Kind of controversial take on note taking systems. I can relate though, because i was lost in a burden of creating perfect knowledge management system for a long time without creating any knowledge. Simplest approach with commonplace notebook is what working for me now. Comments are also useful.
Getting lost in your knowledge management system is a fantastic way to avoid creating things. Most heart-stopping writing comes from synthesizing the previously unarticulated in the moment. Rather than reaching for your database, try channeling what’s in the air at this very second. These read/write errors are what we call originality. Leonardo da Vinci kept all of his notes in one big book. If he liked something he put it down. This is known as a commonplace book, and it is about how detailed your note-taking system should be unless you plan on thinking more elaborately than Leonardo da Vinci. Shun the useless adoption of the aesthetic of the useful. When something can be like work or like play, never make it work.
This article gets better every time I open it because Alex adds something to it. It goes about classic ontological, ethical and motivational problems of publishing texts online.
Alex talks about the thrill of getting comments and his fear of judgement in this comments. Well, I do not share this feeling. I do like getting comments (and I get them less often than I want), but I wouldn't call it a thrill. Certainly not “It makes me nervous. The heart beats. The heart bleeds.”-level thrill. Although I often find myself not knowing what to post in my Telegram channel, which is my most popular and least tended to writing place.
I like this quote:
Blogging turns into a performance where I feel like I’m demonstrating my moral character.
But is it blogging? I think it's the social and parasocial ties in general that make us perform. To real people, not just some internet people, I show some positions. Are they my true opinions? Do I really care about this or that topic? Maybe not so much.
And who cares about those laborious system administration blog posts where I struggle with this or that ephemeral problem. All these issues are lost pages. Nobody cares.
Please do continue your Butlerian Jihad notes though. I will need them in a couple of years, I feel that.
And there are so many posts to read, the folders on my disk with saved articles and snippets are more like compost heaps, where layer upon layer of good stuff gets dropped, never to see the light of day again.
I encourage you to curate this compost heap. Throw away 90 %.
The key is to find that happy state where the imagined audience adds a little zest
I think you have found it.
And now, the real banger quote comes:
For me, this imagined audience is more important than getting it right. Which is why I write my blog posts with the wiki spirit. All these sites are pretty similar, in essence. Blog, wiki, digital garden, Zettelkasten, there’s not enough difference to draw lines. It’s all a question of intent, of culture, of belonging. The blog spirit is to write pages over time, and they disappear into the archive. The digital garden spirit is to write unfinished articles and papers, to be refined or not. The Zettelkasten spirit is to follow the trail of thoughts you thought and add new branches, small notes with new thoughts leading to more thoughts on new notes. And the wiki spirit is to write and edit online, to hit the Save button and then it’s live. There is no editor, there is no draft. Wiki is like brutalism in content management. I can see the page sources and the end result is obvious and full of that old web power. It’s not an app. The software has no idea of process. The wiki spirit is to open that window, write the text and hit save. And then I read it again, and edit it. And tomorrow, I read it again, and edit it. And next week, perhaps, I read it again, and edit it.
I no longer live in the Wiki Now. The pages are intended for future readers but they are not timeless. I add timestamps all over the place. The blog spirit is strong. The pages do disappear into the great compost of thoughts. The archive gobbles them up. I do go back but I don’t rewrite the pages completely. I’m more likely to simply add a timestamp and some thoughts like I did on this page.
Abandoning the Wiki Now is one of the lessons I took from Alex. I'm now adding the timestamps in a lot of places. Even on Minecraft signs, to be honest. It just makes rereading a little bit cooler and more useful. But I do rewrite texts sometimes. I still believe in Wiki Now.
Gibberish is a blogging app that looks and feels like a messaging app. It’s a bit weird, but that’s the point. This UI tricks my brain into writing mode, just like when I write long messages to my friends. Here’s what it looks like:
So true! The way I describe my day to the diary and to the friends is so different! It's those little bubbles that do something. I want this for Android.
burn is an extremely simple diary program. You can only add new entries, or list all of them. No edits, no deletions, the history can’t be changed, and the time only moves forward. Make the best use of it.
A notebook is a human's best friend. It's the only friend who will always stay neutral to your argument, whether it is controversial or not. It's the only friend who will capture all of your wild and rational thoughts and feelings and give nothing back. It's the only friend that will tell you the most amazing or depressing stories, in which your younger self are the main character. It's the only friend that will store all of your thoughts years after your death and tell your stories to those who read it.
