Posted on 2019-01-25
I created this blog a few years ago because I wanted to talk about the stuff I was experimenting with, and in my opinion it was cool to have a blog. I still have the same opinion, but now I'm using the blog more like a portfolio. I like it because I take a lot of care with it and I like to build high quality stuff. However, it takes me. So. Much. Time. I have to be really enthusiastic about something to write about it.
More or less at the same time, I created my Twitter account. I've used it for multiple years and I have realized the way it was architected to influence users was obnoxious and the way I was using it made it even worse.
Then came Mastodon, and while there is lot to bit^Wsay about it, many things are much better. The community is much more friendly, and I can self-host my own instance. (Who doesn't like to host a RoR application with all the software it needs, PostgreSQL, Redis, Elastic Search, Nginx, and about twelve others?)
My use evolved from the Twitter game of trying to get new followers to... well, I'll just quote a friend I met there: "Please talk to me before you follow me! I am on Mastodon to make friends and be part of a community.". Nonetheless, my micro-posts there are still somewhat shallow. Even though I have 500 characters for each post, I don't feel the medium is the right one to allow me to express myself deeply. Which is perfectly fine, because I enjoy shitposting and bitching about a wide spectrum of things!
I'll be honest and tell you what happened. Recently, I read Going old school: how I replaced Facebook with email. In his blog article, the author explained that he created a newsletter to replace the role that had been held by the Facebook account he disabled. I really liked the idea and wondered if I could justify creating my own newsletter, especially since I had just been working on my email setup and wanted to put it to good use. I eventually decided to just create one.
I think that having something between my blog, for which writing takes a lot of time and Mastodon, where I express myself but in a more volatile setting, would be nice!
The goal is to have something where I can share my feelings and my thoughts without putting things on the public Internet (and avoiding the dread of judgment) with a format closer to a blog article than to a micro-post on Mastodon. I hope to create an environment more friendly to replies than what my blog articles currently provide (as there isn't a system for comments). I'm also curious about how the social interaction will happen. Lastly, I'll do it for myself, as a writing exercise.
I plan to talk about my life, what I have been doing lately or a particular subject I care about. My frequency goal ranges between multiple times a week for a busy period to at least once per month. I'm not sure yet how I'm going to do it, technically-speaking, but I won't use any external services.
Of course, I won't share your email address with anyone (including other subscribers, i.e. I won't use a giant Cc:) and of course you'll receive solely my newsletter and no other emails (ads or whatever). I don't have anything to sell, anyway. Especially if you get two acquaintances of yours to subscribe! There won't be a web interface or anything, so subscribing and unsubscribing will require you to email me as the goal is also to experiment with human interaction, since nowadays there is less and less of that.
Of course, you won't get access to the previous newsletters, only the subsequent ones. (Maybe the previous one?)
If you're curious about this experiment and want to be part of it, please send an email to newsletter at chown dot me!
Edit on 2020-11-29: The newsletter has been discontinued.
Thanks Pamela for the proof-reading!