Avoid these common antipatterns when blogging in 2024 (or no matter when) to prevent getting misunderstood for a mock tech influencer.
1. Adding "2024" or any other future date 🔮
I did it here to demonstrate folly and futility, but I used to do it unironically when I was more superstitious concerning search engine optimization. I don't know why @avinashvagh did it in this post, which is in fact quite useful.
Post dates make a lot of sense! When I see a post from 10 years ago, I will treat it with a grain of salt or skip reading it unless it's some foundational basic evergreen like a UNIX console or SQL tutorial.
But adding "2024" to a post published in October 2023 feels misleading. It might make sense for a long-term release roadmap or an upcoming event calendar though. Think of unexpected changes like Twitter getting renamed to "X" or the hype around Bun in 2023. Who would have guessed in 2022?
2. Posting something for the sake of posting anything 🎲
Again, like this very post, some people will post anything. Well, I hope this parody post has some entertaining value demonstrating the absurdity of some common stylistic devices. Still, it's sad that most community and social media websites seem to reward quantity over quality.
3. Overusing "artificial intelligence" 🤖💩🤡
Some people will even post text output from chatGPT and other bullshit generators. If you do, at least do some fact-checking! Here is a post that quotes chatGPT, puts the prompt in its headline and adds, "What's your answer?" Maybe some human being will help him eventually.
Please don't! Here are some more good reasons why I'm not excited about so-called artificial intelligence (which is neither intelligent nor capable of generating art unless it is a tool used by an actual artist).
4. Overusing listicles 0️⃣1️⃣2️⃣...🔟
5. ... and superlatives everyone must read!!!1
Why do numbered lists attract readers? Listicles have been mocked as a typical clickbait cliché, but post titles like "24 things every dev MUST know in 2024 - no. 4 will ..." seem to appeal to readers. But why?
Like this one I saw today: a lot of links, a lot of likes, and some useful resources buried in a list that seems rather random than curated. Not bad, but not the only step required "to become the best developer in the world".
6. Putting your own resource on top of the list 👑
just saying ...
It might seem too obvious and desperate and it might make readers abandon your post without clicking on the link.
Intentionally funny
I don't know if @grahamthedev knows why people like listicles, but I know why I like his parody post "that will 🧨 blow people away".
I like episode one as well: 13+ 🤩 amazing 🤩 tips for writing ✅ listicles ...
8. Misnumbering 🔢
Finally, another long-tail search term: "misnumbering". Off-by-one errors can be critical in coding and unintentionally funny in editorial content.
7. - 24. Overpromising
Don't fuel expectations that you know you can't keep! I wanted to show an off-by-one example by adding number 5 to a 4 items list, but 6 out of 24 is even better! So ...
if (!!empty(promise) == true) {
return void(0);
} // else { return; } // catch(e){}
That's all. Feel free to like this post and subscribe to my channel - but be warned: most of my DEV blog posts are serious contributions about web development, with a few funny or sarcastic exceptions like this one!
Conclusion
Please avoid these common blogging antipatterns to prevent getting misunderstood for a want-to-be / mock "tech influencer" annoying readers who have been around for a while and confusing those who haven't!
Top comments (10)
I clicked this bait, with a heavy sigh, because I'm just starting the first coffee of the morning and wanted to feel grumpy at someone.
Well played, good job, etc.
Thanks for reading!
I updated my post to clarify what was meant as a parody and what wasn't, and that I respect people sharing value in the posts, even if I'd prefer a more informative and less blatant narrative style. So I added more specific details about the aspects that I don't find helpful. I also added Eric Allam's post which inspired me to release mine ahead of its schedule.
Definitely hate the #3.
Weeks ago, LinkedIn invited me to contribute to some articles, where experts can share their experiences.
Took a look, and most answers from "experts" were generated from GPT, Claude, you name it.
It doesn't bring any useful knowledge, information is varied,... The article itself was generated using AI, we don't need to see more generated AI stuff lol.
Overusing or even Abusing AI is just really bad.
At least bullshit posts or using AI to help only adds noise and low quality. What I really fear is trolls using AI to amplify their "alternative facts" narratives and naive people believing their disinformation.
Amen to that. We produce a lot of useless content and spend a lot of storage for that. Can we do something more valuable as a community?
I have actively avoided these types of articles from medium and dev.to for the past year or so. I have even started to subscribe to some blogs of developers that I know are good (like nexxel, for example) since quality content seems to be lost in both of these sites and is just full of content meant to market a product or project.
I do still find joy when a good article pops up in my feed every now and then.
Also, thank you for this post :)
A perfect ^H^H^H the best!!! post needs an ANIMATED GIF ANIMATION!!! so I added 1
Wow! This post has got 35 likes! Thanks everyone! One more thing to add: new year's resolutions. I don't do that anymore. 2024 is just another number.
Good post @ingosteinke, and yes, the state reflects more like the ecosystem of tech YouTube as well. There are:
But your post is good, and I'd appreciate it and the freshness it brings. It's like the fresh lime after eating a lot of cake.