UPDATE: This was an April Fool’s joke. I actually stated this in the bottom of the original post, but in a very small font, which some people noticed. :)

I’m totally done with blogging. Hanging my blogging hat and never looking back. I started blogging on http://haack.org/ way back when around 1998. I tried to include a Wayback Machine archive link, but some domain squatters put a robots.txt file onto haack.org. Bummer. Shoulda held onto that domain.

If you follow my twitter stream, you’ve probably noticed I’ve been lamenting about blogging lately. A lot of bloggers, myself included, put an unhealthy amount of pressure on themselves to continue producing content. It becomes a bit of a self imposed boilerroom.

When I read about Dare stopping his blog, unlike many people who felt sad, I felt envious. Think of all the free time he must’ve freed up. I can totally understand the reasons. He’s getting ready to have a kid. I recently had one (almost 10 months ago). All the time I spend on blogging, is time not spent with my wife and my kid. I do have hobbies other than software.

Not only that, but a lot of the fun in blogging is gone. I feel like discourse in the blogosphere has become so polarized lately, much like the political climate in this country. People seem content with “Drive By Commenting”, messing with someone’s day with a vitriolic comment without regard for conseqences. I’m happy that people vehemently disagree with each other and me, I wish we could keep the discourse civil and focused on finding common ground. Just because I disagree with you doesn’t mean I have to think your point is completely unreasonable or that you’re stupid.

I’ll still read blogs and be on Twitter. The discourse isn’t much higher on Twitter, but the time commitment is small enough to make it worth it. I predict blogging itself will be dead in a year anyway with everyone moving to Twitter or Twitter-like services.

Now that spring and summer is on its way to the Northwest, I think the timing for this move is good. I know this will disappoint many of my friends, but I have to do what’s right for me and my family. I hope you understand.

 

Yes, this is an April Fool’s Joke