I always wanted to write. I love to write. I kept learning to code for myself for months (10 months), before making the decision to start writing blog posts. I was always so afraid to write, because I didn't think I have enough to share with others. I wanted to give something valuable and always felt that, nevermind, it is already there. So I just waited..
I remember my first post. It was here on dev. It was messy, it almost looked like I don't know what I am talking about. And yes, I had no idea what I was doing. It was a mix of a hello and some motivational speech and also some JavaScript code taken as a joke. Maybe not a good joke.
I decided to post once a week. Even considered posting twice sometimes, but it seems I can't. Even posting once a week is too much. And I have to be honest, I have to force myself to do it. I have to think about what I am gonna write. And I never know what I am going to do on Sunday. It has to be valuable for me at first, so I can decide if it is good for others to see. It is so much work and trouble. So I spend hours just to write a 2 minutes text.
And I still think about if it worth it or not. Do people actually care about my posts? Are these posts helpful? I don't wanna do it like just because. I don't wanna be lame, I don't wanna be boring, I don't wanna be like just to post there something. I want to be really good at it. But am I? Should I stop? I push myself, I force myself and I still do it. And it is not perfect, still not perfect. It will never be enought. But I see the struggle and the hard work. And I just hope it will pay off sometime. I want to be helpful. I really do.
Now, I also love reading others posts. I can find a variety of topics here on dev. And it just refreshes my memory. It's like study material. See some JavaScript tips and tricks here, some React performance stuff there, some css that I completely forgot about. It's so helpful.
But nowadays I feel something is off. And listen, I know some people will be mad on me and I am truly sorry. But I am just honest, so be honest with you too. It's like people don't care about what they post, they don't bother thinking themselves, they just copy paste. I don't see their struggle, their hard work, their knwoledge, their motivation to help others, to inspire them. Where is their passion?
I see a lot using Artificial Intelligence to autocomplete some text that they should have wrote themselves in the first place, bad use of it. I use AI, no hypocrite here. But I let it help me, I sometimes need some guidance. I don't let it control everything, I don't let AI do my job. Because he can't do it, he sucks at it really. It is just a tool, not a real developer, not a real writer.
I am so sorry about doing this, but this is a chance for everyone to realize they just tell lies to themselves, that they don't do theirselves no service. You don't get value doing this, you don't learn. Again, I hate pointing fingers, but I am trying here to prove my point, so check this out, it is a post from dev:
How does it look? Can you be serious about your work and still do this? Can you be satisfied? Is this enough? Is this what you are looking for when struggling on a project and need some help? Is it helpful after all? You tell me! But be honest!
That's why I think this posting trend is so dissapointing... Don't you think?
Guys, don't steal from yourself. I know it takes so much time to learn. And you also have to give something back, to post something good, helpful, reltable. And this is also time consuming, like very. But don't just rush prompt the AI and copy here and job done. Let's just flex those brain muscles. This is how we grow into real developers. We take and give back. We don't pretend that we give, just like we don't pretend when taking.
After reading this, you might be angry with me. Can I ask something from you? Don't be angry with me. I am not insulting anyone, I am just trying to help. Think deeply about it. Realize.
Tell me what you think.
Top comments (23)
This was great , I agree with you, unfortunately I don't have much time to post and even if I do it's mostly because of challenges and why lie😂, I use AI to complete my article and make it beautiful. But I don't give up my brain. I like it to be beautiful and creative or funny .
Usually some people Because of prejudice don't use AI or Google, some people don't use their brains anymore and go to extremes like just AI. The middle ground between the two is beautiful.🔥💯
I agree with you! I know how time is, now it's 8 am and... now it's 8 pm. As I said in the post, I do use AI too, but in a controlled way. I like using new tools, especially if it makes development experience easier. So keeping this balance between thinking through and using AI to make things nicer, well, that should be the rule. Like everything, keep it balanced, don't go extreme.
Hey, I’m really glad you opened up this discussion and don’t regret it.👏
I totally understand your frustrations.🥰
First of all, when it comes to posting, I struggle with the same thing.
I always think hard before I post: What should I write? Something that inspires others, something helpful, motivating... but also something that feels satisfying for myself. For example, posting weekly about the challenges you’ve faced, or the projects you’ve worked on, can serve as a personal map a record you can look back on to see how much you’ve grown.
Secondly, no you shouldn’t stop posting, even if it feels like some people don’t take it seriously.There are people who are waiting for posts like yours, to feel motivated, to learn from your experience. Beyond that, do it for you. Think of it like a journal, something that keeps you motivated to come back and write with joy. Those who resonate with what you share will engage. They’ll comment or appreciate it.🥰 Those who don’t will just scroll past and that’s fine... What matters is that you did it for yourself.
Thirdly, yes I’ve felt the same ever since joining this community.
Many posts do feel like copy-paste material. Like the example you gave it’s honestly sad.
I don’t even bother reading posts when they have 100 emojis and the overused em dash "—". You can clearly tell it was all written by AI.
And don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with asking AI for tips on what to write about, or getting help to*get inspired. But letting it write your **entire post?* That’s a lack of respect for yourself and honestly, a waste of your own time.
I’ve followed some people in this community who had posted more than 10 posts in just one hour⁉️ How is it even possible to think and write that much in one hour❓
Meanwhile, I take two hours to carefully write one post. 😄 If one day you have no inspiration and simply don’t feel like writing, it’s better not to write at all than to ask AI for a topic and copy-paste it just for the sake of posting something...
So yes, it is sad and I’m glad you brought it up.👏 Personally, whenever I post, I write it from the heart, for myself. If I were just posting for the sake of posting, I’d have over 10 posts every week. 😄
Thank you for your honesty and for trying to help by bringing up this topic.🥰👏
Thank you for reading! And for your honesty. I really hope others will see things as you do. It's a difficult topic to talk about and I know it infuriates people. But I chose to write about it anyway, even if I get a lot of hate. The blame is on me. We are here to learn from each other and this is not a posting contest.
Your observations are so true! There’s definitely a trend of ‘posting for the sake of posting’ without real depth. I’ve felt the same—sometimes spending days on a technical post only to see it get less traction than AI-generated ‘10 JavaScript tips’.
But I’ve realized: The people who truly need help will remember content backed by real experience. Like your early ‘messy but honest’ posts, they probably helped more readers than today’s ‘polished but empty’ articles.
Keep doing what you’re doing—the right audience will find you.
I got a little discouraged these days, because I kind of started to check if my posts are getting views, reactions and comments. And some of them no so much, but AI content is rocking... So thank you for the encouragement! It reminded me I must keep going, because I do it for the right reasons, not for the sake of being trendy.
I do the same thing - constantly checking engagement stats only to see disappointingly low numbers. It’s frustrating when quality content gets overlooked while algorithm-friendly fluff thrives. But at the end of the day, we have to stay true to creating value rather than chasing vanity metrics. The right audience will find and appreciate authentic work.
Yeah, everybody seem to go with the hype, but we should be familiar with that, it's here for years already. So, yeah, let's do it for enjoyment and even if the audience is as small as a single person, that's worth keep going.
Honestly, this is true. I recently started posting blog posts here, especially on the dev challenges, mainly so I can get over my fear of posting things online and also because I wanted to document my growth, so naturally I came across many posts in this site. Some really helpful and good, but others ... not so much.
I do admit I have used some AI in my posts at certain points, but I do so because I find it difficult to articulate and explain my thoughts well. But you are completely right about flexing the brain muscles. After reading your post I realize that the only way I can improve the skill of explaining myself ... would be to write without the aid of AI😅. Definitely something I should work on.
I am not against AI at all. English is not my first language and I get it when we just can't express ourselves. I do use it sometimes to rephrase, to correct, to update, but in a controlled way. Just like you do, nothing wrong with that. But prompting AI? Like, 'hey, AI, write me a post about X, cause it's time to post'? This is not useful, because he is not so technical, he is superficial. You can tell from far away when the post was just prompting and copy paste. It's not helpful for nobody. We all know already where this is going and it's not a good place.
I completely get what you are saying! Whatever we create, it should always feel genuine. It makes a big difference when there’s real thought, effort, and heart behind what we create. 😌
I agree with you. However, keep in mind that the world has changed, and we must adjust accordingly. For example, cars used to be manual, but now we have self-driving vehicles. From my perspective, using AI is not entirely bad as long as you're mindful of what you're posting. Sometimes AI can generate incorrect information, so as long as you examine and correct it before posting, I'm good with it.
Finally, I am in cybersecurity field, so I need to use AI more than cybercriminals do.
Yes, I agree. I know everything changes so fast and I am not against AI at all. My post was against using it like copy paste, blindly following it, with no control over it. You have to use it like a tool, but in a mindful way. No argue about that.
100% right! I just joined this platform and it was so nice to see this post first.
Thank you, I’ll keep it in mind."
You know, the community is nice. But relying too much on AI is an everywhere trend. Nobody escapes it.
I definitely agree with sloppy posting as indicated, however, there is a place for AI that I think has been echoed in the comments that I would like to expand on, which is obviously, my own opinion.
I like to use Gen AI to read my source code and generate the tedious boilerplate, drawing out examples. From there, it's a matter of refining, getting nuances correct, rewording because of intent, adding more content, removing stuff that doesn't make sense for the tone of the article.
It's a tool, like any other. You don't build a house with just one tool, it takes many. And successfully using your tools is a hallmark of craftsmanship. AI is no different to using spell check, or even a keyboard. It's just another implement. Use it, don't use it, but don't let it be the only tool in your chest; your brain, as you've said, is the primary one.
You said it even better than me. Somehow I wanted to get there myself, but maybe I didn't explain myself so clear as I should have. Simply put, let's just not make from AI the only tool.
Very good points! Indeed, this is an era of social media. We don't enjoy reading anymore, we became lazy and want everything to happen quick. Your last line... I couldn't agree more on that, that's a solid reason to write more. Thank you for that!
I absolutely agreed and it's the reality.
People(include me) started using extensively even for small tasks. And we are relying completely on ai - not just complete or task but to make the whole task done.
In my personal experience, english as my second language i always struggled to understand and convey my thoughts back then. With ai my english improved alot.
And after ai, I just replaced google and my own thinking by ai for everything. From how to push on github to _refine my sentences _ chatgpt become that one and only solution 😅.
AI do help us to get things done. But we are becoming rely on it without our notice. So let's do our work on our own. It is the good for our health.😄
I must admit it is a very useful tool. It saves a lot of time. It make us more productive. We all use it and this is for the best. But relying too much on it is dangerous. I think it kinda makes us lazy and we are going to lose logic skills over long term. I wrote this post as a reminder, even for myself. Like don't go too far with AI, it's bad practice.
Yep. My first post the other day: nothing. It's a fine post, but, I made a title like it were an article rather than a listicle damning you for your current practices. Poor me. lol
That's a true story. Titles do everything. No title, no gain. Have a [catchy] title, have no pain. :)
Some comments may only be visible to logged-in visitors. Sign in to view all comments.