A few days ago, I received an email from a ten-year commitment, and when I opened it, it turned out to be an application I made five years ago to join the ten-year commitment, a so-called "organization" that binds oneself to write a blog for at least 10 years.
Suddenly, I remembered that this year is my fifth year of blogging.
I wrote down some thoughts and told myself that it is not easy to be able to persist in writing a blog. Five years ago, I could see familiar friends and their familiar words. They used to update their blogs at least once a day, or at least once a week. But now, it has changed from weekly updates to monthly updates, or even yearly updates.
Looking back#
I am the same. On March 17, 2018, I was still a high school student. Although high school studies were busy, I always had some thoughts in my mind. When my mind couldn't hold them anymore, I had to write them down. With the idea of "one blog a day," I wrote every day and thought about what to write the next day while lying in bed at night. At that time, I used the most traditional method, writing in a notebook first, and then posting it on the blog after I was satisfied. Looking back now, it's really ridiculous. When I look at what I wrote back then, I feel embarrassed to show it to others. But it is also a kind of growth, a unique memory.
In October 2021, I sold my blog along with the domain name and data. It was the most regretful decision I made in the past five years. I was attracted by temporary benefits and ignored its true value and significance. Although I quickly re-registered the domain name and rebuilt the blog, it seems that since then, my motivation and interest in writing blogs have decreased a lot.
From tinkering with blog themes and plugins in the past to tinkering with blog platforms or programs now, this is something that almost all bloggers will experience. One year later, in October 2022, I built a Hugo blog on GitHub Pages by searching for tutorials online and consulting with netizens, and manually migrated the data. It was just a temporary impulse, but Hugo didn't suit me. Three months later, I switched back to WordPress.
These three paragraphs can be said to be the most important milestones in my five years. Five years may seem long or short, but a few sentences can summarize it.
Gains#
In these five years, I have created two communities for communication. One is a WeChat group for Chinese bloggers, and the other is a Telegram channel called @FindBlog. The biggest gain from both is that I have met a group of people with the same interests and hobbies, as well as a platform and opportunities for communication. In website construction, there is a term called "friendship link," which is equivalent to "blog friends" in the blogging community. Without their influence, I would not have continued writing until now. Walking together as a group allows us to go further.
Although their update frequency has decreased. Chen Cangjie, now I see more information about him, he discusses various note-taking software in the group, and I am impressed by his evaluation of me as "promising" in his blog, as well as his criticism of WeChat and someone else. Zhang Bo's blog, the domain name and blog name keep changing, he loves to tinker, whenever he sees something interesting being discussed in the group, he will participate. It's hard to imagine that he is a high school teacher. Liu Jin Sui Yue, this optometrist often changes domain names and blog names. He likes to share knowledge about eyes and glasses, as well as his daily life with his daughter. When I got glasses from him, he was very professional, but he didn't give me a discount. A Jun is very active in the group, often expressing his opinions on current affairs. Although I don't always agree with his views, we can still have harmonious exchanges. Writing a blog is a way of communication, and we try to seek common ground while reserving differences. Yiran and Ruofei, the two of them have the most cameras and lenses in the group. They are also the people I envy. They can use cameras to capture beautiful people and scenery. Although the latter is no longer in the group, his blog is still being updated. Wang Yikai is a professional writer. He graduated with a major in literature. Reading his blog is like picking up a book in a bookstore and reading it. Now his blog is mostly about parenting diaries. Yang Jingwen, I used to call him senior, but now uncle is more appropriate, after all, he is from the 80s. I recently found out that his blog cannot be accessed, and I don't know what he is secretly preparing. He should be the friend who started writing blogs the earliest and has given me a lot of help. Xiong's Cat changes domain names more frequently than changing clothes. Each domain name is unique. Because I knew him as Xiong's Cat, I thought he was a bit chubby, but later I saw his photo and found out that he is a slim and handsome guy. huntrue and the previous friend often have lively and exciting discussions in the group. They are very interesting friends. 1900, after watching "The Legend of 1900," I named my blog 1900. He likes cycling and fitness, and recently seems to be tinkering with Emby. San Ding, his blog is called "Little Pig's Nest" in Chinese, and I always thought he was chubby. I don't know if it's true, but when I think of him, I think of the keyword "ex-girlfriend." Austin, one of the few friends who is about the same age as me, is particularly talented. It's admirable to have technical skills. Lao Yang, his blog is very rich in content, he reads and plays a lot, and he is also very active in the group, discussing digital and electronic products non-stop. Yun Ding Tian, this uncle hasn't updated his blog for more than half a year. I guess he is busy with photography and shooting videos. I occasionally see videos of him and his family and friends going camping in the group and on Moments. Hu Ji, it is a kind of fate to meet someone with the same surname in the blogging community. There is a kind of inexplicable intimacy. When I filled in my college application after the college entrance examination, he kept recommending schools to me. Da Wei, a fitness coach, left the WeChat group because of busy work earlier. The first impression of him was a photo on his blog. Now we rarely contact each other, and his blog cannot be accessed. I don't know if he is writing on another platform. I have a wish to meet all the people mentioned above and have a gathering. I hope it can come true soon.
......
Of course, there are many other friends I have communicated with, but I can't describe them one by one. I just introduced some active friends in the group. Each person's blog is like a lonely island. By visiting and leaving comments on each other's blogs, we gradually transform from strangers into friends, and from lonely islands into a group of islands, each sharing different lives, different perspectives, and different preferences. In this process, I have learned things beyond books and classrooms. For me, this is the greatest meaning and gain of writing a blog.
Experience#
Five years ago, I was searching for various tutorials online, learning how to use servers, install Baota, and install WordPress. Five years later, I am more familiar with these aspects, and I have a better understanding of blogging. I record and share my experiences.
A phenomenon that is often seen is that when you don't know what to write, you write about how to build a blog. So you can find various blog building tutorials online. I think what you write is not important, the key is to write, to persist in writing. Don't write with a utilitarian attitude, just write down your true thoughts, the content you want to record the most. Don't worry about whether what you write is meaningful. We can't guarantee that everything we do is meaningful. Daring to write, daring to record, is itself a remarkable thing. Don't let our thoughts disappear with the wind, don't let our lives only exist in our memories. That's what I think is the meaning of writing a blog.
I am not someone who likes to use images, maybe because I can't find suitable images to match my words. If I can describe something clearly with words, I try not to use images. Although aesthetics is important, I believe more in the charm of words. By learning Markdown, I have discovered a different way of writing, which greatly improves my efficiency and allows me to enter a so-called immersive writing state.
When it comes to choosing a blogging platform, there are also many opinions and viewpoints. I have also faced such choices. Take WordPress and Hugo as examples. The difference between the two lies in the cost and learning curve. For people without coding experience, like me, WordPress is more suitable. After using it for five years, I am more familiar with it and don't need to input any code. On the other hand, Hugo is more suitable for programmers. Today, I wanted to deploy Hugo using Cloudflare Pages, but just dealing with Git gave me a headache, so I continued to use WordPress honestly.
My experience may not apply to everyone, but if it can help friends who want to write or are already writing blogs, I would be honored.
Finally, keep writing, keep reading and writing, keep inputting and outputting. Because in today's society, persistence is a precious thing.
An email brought my thoughts back to five years ago. I roughly described it in over three thousand words and rekindled my passion for blogging. Looking forward to meeting again in the tenth year of blogging!