simonwillison’s description of how to run a link blog, with little bits of why as well. simonwillison’s output has been prolific over the past few years. he is a voice i trust in llms — a field which is hard for me to find trusted voices in — and part of that trust comes frm his prolific linkblog. he introduced me to the term, sharing snippets of summaries, contexts, and opinions on happenings throughout the internet and technology,
the approaches that stuck out to me included:
- share the context as to why this read was useful / fascinating to you (you might encourage others to read it if they’re looking for something you found in the post)
- add extra sources that puts a post in broader context, through similar ideas or explanation of history — for example i can link to other fun linkblogs
- quote key parts of the post (finding the “essence” of a post can be useful for a future self and others)
some things i’ve gathered from other linkblogs and blogs in general that are encouraging me to write:
- writing can help you you sharpen ideas — pg
- writing posts can be an aide to your future self — gwern
- writing might be a good way to show my value to the world — geoffrey huntley
- writing about the things i learn is better than the “snacking” of content i often find myself in — andy matuschak
but the most compelling reason for me came at the end of this post.
I wish people would post more links to interesting things
I feel like Twitter and LinkedIn and Instagram and TikTok have pushed a lot of people out of the habit of doing that, by penalizing shared links in the various “algorithms”
Sharing interesting links with commentary is a low effort, high value way to contribute to internet life at large.
the internet is amazing and at times it’s hard for me to remember that it’s not owned by a handful of large corporations, it’s owned by all of us. so i’m doing my best to carve out my own corner of the internet, because more than anything, i’ve loved creating this site!!
and now, a haiku:
linkblogs allow you
freedom to start creating
you should try it too!