TITLE: Maintaining an Online Presence AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford DATE: November 27, 2019 3:42 PM DESC: ----- BODY: Earlier this year, many people were passing around this article about "re-learning how to be yourself online". Near the end the author reaches a set of questions that are motivating him:

Here I was retreating from the web because I thought my online presence was unimportant and inconsequential. Meanwhile, a foreign power was using its resources to pretend to be someone like me to try to influence someone like me. What kind of influence does that mean I really have? What kind of influence does that mean each of us has? And who fills that vacuum if we fail to fill it ourselves?

Given the size of my following on Twitter and the size of my blog's readership, it's easy for me to think my online presence is unimportant or inconsequential. When time gets tight and work crushes me down or other interests call, feeling that my writing is inconsequential can be all that it takes not to take the time to write. I have to remind that that is never been why I tweet or blog. With so much of modern life happening online, sometimes it can feel as if online writing has much higher stakes than it really does, especially for someone with my limited audience. It's worth reminding ourselves that tweeting and blogging can be simple reflections of who we are, nothing more and nothing less. The stakes don't have to be high, and our influence can be small. That's okay. Writing has its own benefits, and connecting with readers, however few there might be, is a bonus. I am unlikely ever to write much about politics here, so my influence is unlikely to fill a space coveted by foreign powers. Whatever influence I may have will come from being myself. I need to overcome the inertia of busy days and make time to write. Actually, that is not quite right. Much as I mention in my first blog entry ever, linked above, I have amassed a folder of ideas for blog entries. I also have a single org-mode file containing entries to write. Some, like the item that became this post, consist only of a quoted passage or some other trigger and a single idea waiting to be expanded. The most depressing items in the file are a seemingly endless collection of partially-written posts, some nearly finished, that never quite crossed the finish line. So: I need to overcome inertia and make time to finish. That is easier said than done some days. Writing takes time, but finishing often takes a surprising amount of time. Finishing also means putting the words out in the world for others to read. That feels risky for many different reasons, and our minds can trick us into thinking we are better off saving the file somewhere and never finishing. But I like to think and write, and connecting with readers, however few there might be, is a bonus. Oh, and as we in America enter a long weekend dedicated to gratitude, I thank all of you who are still reading my blog after all these years. I appreciate that you spend even a few of your scarce minutes reading what I write. Indeed, I marvel at it. I hope you find it time well spent. -----