[kaashif]

> I think having an audience is at least an indication that you're succeeding at it.

If the goal is to get an audience, then having an audience is a success.

If the goal is primarily to crystallize your own understanding of things, write thoughts up in a coherent way, or something else which doesn't necessarily involve an audience, then you can have success without an audience.

> Otherwise you have a diary, not a blog.

If the blog is still there for people to see, it changes the kinds of things you write. I don't feel comfortable posting half-incomprehensible jumbled thoughts with partially worked examples, filled with mistakes on a blog, whereas I would feel comfortable writing that privately.

This does definitely depend on individual preferences and whether one can motivate themselves to write well without even the possibility of an audience. I can't.