Igore the click-batey headline: this is quite a good post. Really enjoyed it. And, on the whole, I agree with the author. Via Jim Nielsen’s notes
Day 26: critter
Watch out for these ones. #mbapr
📝 New post on UCL over at the Workpad blog: The Simplifications Paid Off
Thou Doth Promote Too Much
Manual Moreale wrote an interesting post about self promotion, where he reflects on whether closing out all his People and Blogs post with a line pointing to his Ko-Fi page is too much:
And so I added that single line. But adding that single line was a struggle. Because in my head, it’s obvious that if you do enjoy something and are willing to support it, you’d probably go look for a way to do it. That’s how my brain works. But unfortunately, that’s not how the internet works. Apparently, the correct approach seems to be the opposite one. You have to constantly remind people to like and subscribe, to support, to contribute, and to share.
I completely understand his feelings about this. I’m pretty sure I’d have just as much trouble adding such a promotion at the bottom of my post. Heck, it’s hard enough to write about what I’m working on here without any expectation from the reader other than to maybe, possibly, read it. They’ve been relegated to a separate blog, so as to not bother anyone.
But as a reader of P&B, I think the line he added is perfectly fine. I think it’s only fair to ask people to consider supporting something where it’s obvious someone put a lot of effort into it, as he obviously has been doing with P&B.
As for where to draw the line, I think I agree with Moreale:
How much self-promotion is too much? Substack interrupting your reading experience to remind you to subscribe feels too much to me. An overlay interrupting your browsing to ask you to subscribe to a newsletter is also too much. Am I wrong? Am I crazy in thinking it’s too much?
I get the need to “convert readers” but interrupting me to sign up to a newsletter is just annoying. And I’m not sure “annoying” is the feeling you want to imbue in your readers if you want them to do something.
But a single line at the end of a quality blog post? Absolutely, go for it!
Some emus have moved into a nearby sanctuary a few weeks ago. I managed to catch a glimpse of one during my walk today. A rare treat indeed.
Day 25: spine #mbapr
Day 24: light #mbapr
I was snakily going to suggest a “HTML naked day” to complement both CSS and JS naked day, but then I realise that that’s the default for all modern web frontend development. 😏
👨💻 New post on Databases over at the Coding Bits blog: PostgreSQL LATERIAL Joins
Day 23: dreamy #mbapr
📝 New post about UCL over on the Workpad blog: Simplifying UCL
My spilling has bin partickualy bad todai!
If Alan has a problem, and Brett has a solution, but Brett’s solution is qualified with conditions that can’t be met by Alan, then Alan doesn’t have a solution.
Brett should probably just let go of this fact, rather than criticise Alan for not using his solution because of “conditions”.
Day 22: blue #mbapr
Day 21: mountain
Warburton, in the Yarra Ranges. #mbapr
🔗 Hiss!
Seeing @Miraz’s post about the Morepork reminded me of this poem by C. J. Dennis that was read to us as a kid. It was in this beautifully illustrated picture book, with thick borders full of, I guess, the illustrations of the subject’s imagination.
📝 On Photo Bucket over at the Workpad blog: Imports And The New Model
Day 20: ice #mbapr
A small visitor is back, enjoying the sun on my kitchen tiles. 🦎
Watched Takashi Wakasugi’s show Japanese Aussie at the comedy festival last night with a few friends. Was quite good. A style of comedy that I really like.