Blog Questions Challenge

Apparently this was started by Brandon, made a bit more generic by Kev, but I saw it first in a post by Mijndert. A blog questions challenge.

Truth be told, it’s not much of a challenge, more a couple of questions like an a-sync interview. But I’m always fascinated by the why behind things, so it’s fun nonetheless.

Why did you start blogging in the first place?

I’ve always enjoyed tinkering with web stuff. My first outlet was forums, as I was young and didn’t know content management systems were a thing^[1]. I even managed to get something running on my own computer and dealt with port forwarding to make it public^[2]. I posted things there from time to time, and even got some friends and strangers to join in too.

True blogging started later. When I also set up a domain name, and got a proper host. On my very own website.

My main drive has been that I enjoy having my own little piece of the internet. Sometimes I would feel the need to share, and where better to do that than on my own blog/website.

What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?

Currently, I’m using Zola. I picked it primarily because I just couldn’t get used to the syntax for the previous site generator I had. Plus, it’s written in Rust, which is a meme.

All the (techy) details can be found in the colophon.

Have you blogged on other platforms before?

Yes, many. I started with several forum software packages, mainly phpBB stuck for a while. Then it was mostly WordPress, on several different websites. Later I transitioned to static website generators, Jekyll, Hexo, Hugo, and now Zola.

How do you write your posts? For example, in a local editing tool, or in a panel/dashboard that’s part of your blog?

Never really trusted the dashboard, and currently I don’t even have one.

I tend to write in iA Writer, or maybe Obsidian. Then, when it’s ready for a preview, I’ll move it into VSCodium to be part of the website, and run the local server to check if it all works and do some proofreading.

When do you feel most inspired to write?

Often while reading, especially personal websites of others.

For example, this post is because I read Mijndert’s post, which led me down the rabbit hole of others writing for this “challenge”. So it found its way into my to-do list.

Or when I feel like I achieved something. Like a lessons learned kind of thing.

Rarely I actually document stuff beforehand, because I had planned to blog about it later.

Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?

As soon as possible after writing, since now I’m still excited about it. The longer I would let it wait, the bigger chance of it never getting published at all.

That being said, sometimes I do hold off on publishing for a day or so, just so I can check it once more after sleeping on it.

What’s your favourite post on your blog?

This is a new blog. Not much on here yet, other than a hello world. So none, for now.

Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, a move to another platform, or adding a new feature?

A couple of things:

• Adding related posts
• Adding some way to subscribe
• Migrating (and redirecting) my previous website to this one, maybe even translating some of it
• Figuring out what to do with analytics (for vanity’s sake only)

Probably more as time goes on. A virtual home is similar to a physical home in the sense that it’s never finished, always something to maintain or improve.

1. I’m not sure whether they even existed back in the day, but given the fact that forums existed, surely CMS’s must also have existed. ↩

2. No security, not even a domain name. You would have to know my IP address to find it, and if you did, you would be happy to know that I probably would not even have had a basic firewall in place. ↩