Greg PakMay 29, 2023
Been thinking hard about blogs again, as I do every few months. I've had a website since at least 1998 and was blogging before I knew there was even a name for it, hand coding pages with dates and entries in HTML. Still maintain my website at https://gregpak.com. Still think of it as the center of my web presence, a place I completely own and control that a fickle billionaire can't easily ruin. Still wonder what it would take to make blogs take off again.
Greg Pak

Writer of over 600 comic books, including PLANET HULK, MECH CADET YU, LAWFUL, and DARTH VADER

Greg Pak
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023

The obvious first answer is a great blog reader app of some kind. Back in the day, I didn't use an app. I just had a bunch of URLs of fave blogs that I'd run through a few times a day. But I know folks greatly mourn Google Reader. And I've tried Feedly and NetNewsWire, and they're fine! But I don't remember to go look at them everyday.

I'm realizing the real sticking point is that I just don't have that many friends/colleagues who are regularly updating blogs. Hope that changes.

Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
Thinking about all this in part because of a post by @TheRaDR on Bluesky about the possible end of the age of social media. It does feel like it's imploding! The profit imperatives of big social media companies all seem to point toward systems that are loathe to provide the kind of moderation/safety that users really need. And so many companies want walled gardens, preventing creators and organizers from actually directing followers to their projects.
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
So I keep thinking about blogs. They really do solve a bunch of these issues! Of course, any blog with comments has all the terrible moderation/safety challenges of any of these social media sites. I haven't had comments on my own site in YEARS for that reason -- too much to handle. But as a place where folks own and control their own content, blogs are hard to beat!
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
But what would get folks to visit blogs again on a regular basis? I'm fascinated by actor/comedian Andrew Daly's return to blogging a few months back. He just started posting the kinds of little jokes he'd previously posted on Twitter on his blog. And it was awesome! But I imagine it felt a bit lonely after a while, without much feedback. https://andydaly.com/blog/
Blog - Andy Daly

Blog

Andy Daly
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023

But what if a bunch of people were doing that and were linking to/referring to each other's posts?

Remember blogrolls? Webrings? Could something like that work again?

Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
.@MakeAppPie has nailed one aspect of this -- the collapse of search engines has reduced traffic to non-link-farm blogs. Discoverability is a big problem! https://techhub.social/@MakeAppPie/110449741452034289
Steven Lipton (@[email protected])

@[email protected] I’ve thought about that too and sadly the answer is honest, decent search engines.

TechHub
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
@MakeAppPie Most of the traffic on my own website comes from links I post to social media. Which is fine - seems like blogs and social media accounts should work together like this. That's one of the promises of Wordpress joining the Fediverse, right? Fingers crossed that helps.
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
@MakeAppPie And then I've got some posts that have somehow gotten great rankings in Google results for very specific topics. Like this review of the Canon FTb -- it's consistently one of the most viewed posts every week on my site. Useful content on very specific stuff seems to still draw views! https://gregpak.com/a-love-letter-and-guide-to-the-canon-ftb-best-first-film-camera-ever/
A Love Letter and Guide to the Canon FTb: The Best First Film Camera Ever?

After trying out a dozen great cameras from various manufacturers since I re-immersed myself in 35mm photography this year, I’ve fallen back in love with my first serious camera, the Canon FTb, which might just be the best and most affordable single lens reflex camera for beginning analog photographers interested in the creative freedom provided … Continue reading A Love Letter and Guide to the Canon FTb: The Best First Film Camera Ever? →

GREG PAK • writer • filmmaker
Show threadSteven Lipton
@gregpak its fascinating to me how the popuarity of some posts happens. I still get a consistent stream of views for this post: https://makeapppie.com/2015/11/11/how-to-add-stack-views-programmatically-and-almost-avoid-autolayout/
How to Add Stack Views Programmatically and (almost) avoid AutoLayout

Some people don’t like Interface Builder and like to code instead. Sometimes your layout is so dynamic you need to lay out in code. In either case, programmatic layout of views becomes the an…

Make App Pie
May 29, 2023 at 8:07pmWeb