I was reading Jack Baty’s blog the other day via RSS and saw his post, “25 years of blogging”. That was three years before I started on Blogger, in the pre-Google days. I had a website before blogging: an about page, photo galleries, a guestbook, and a reading page, hosted by my ISP (GTE) around 1998. I really loved Microsoft FrontPage. I would change the theme and galleries and update the book page at least once a month, but it wasn’t a blog.

The year after Mr. Baty started blogging (in the same month, just a couple of days before his first anniversary), I started on Pyra Labs’ Blogger, pre-Google. As I read his post, it struck a nerve: how he sees his blog, the platforms, and how he works.

I don’t get all philosophical about blogs or blogging. My blog has become a simple journal. It doesn’t mean anything. I write about what I’m thinking or what I feel like sharing. That’s it. I never worry about posting frequently enough or writing about the right things. There is no lane to stay in. I write whatever, whenever. Some days I love doing it. Other days I wonder why I bother.

Source: Jack Baty, “25 years of blogging.”

I feel almost the same way, though I also like keeping everything neat, looking good, and trying different platforms. Domains are the exception: I have a set list and I think I’m done collecting. I have about 15 or 16 (I don’t use them all yet 😁). I treat my blog the way Mr. Baty treats his: as a collection of whatever I want to talk about, sometimes sparked by things I see or read, and sometimes just my own thoughts.

Next year will mark 25 years since I started blogging. Nowadays I have four blogs that mostly share the same content, and they all flow to my Micro.blog-hosted blog and to Blogger. I use Blogger as a backup and recently gave it a small makeover with help from AI.

Reading his post brought back nostalgia and memories, good and bad, and got me thinking about what, if anything, I should do to mark my 25 years of blogging next year.

#Blogging #RSS #IndieWeb #Microblog