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As much as I like #Ghost as a hosting service for my monthly and weekly newsletters, the lack of community, commenting, and recommendations by other readers make me wonder if I made the right move when I left #Substack.
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The Power of Instant Publishing
Iām currently working on a proof-of-concept to migrate one of my website to Craft using the applicationās SharePage feature. The beauty of this solution is the simple fact that the content of the documents are always readily available on the web. Once the root document has been shared, thereās nothing more to do on my part. Itās the most frictionless experience to date. I find this powerful and satisfying.
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Wondering About Returning to Podcasting
Now that Iām finally having my dedicated room in the house for working, Iām wondering about returning to podcasting (I used to have a podcast, in French) or even testing the YouTuber world (even though I wrote in the past that Iāll never be a YouTuber). Why is that?
First, a dedicated room is mandatory to be able to record without being disrupted too much. Second, sound quality would probably be much better than recording in an open space. Third, I could create a better background because my room is decorated to my personal tastes.
But is this enough to convince myself to seriously consider getting back to audio or video content creation? I have all the tools: a great MacBook Air, a Mac mini, an Apple Studio Display, a good microphone, a NAS for archiving purposes, etc. Yet, Iām not really good at audio or video production, and itās very time-consuming for me. I would certainly learn a lot while working hard at this. Moreover, should I do this in my native language which is French or do it in English, which Iām not perfectly fluent with? Maybe I could try to do it together with other podcasters (I know a few of them). Too many questions, not many answers.
Photo credit: Will Francis on Unsplash.
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Taking a break of many things
If you are wondering whatās up with me, Iām on vacation for a week. Iām not only taking a break from work, my office, but also from blogging. Expect a return to normal programming next week.
Written on my iPad, somewhere on a sandy beach in Mexico šš
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I wrote this some time ago (thanks to Surprise Me!). It was when I started using HEY World to publish posts. It didn’t last long. And I’m quite happy with this decision. Happy to be here. Happy to be there instead.
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My Oldest Post
Going back in time on previously published content can be the source of a few smiles. My oldest post on my main blog is about Micro.blog. Here is an excerpt:
This morning I found out the existence of a blogging platform called Micro.blog. Something very special. Very lean. Very light. Without ads. Leaner than WordPress. Yet capable. Close to Twitter but with less clutter.
Itās funny. Itās not about introducing my blog or something like āhelloā world.
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Please, don’t think that because I’m now subscribing to write.as that I’m leaving Micro.blog. It couldn’t be farther than the truth. You’re pretty much stuck with me here, for as long as I can see! āŗļø
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On December 18th of 2019, Here’s what I wrote on Micro.blog:
Now that Iām closing my account here on micro.blog Iām starting to get more interactions š¤·š»āāļø.
The responses I got were so enlightening, I changed my mind. What a great community. š
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Itās the Time of the Month to Start Crafting the Next Edition of My Monthly Newsletter
Well, itās the time of the month where I start to work on the next edition of my monthly newsletter (itās free BTW). I spend about ten to fifteen hours each month to put this together using my past readings and discoveries, Craft and Ulysses. Each time, itās a pleasure to create. I think I should put together an article about the workflow I use to create each newsletter. Would you find this interesting?
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An idea. The iPad. A Brainstorming Session. Another Article in the Works.
I love the iPad. Appleās Notes.app in dark mode is š. Youāre currently seeing a brainstorm of ideas for an upcoming blog post in early 2022. The subject? Can you tell just by looking at my notes? Hint: Itās a meta blog post. Another hint: https://numericcitizen.io.
Yes, I know, my handwriting sucks. š¤¦š»āāļøšš
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Currently Working On ā A Teaser
Directly from Craft, a peek at four articles that Iām currently working on, almost ready for publication! ššØš»āš»
I dare you to meet me in my Digital Garden! š”
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A New Home, Same Purposes
Iām done putting the final touches to my new home, a place where I continue sharing my newsletter and publish new posts under the Friday Notes and Photo Legend Series. Instead of using Substack, Iām now on Ghost(Pro). And I love it! I hope you stay with me in this transition.
Considering bookmarking this link: https://numericcitizen-introspection.blog or adding it to your favourite RSS reader: https://numericcitizen-introspection.blog/rss/.
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Like the Dislike ā Put the Decision in Creatorās Hands
So, YouTube will remove the dislike button soon from its platform. In one of his recent video, the popular YouTuber, Marques Brownlee, expresses his dissatisfaction about Googleās decision. His view echos mine. Iām not a big consumer of YouTube content, but when I do spend time there, I want to spend it on good quality content. The like / dislike ratio is an important indicator for me, and I suspect it is for many people.
We heard during the experiment that some of you have used the public dislike count to help decide whether or not to watch a video. We know that you might not agree with this decision, but we believe that this is the right thing to do for the platform.
I think the content creators should play a bigger role in all this: let them decide. The same way a blogger can turn off the comment section at the end of each blog post, peopleās reactions on each video could be turned off by the authorās decision. In fact, I would argue that the ultimate decision to allow likes and dislikes should be held by the content creators. Simple as that. Make it an opt-in or opt-out default, but put the decision in creatorās hands. I would go as far as saying that the counters could stay private to the author if he or she decides so.
To me, one of the best rewarding indicator is the one that shows how far users are watching videos. They may agree or disagree, but as soon as they watch most of it, anything else is irrelevant.
I wonder if this decision by YouTube better serves their interests. I mean, without any ratio indicator, users have no choice but to start to play the video to decide if it is worth the time. This simple change makes people spend more time on the platform. Or is it the other way around and users will instead look at the comments to get a better idea of the video quality? I doubt it, as reading takes too much time to decide. People are busy, their attention span is short, a quick glance at the like dislike ratio is the way to go.
Once the decision to let people react to a video is made, then the platform could finally make it available only if the user watch āmost ofā the video. That no rocket science. There are probably other tricks that could be played to better control whatās going on in userās reactions. But at this stage, it seems closer to be only implementation details.
As for the creatorās mental health issue, again, I would argue that if they tend to rely too much on the likes to feel rewarded, they could turn off the option. Thatās something that could help others in dealing with this.
Glass, a photo sharing service, didnāt provide a like button from day one and doesnāt plan to add one. Is it good? Well, it depends. One thing is clear, from the comments Iām seeing posted by others, I have to ask myself: what is the difference between getting dozens of āI love itā or hitting the ālikeā button? Not much.
Photo credit: Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash
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Got Things Done This Week
Iām feeling pretty happy again this week-end as I managed to do everything that I was sitting in my bloggerās to do list (which is setup every Sunday in Craft). What youāre seeing in my summary newsletter here is only part of my content creator story.
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Iāve been experimenting with something in recent weeks. Each Sunday, I open Craft and switch to the calendar view and create my todo list for the upcoming week. I love this. It it because Iām checking off most of the items on the list? Probably. Hereās last week plan.
Not bad. Now, letās prepare the upcoming week. š§š§š»āš»
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Hey guys! I’m still around! Been busy on Twitter recently, using Typefully. I’m still in love with Micro.blog even though I’m publishing less from here. I’m reading my timeline from time to time and I’m happy to report that it’s still a vibrant community. Keep it up!
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Am I missing Notion? @notionhq @craftsdocsapp
Been thinking about Notion recently. Before using Craft, I was a fan of Notion. I spent a few moments today on Notion to make some cleanup. I think Iām still a fan. Craft feels better for me as a writer tool. Yet, Notion is features rich. They keep improving it. I donāt know if they do it at a faster pace than Craft. They are certainly more mature. The team behind Craft being smaller, they donāt have the same resources. Many features are missing. But there is something to it that is missing in Notion. Craft being native on the Mac (itās a Catalyst app), it makes a big difference. Anyway, Iāll keep an eye on Notion. Who knows if Iāll come back.
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Dear @Viticci, Iām Not a Professional Reviewer, So What?
This podcast episode from MacStories featuring Viticci triggered quite a few reactions. Why? Because of these two sentences in the first moments of the episode talking about the iPad mini:
āYou wouldnāt want to read/or watch a review by someone who is not a professional reviewer. It wouldnāt be enjoyable.ā
Yep. Viticci said that. In āThe value of a non-reviewerās perspectiveā from Mere Civilian:
āI agree, a review from a person who does not write for a living may not be enjoyable. However, I strongly disagree with the first sentence. ā
What? Really? Then, I read this reaction from Lee Peterson on his blog:
āMacStories posts some great stuff but not everyone wants to read long articles, some like smaller easy to digest articles from independent writers, I like to think I do that here. I get to the point and try to respect my audiences time, does that make my opinion invalid or not enjoyable?ā
And here is my response. Viticci comments make him look full of himself. Period. Iām happy for him if he can live from writing reviews. I would rather read review from real end-users because the point is to get comments and observations from real use case scenarios. Sure, I like reviews from Marques Brownlee because he has well-balanced and critical point of views on a lot of stuff. It also touches the subject of what makes someone a blogger or a writer. If you write constantly, then you are a writer. Are you Shakespeare? Probably not. There is a starting point for everyone. Some will fall along the road, others will thrive. I tend to think of reviews by professionnel reviewers as synthetic reviews, where there is a lot of speed and feed talk. At some point, we want to go beyond that and have comments coming from experience. So, sure, Iād like to read comments from pilots about the real usefulness of the iPad mini. They are the one who can make a judgment on the subject.
Last year I wrote āIām not an audiophile, but here are my thoughts on Appleās AirPods Maxā which is not of āreviewā but a collection of observations. I concluded with this:
āSo, do I like the sound quality of my AirPods Max? Yes. Do they sound better than my Bose QC25? Yes. By a wide margin compared with the price difference with my Bose Q25? No. But, hey, they are wireless, convenient, comfier, have transparency mode, spatial audio and they fit within Appleās walled garden.ā
Is there any value in this? I think so. Should Viticci care? Certainly not. I do have genuine thoughts and opinions, and this is my ultimate right to share them with the world for exactly what they are: thoughts and observations. Nothing more, nothing less.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
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A typical month on Substack
Five publications each month. Four Friday notes posts, one monthly newsletter. Some new subscribers. No comments. A lot of fun at writing and publishing these posts. I’m writing for myself. I don’t feel the pressure of regular writing schedules. It’s easier than I thought. The more I do it, easier it becomes. Substack is a slowly evolving publishing platform. I wish it was a bit more like Twitter’s Revue. Anyways. https://numericcitizen.substack.com.
