More writeups!

February 6th, 2020
meta, transparency
A kind of post I would like to read more of is "I did X, and here's how it went." You tend to see this most with research, but I've enjoyed reading them on all sorts of things. This is one of the main kinds of post I write, and I would encourage others to give it a try!

Here's an arbitrary selection of writeups I've enjoyed:

Major reasons I like writeups include:

  • Exposure to problems that I didn't know were important to people.

  • Detailed looks at how people handled problems.

  • They're generally very concrete and written after the fact, which makes it harder to write something that's neat but wrong.

  • When I'm thinking of doing something and find a writeup by someone who did something similar it's fantastically useful.

When you voluntarily make something public, you do risk that people will irresponsibly beat you up over failings. I think it's generally worth it to go ahead anyway, tell the whole story, and help build a norm of sharing things so others can learn.

Referenced in: 5x5 Go Board

Comment via: facebook, lesswrong, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Linkpost for September

Regular announcements: did you know you can hire me for life coaching and general consulting? You can also buy my novella Her Voice Is A Backwards Record wherever fine books are sold (except Google Books).

via Thing of Things September 8, 2025

Against the Teapot Hold in Contra Dancing

The teapot hold is the most dangerous common contra dancing figure, so I’ve been avoiding it. The teapot hold, sometimes called a "courtesy turn hold,” requires one dancer to connect with their hand behind their back. When I realized I could avoid put…

via Emma Azelborn August 25, 2025

Little Puppy

She's very little and she likes to do stuff with me. She also likes to bark around and run around and jump around. She also likes to go to places with me and that's all I have.

via Nora Wise's Blog Posts August 23, 2025

more     (via openring)