Discovery

I turned off email sign-ups when I set everything up because I don't want to manage a mailing list. Inexplicably there remains a sign up button. Then when I announced my new blog in the family chat my brother of course tried to sign up.

Trying to sign up but won't do anything. Any tips?

Is there more to read yet?

So we encounter a common problem with blogs these days, which is how to know when a blogging has occurred. There are a few potential solutions.

Use a feed reader

Feed readers compile a list of posts from sources that you ask it to track. They were widely used pre-social media, but discovery has shifted so much to the popular social media platforms that feed readers fell by the wayside.

I still think they're really useful. It is certainly nice to have everything you want to read there when you want it, rather than having to scroll through social media and hoping it is showing you the things you want to see.

I use Feedbin for my feeds, and I pay a small monthly subscription for it. It can add blog feeds like the one from this site, news site feeds, and it also gives me a dummy email address that I can use to sign up to mailing lists and newsletters. I like Feedbin a lot. I use it for both work things and fun things and scan through it every work day.

There are also feed readers that are free to use such as Feedly, NewsBlur and more. It's just a matter of picking one, setting up an account and adding sources. Then actually looking at it.

One could compile a feed of interesting things. They might add, for example, Reptiles Magazine, perhaps one's favourite small engine repair channel on YouTube, and even maybe The Guardian's coverage of Manchester City FC. And of course Sky Hulk.

Visit the web page

It doesn't all have to be a solution, does it? The only thing stopping us from regularly visiting the web sites we like is the need to remember to do it. Nobody is going to tell you when there is a new, unmissable post on Sky Hulk, but it will be there waiting for you when you visit skyhulk.net.

Someone (probably me) shares the link with you

Ahoy! I have posted! And I will probably share the link on the fediverse. Maybe in the family chat too, until they start making fun of me for doing it.

This post has been deliberately written in plain language and without feeling a need to recount the good old days.