metablogging and vegans

25 Nov, 2024

I think the resurgence (if that's the word, maybe rediscovery?) of blogging and the small web has people really excited. It reminds me of when veganism was becoming mainstream and people were excited about it. I think people at that time felt a need for any alternative diet that was a teeny bit more mindful, less automatic, and less of a fad. Back then there were a lot of jokes like,

How can you tell if someone is vegan?

• They'll tell you. They'll fucking tell you.

At that time, a vegan's entire personality was not eating cheese.¹ And blogs seem to be in a similar place right now.

I love blogging, you have to blog. Why dont you blog? Blogs. You have no option you need to have a blog. Blog everyday first thing in the morning and get it out there itll make you healthyfeelsogoodohmygodiloveblogs. Blog. Blog. Blog.

For me, blog posts about blogging are too meta. I do think those kinds of posts come from a good place based in excitement. For me, I'd rather read about actual things, and less about the medium itself. It feels similar to the hype over the new platform of the day. Hype with threads/bluesky/X/mastodon. It's all samey. Just some social media site made by whoever and full of shitposts. Same as it ever was.

But.

Small blogs like Bear feel different. Quieter. And I like that. I love Stephen King's books, I've read most of them at this point. But I have not read his book "On writing", because honestly idgaf, I like the stories. I want the message from the person behind the blog. I like the glimpses into other's lives they want to share, or learning about matcha, reading bad poetry, seeing Cython benchmarks, a hacky way to return lost airpods. Or hearing someone's story of overcoming addiction, or actively going through a job crisis.

That's the good stuff. Blogs about blogs just ain't it for me.