As the year ends, I thought about why I like this site and why I’m posting so much on it. Please indulge me while I ramble a bit.
First, Cohost is a good match with my writing style. I’m not the sort of person who can think fast and post snappy one-liners in response to the latest thing. That’s in large part what Twitter rewards, and I don’t see the various Twitter substitutes (Mastodon, Post, Hive, etc.) being any different. I once spent almost a year writing a single blog post because I felt I didn’t know enough about the topic to not embarrass myself. (Here it is, in case you’re curious; math, programming, and design fans might like it.)
Second, I like to have an audience, but I don’t need a big audience. Writing at my “official” site allowed to me to write at length, but I felt like I was shouting into the void—especially since I didn’t provide a way for people to add comments. To remedy that, I tried out Substack for a while. The problem there was that I didn’t feel like joining in the obsession with growing and (especially) monetizing your subscriber list that was promoted by the site’s owners. Here on Cohost I have about 3 dozen followers, which is enough for me to get an occasional like—or even a comment or two—to motivate me to continue writing.
(I also make a point of following everyone who follows me. That to me makes this place feel more like a community—or even someplace that might one day spawn a “scenius,” to use Brian Eno’s term. If you follow me and I don’t show up in your own followers list, and you are OK with me following you, please tell me in a comment—or even just like this post, so I’ll know to check—and I’ll remedy that oversight.)
Third, I like the Cohost interface, which is simple and straightforward, and the use of Markdown, which I also use for my official blog. I tried Tumblr for a while, and maybe it was just my age showing, but I could never get how Tumblr was supposed to work.
Finally, I like supporting (relatively) small-scale endeavors run by folks who believe in what they’re doing and are not looking to ride exponential growth curves to fame and fortune. One of the great things about the present day is that the combination of low-cost computing and free and open source software makes it possible for sites to be created with a minimal investment.
But, they still need some financial support in order to continue running, and the existence of (nearly) global payment networks makes it possible for us to provide that support. So, if you can afford it and haven’t done so yet, please go to your Settings page and sign up for Cohost Plus!
That’s all for this year. Tomorrow I’ll celebrate the new year with a mega-post (split into 5 posts for readability) on one of my favorite films. In the meantime, Happy New Year to you all!