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by srinathkrishna 2065 days ago
#+begin_rant

I've been very very skeptical about Roam - I appreciate the sentiment behind it and the fact that it's making more people aware of networked thought but the marketing around it has been insane. Especially investor Twitter is raving about it for many weeks now about how the tool is a savior. It's almost as if they're doing it to increase user count to Roam to justify their investment, which is likely.

It often misses the point here - the idea of networked thought and note-taking is the key here. If you have the time and means to do it, you can always do so using something as simple as text files too.

Something that's as critical as a note-taking tool, the first rule of thumb should be - don't lose data! Agreed, it was the readwise integration that messed things up here but the snapshotted database approach has its own perils in the long run too. For the most part, one does not need constant sync-ups. And Roam doesn't even have a mobile app today - which means that most likely folks are just using their laptops to add notes.

If you're just starting out, I'd recommend using [Obsidian][https://obsidian.md] or if you have a little bit more time, explore the world of emacs via [org-mode][https://orgmode.org].

Roam might be a success or might not be :shrug:. Use something that works for you and your workflow. Don't engage in productivity porn and lose many hours.

#+end_rant

4 comments

I was very positive on Roam early on. I actually signed up for the Believer plan. I've since switched to Obsidian though. I was finding that Roam became very slow and laggy once documents started to get pretty long. It started to hinder my note taking rather than help. One simple example was how the cursor doesn't focus when jumping to a new document. That always really bugged me and despite bringing it up it was never fixed. They seemed to prioritize other things like Pomodoro timer for some reason.

Maybe these things are fixed now and maybe I'll try it out again one day but Obsidian has been great for me. My files are local so it's fast. I also have them backed up via Dropbox and because of that I can view/edit on my phone. Previously I used Atom for my note taking so this is very similar but now I have the additional benefits of linked documents and attachments and templates and so on.

I agree about text files, and avoid markdown myself.

I've started writing my own system, which can also double as forum, groupware, or blog, and it's all based around textfiles.

I try to architect in such a way that, even armed with just `cat`, I could still read my notes.

> Especially investor Twitter is raving about it for many weeks now about how the tool is a ..

I see this a lot. Especially on Youtube and twitter. productivity geeks rave about how xyz app changed their life, how they have squeezed out every productive minute out of their life just because they used the xzy app. Notion, Roam, Todoist, etc.

> If you're just starting out, I'd recommend using [Obsidian][https://obsidian.md]

even I use obsidian, mostly due to it being an offline app and having a good interface.

How productive it is to talk about how productive you have been on twitter?

Is there a standardized productivity test?

welp, i recognized that syntax immediately!

My "data loss recovery" scenario begins and ends with "git clone".