learning things (in the usual way; breaking them) so I've come here!
Over that time your blogs have come to echo my own learning process, you've documented what I've learnt, almost as I've learnt it!
So I've always taken your (technical) blogs in the <em>"I've-just-learnt-this-and-this-is-the-best-way-to-do-it"</em> kind of way, not the <em>"I'm-a-guru-and-I-already-knew-this"</em> way. I suppose I see you as a kindred spirit, going through what I'm going through, with me but slightly ahead.
I like your writing style, it's humble yet knowledgeable. Continue documenting what you learn, and do ask questions; maybe it won't be a one-way street then ...
BTW: I don't Google in any more, yours is one of the 6 blogs I subscribe to using NetNewsWire on my PowerBook ... (switched 3 years ago though, was ahead of you there!).
Posted by Carl on March 11, 2004 at 01:49 AM MST #