Every time I've made a blog, I write like four posts, I run out of ideas, and then it just lays dormant for forever. I think the problem is that I don't really have enough interesting things to say.

I've thought about making a very basic "About Me" website to house my resume and the like, but after a certain point I feel like it's not where I want to dedicate a lot of my time. I like public speaking, but that's usually one topic that I've prepared for over the course of several months.

I originally started a website after I lost a digital marketing job, figuring that having a website is a great way to market myself. While job-searching, I realized that I actually hate digital marketing and got into wireless/telecom through a friend. Later I deleted my social media accounts (with the exception of forums/HN) and my website gradually evolved into a personal blog and a replacement for the likes of Facebook, IG, Twitter, etc. I think that sharing things publicly forces me to think through, flush out, and better articulate ideas than I would in on something like Facebook or tweet.

I also use a custom domain for email which still points to my resume (just in case), but I've definitely gotten value from a public facing personal website.

I agree with the sentiment.

I've run a personal blog for a few years (some of my posts have even made the HN front page, surprisingly). The constant stream of people trying to use it as a platform to sell their products or services is exhausting.

A few years ago I decided to humor one of these cold emails. I wrote about it here: https://soatok.blog/2021/05/18/avoiding-the-frigid-hellscape...

Publishing that post did not deter people from trying to get me to accelt payment to post their words on my personal blog. If anything, they became louder.

My point is: even if you make a personal website with no intent to create "content", there is an industry dead set on pressuring you to do so anyway.

My primary motivation for having a website was to "reserve" it for future. It's going to be nigh impossible to have a <firstname><lastname>.com in the future unless you have a very unique name.

I blog, not to sell you something, but for myself and to share what I'm doing. My blog is all about my astrophotography, and it's a great way for me to show people what I do when the ask about it

I used to blog, back in early to mid 2000s. Mostly game development stuff for Reactor 3D. I still have the domains and I'll keep them until I die. You can't get quality .com's anymore. I'd love to revive Reactor 3D someday given the advancements in gpu programming but alas, I'm old, and I need a nap.

Almost all of my tech goes through my domains though so it's useful to have. DNS alone for gh pages and email is worth it.

I always wanted to have personal website to not be thighed to Linkedin. I believe one can show his/her creativity, portfolio and maybe a few posts or list of links. I believe a common urltype (eg. www.whois-first-lastname.com or domain could be nice so people know where to look for.

A webserver has far more uses than just showcasing or being reachable. It's a way to participate in the internet. I use mine more for showing people a random meme or pdf on $chatprotocol with a link than anything else. A static website with files in directories is both not a security risk and has almost no maintenance. And because it's just for fun you don't even need to leave your computer (and webserver) on so you can just use your normal computer where all your stuff already is. To share something I just use my OS file manager(s) to move the file to a webserver shared directory.

The only small hurdle for most is using a static IP on LAN and setting up port forwarding. Almost everyone's connection upstream is plenty fast.

I used to write blog posts but quickly learned no one cares what I think and write. I used to share code as well using self hosted git repositories that were read-only.

I gave up both the writing and code sharing. My site is now a "who is" with a basic summary of me and serves as SEO fodder for anyone that Google's my name.

The other reason the site exists is because I wanted a private server for encrypted backups, private git repos, etc. I don't think I will ever go back to writing or sharing code. There's enough crap in the (internet) world, it doesn't need mine.

I remember the first couple of websites that I made back in 1997... Both were about The X-Files and Xena: Warrior Princess. Just basic info about the series, character and episode analysis and some screen captures taken with my TV tuner card. I've had an "about me" page in both of them with my contact information. I ended up making some basic websites for some small businesses in my area that wanted an online presence. A part of me wishes I had pursued Web development as a career.

I feel like personal websites were commonplace 20 years ago, almost expected. No real social media back then, so your website kind of became an extension of your online social life.

I have website just to say "we do cos we can"... Maybe some day i add there something, maybe not. But thats cos i can!

If you like this sort of thing, neocities is a gentle/jarring/nostalgic/vomit-inducing/wonderful/icky throwback to the 90s...

https://neocities.org/browse

Doesn't those link in bio sites provide the same benefits without you having to maintain a website?

The author doesn't talk about why having a website is superior. Is it the control?

> This is clearly the result of living in a capitalist society. In recent years, people have felt the pressure to monetise their hobbies, so there’s a constant state of hustle. We all need money to exist in our society.

Not clear to me. I think the driver is perceived status. Kids want to be influencers because they think it's an easy road to a certain kind of fame. The money in content creation is not great, and even nominally successful influencers aren't as rich as they are perceived to be. If you cared about money and not fame, you'd go work for a hedge fund. If you cared about fame and not money, I cannot think of many better jobs than an online content creator. So this article has got it just about backwards.

I'm kinda split between "everyone should be blogging" and "I don't want what I say today to be archive.org'd and used to embarrass me 5/10/20 years down the line."

I've been exploring Haven (https://havenweb.org) and the idea of an invite-only blog is appealing. Keep your crawlers off my writing, please.

Or a content farm.