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by chubot 1266 days ago
I write on https://www.oilshell.org/ for many of these same reasons:

Why I Keep a Research Blog https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22033792

(a great post from 2 years ago that I remembered)

- to make sure I really know something, rather than just being able to name it

- to calibrate myself -- there are always people more experienced, and it's useful to get feedback on whether you're making a mistake. Also to keep a sense of reality on a long project :)

Another great side effect is that a few skilled people have been reading my blog for YEARS and now want to help me finish the project! If it was just a random project with no writing/explanation, then that wouldn't have happened

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34221617

- I also do "documentation-driven development", where I write how something should work, and then implement it. If I can't "explain it with a straight face", then it's not the right design. Most of bash you CANNOT explain with a straight face :)

Personally I like writing on content-centric sites rather than person-centric sites (e.g. social media), because with social media your ego can get in the way. For example, some people mentioned here that there can be a tendency to "dig in" to positions attached to your identity, but I find that writing in public is a good way to do just the opposite -- adjust your positions based on the feedback of others