To thcloak

2018-03-14
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thcloak left a nice comment, deserving of a lengthy response.

the comment

I guess I'll post this here, cuz I don't know if you have a way of getting notified about comments.

Just read your "zomgwtf, organization?" essay. I've only had the time and attention to crawl about 2 dozen pages of yours, since I just discovered this yesterday.

Well, you have to understand I'm a 20 year old foreigner. Sadly, my environment hasn't been conducive to my immersion in the hacker culture (i presume, that's the only category familiar to me in which I could put you).

Anyway, just wanted to say, you've made quite an impression on me. I feel as though this blog is a gift, albeit a terrible one to possess. I mean, I already have my own trouble organizing my bookmarks, and they certainly don't span decades like your blog :P

Well, I guess its too early to say anything more. Thanks, though. This kind of transparency into one's mind is something people rarely give away, for whatever reason.

I guess I'll post this here, cuz I don't know if you have a way of getting notified about comments.

Comments get put into an approval queue, I get emailed, and I have to manually approve them.

Alternately, there's a Contact Me link on the right-hand side, with advice. You're not the first to be nervous or confused about contacting me, so I think I should update the website's theme to point these things out more clearly.

Just read your "zomgwtf, organization?" essay. I've only had the time and attention to crawl about 2 dozen pages of yours, since I just discovered this yesterday.

I'm glad you're interested. That article is still mostly true seven years later.

Well, you have to understand I'm a 20 year old foreigner.

No I don't.

20 isn't young; you're not stupid. Foreign to where? That's meaningless on the internet.

Sadly, my environment hasn't been conducive to my immersion in the hacker culture

You clearly have enough of the resources (interest, computer, intellect, time, etc) to peripherally immerse yourself. Think of it like being interested in some old mythology.. read the stories! Hackers is one of the pages I haven't migrated from my old systems yet, but you'll find some reading links. Check out /tag/hackers too.

(i presume, that's the only category familiar to me in which I could put you)

What people seem to mean when they say "hacker culture" is something like "computer hacker culture". No, I'm not with them. No I don't know what I am. I assume there are more like me, but I'm not part of a culture.

Anyway, just wanted to say, you've made quite an impression on me. I feel as though this blog is a gift, albeit a terrible one to possess. I mean, I already have my own trouble organizing my bookmarks, and they certainly don't span decades like your blog :P

I started my notes as something like a coping mechanism for all the terrible software out there, and it just grew from there. I wouldn't really call it a curse.

TL;DR not a curse

There are a few elements I have:

  • Create new content:

    • Random writing is fun. It's got to go somewhere, and maybe it's useful for someone.
    • Taking notes: It's intimidating to decide to write notes for any program I use, or movie I watch. A few times this has been intimidating enough to make me not want to try new things, but in the end it's turned out well when I push myself.

  • Migration

    • It sucks that I've had to migrate content management systems. It's been five times now, and I'll do a sixth when I move away from WordPress.
      -- I still have over three thousand articles from my previous system, though thankfully I won't be migrating all of it.
    • I wish I ended up learning to program well enough to finish my Compiled Website, because I'd be using that forever.

  • Maintenance

    • I rather enjoy updating things. Reading my old stuff and touching it up is like being a parent to my old self.

Well, I guess its too early to say anything more. Thanks, though. This kind of transparency into one's mind is something people rarely give away, for whatever reason.

No, thank you. Moral support is important. I wrote a bit at the top of On the death of software, and it's programmers which I'll quote here:

Spoiler

Whenever you act as a consumer -- use a piece of software, watch a video or read an article or just a comment -- and it brightens your day or informs your life, please think about leaving even the smallest reply. These matter more than you may ever realize.

One moment of your writing will impact uncounted hours of a person's future efforts. One minute of your time will brighten years for another. If all we have is kindness, maybe that's the one thing that another might need.

If something matters to you, then you matter to it.

You matter.

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