DEV Community: Ron Bronson

Intrigued by the idea of another off-world blog

Ron Bronson — Fri, 23 Jun 2023 03:29:48 +0000

I'd never really thought much about using this site as a blog, much less the concept of digital gardens until I read this post.

One of the challenges of having a bevy of both professional and personal interests, is that it's hard to navigate how to develop your online presence. When I was younger, it was less important. As personal websites became something people would look up, I felt the need to keep a presence "presentable" for anyone who might show up.

These days, I don't need a website to get me a job. So I can kinda do whatever I want and it'd be fun to recede to the blogging days of yore to some degree, partially because in the absence of Twitter, I realized how much I'd prefer to put stuff down somewhere in a place I own.

Weirdly, I just type better inside of a CMS box. I can't make sense of that, but it's why for a long time I found Tumblr such a great place for my writing and at the peak Tumblr time, I was prolific. Same with older sites. I could do the same for my own site, but there's something nice about having a scratchpad where people can react, especially as it relates to professional topics, because there's almost no way I'd be where I am without the amplifier that Twitter ended up being for me at a key time in my career.

Starting here

Ron Bronson — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 22:20:55 +0000

I've seen this site for a while and signed up ages ago, but I never really knew how I'd use it. Twitter engagement isn't what it used to be, but I also feel really constrained by high follower counts, a feed that's useful for keeping up with the pulse of things, but lacks the sort of connection that it used to be really good for.

I doubt I'll substitute that here. What I am looking for is a place to get ideas out, to connect, and push myself a bit to advance my practice. That used to be a blog and for a while, Tumblr provided other outlets. Lately, I haven't been able to find anywhere to substitute for that connection and working remotely has made it more acute.

I'll consider it a win if I can start doing what I used to do online; writing and delving into ideas more fully. I'm working on a few things I'm sort of excited about, but I need to commit to actually working at them. Twitter will have its place, but I anticipate using it like other channels where I have a specific purpose for them, rather than hoping it'll continue like a catch-all.

Most of all, I want to feel like I'm making progress again. Maybe connect old work and revisit some thinking. It's weird how I was way more prolific when I knew less than I do now. I'd love to bridge that gap a bit.