There’s a version of writing online that has nothing to do with growth, engagement, or reach. You write because you have something to say, and you publish it because someone might find it useful.
That version still exists. It’s just quieter now.
The algorithm problem
When distribution is controlled by a few platforms, the incentive to write shifts toward what performs — short takes, hot opinions, content designed to be shared before it’s finished being read.
RSS readers are a partial antidote. The people who follow an RSS feed have made a deliberate choice. They’re not scrolling. They came to read.
Why write at all?
Writing is how I think. A half-formed thought gets sharper when it has to become a sentence. An opinion gets tested when it has to withstand being written down.
The blog is for me. If it’s useful to you, that’s a bonus.
The oxcart
The name is from a poem by Donald Hall — Ox-Cart Man, about a man who makes things, sells them, and starts over. The economy of it. No stockpiling, no scaling.
That felt right for a blog.