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Just write.

I almost entitled this post ‘nobody cares’. Because, mostly, they don’t. When you write, you should write for yourself, as a way of setting down what you think, sharing your knowledge, and connecting together your experiences.

There have been times in my life when I’ve blogged every day. Any time you see me doing that, it’s probably because I’m having a tough time at home, work, or trying to chew through a knotty problem.

Another title for this post could be ‘write like nobody is reading’. Because, mostly, they aren’t. Even if you’ve got a lot of followers, most people don’t click through, and attention is a valuable commodity. Just because people are looking doesn’t mean they’re reading. And even if they are reading, what you’ve written almost certainly won’t have as much resonance as it does for you.

So just write. Say what’s on your mind and tell the world about it. Not because it’s going to get retweeted, boosted, or liked. But just as an expression of who you are, where you stand, and what you think.


This post is Day 11 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Want to get involved? Find out more at 100daystooffload.com

The perfect non-technical book on decentralisation?

This morning on Mastodon I asked:

If you were looking to write the perfect non-technical book on decentralisation, what would you include?

There were some great replies and I’m not going to do justice to them all here, but I want to summarise below some responses that I hope to return.

If I do get around to writing some or all of a book like this, I envisage it will have discrete, overlapping chapters like Anything You Want by Derek Sivers or 33 Myths of the System by Derek Allen. As a few people said, it’s probably best not to put ‘decentralisation’ in the title if it’s meant for a general audience.

My thanks to all who took the time to respond!


This post is Day 10 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Want to get involved? Find out more at 100daystooffload.com

Sort-of breaking up with Cloudflare

Cloudflare provides a few services which a lot of the web relies upon. The ones I have been using are free, namely…

1. Content Delivery Network

A content delivery network, or content distribution network (CDN), is a geographically distributed network of proxy servers and their data centers. The goal is to provide high availability and performance by distributing the service spatially relative to end users.

Wikipedia

In other words, a CDN speeds up your site for users, protects you site if it suddenly becomes popular, and can notify you if your site is down.

Cloudflare was down yesterday for a time, and it made me realise that I don’t really need it for my sites. So I removed it.

2. DNS resolution

A DNS resolver, also known as a resolver, is a server on the Internet that converts domain names into IP addresses.

When you use the Internet, every time you connect to a website using its domain name (such as “computerhope.com”), your computer needs to know that website’s IP address (a unique series of numbers). So your computer contacts a DNS resolver, and gets the current IP address of computerhope.com.

[…]

The DNS resolver contacted by your computer is usually chosen by your ISP (Internet service provider). However, you can configure your network to use a different DNS provider, if you choose. This configuration can be modified in your operating system’s network settings, or in the administration interface of your home network router.

Computer Hope

Although I have an awesome, trustworthy ISP, I’ve used a DNS resolver for years. Recently I switched from using Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 service locally on my machines, to using 1.1.1.1 for families on our home router. This blocks both malware and adult content.

I’m going to keep using Cloudflare’s DNS resolver for now as it’s useful, fast, and it’s clear that they make their money from upselling to their VPN services.


This post is day nine of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Want to get involved? Find out more at 100daystooffload.com

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