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In order for me to take this sentiment serious I have to assume that the author is referring to a select group of people who happen to agree with his worldview and not the masses, otherwise I would have to think that his take is ignorant.

Most people have been “just writing” on the web for over a decade. Look at where it’s gotten us.

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> Most people have been “just writing” on the web for over a decade

This sentiment is also hard to take seriously. Who are “most people”? How would you know who is “writing on the web” and if it somehow represents a majority of humans, or even a majority of humans with home Internet access, which I highly doubt?

I would argue that a very loud, very small minority of people write on the web, which may be the cause of our dysfunction. Encouraging a more diverse crowd to think deeply and overcome presentation anxiety via public long-form writing seems like a good thing.

I haven't. I registered on ghost two years ago before turning 40 and have been paying them for two years now while I write nothing. It's hard to get started. I'm hoping to overcome this. This post helps.

Try writing in a private journal first in order to develop the habit of writing.

I'm a bit eccentric in this respect as I journal more than most people. I have subject matter journals that I use. When I'm working on graphics, I write in my graphics programming journal. When I'm working through abstract algebra, I write in my maths journal(s).

I do some times come across ideas for longer-form essays. But it's usually from the accumulation of small ideas, thoughts, feelings, and the like that I find them.

Eventually, blog posts.

However if it's the anxiety of performing for others that overwhelms you, try developing the habit of writing in private. You can conquer those anxieties later when you're more confident in your underlying skills.

Here’s what I wish someone had told me a lot earlier:

It’s OK to blog about silly things. Rant about something that annoyed you. Talk about how you made something. It doesn’t have to be perfect. No one cares if you make mistakes. Going from zero to something is the important part, not going from something to perfection.

And the more you do all the, the sooner you’ll find your own voice, and the easier it all gets.

I believe OP is talking about people "just writing" in short form on social media like twitter / FB / etc - getting a few words up without much "thought" behind it and hitting publish.

A social media post is a kind of writing but I took the original post to mean a longer, more publicly available work. They suggest 100 words, which would make for a long Facebook post.

> Most people have been “just writing” on the web for over a decade. Look at where it’s gotten us.

Writing on blogs creates some valuable content I benefit from reading, and a lot of content that costs me nothing because I'm never aware of it.

Social media is where people would benefit from writing less. Over and over, I discover someone who produces great high-effort, high-quality content in some medium (blog posts, books, conference presentations), follow them on Bluesky, and then unfollow them because I don't want to read their reactions to random events or their conversations with other people. Even if their daily chatter is much more insightful and informative than the average person's, it's the wrong place for me to invest the energy and attention it takes to process. I feel so much better, and perform so much better personally and professionally, if I save that part of my energy budget for personal interactions with friends, family, and coworkers.

On blogs, people should write to their heart's content. They should write as much for themselves as for other people.

I think “writing” in this context is a considered, thoughtful and somewhat more rigorous activity than what happens on social media. If you exclude social media posts, I would not agree that most people have been “just writing” on the web.

Writing is thinking, typing a snarky response to clickbait isn't writing, it is creating content for someone else's ad mill.

I completely agree. Only write if you have something to say. World does not need more pointless drivel, like the linked post.

Lecturing comments about what the world needs from someone who uses words like "pointless drivel" just serves to prove the poster's point. We need more writers and fewer critics.

> Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it's done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves.

-Brendan Behan.

I write stuff, and don’t especially care who reads it: https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany

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