[HN Gopher] I'm going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical
___________________________________________________________________
I'm going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical
Author : gaws
Score : 224 points
Date : 2022-05-09 16:57 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (kottke.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (kottke.org)
| joemazerino wrote:
| I've been a big fan of Jason since I came across his blog in the
| 2000s. I wish the best for him and his tree.
| tabiv wrote:
| Maybe, like his tree, his pot is way to small and he is root-
| bound.
| chizhik-pyzhik wrote:
| He should probably plant the fig tree outside, at this point.
| (Not sure how that fits in to the analogy.)
| jcims wrote:
| Probably that he should put himself into reality rather than
| the facsimile that's necessarily created through the editorial
| process.
| DFHippie wrote:
| I infer he's living in Vermont at this point. I don't think it
| will thrive outside unless he's got a greenhouse.
| MontyCarloHall wrote:
| Jason posts a handful of cool links each week and occasionally
| writes a few paragraphs about them. He also sometimes produces a
| podcast. As far as I can tell, this is the full extent of his
| job.
|
| It's really hard to imagine getting "burnt out" from this. It
| sounds exactly how many people actively enjoy spending their free
| time: surf the internet for fun and take a few minutes sharing a
| couple cool links with your friends.
| astroalex wrote:
| I disagree.
|
| Firstly, I believe you underestimate the amount of work Jason
| does and the amount of stress he is under.
|
| I've read Kottke.org since I was a kid, and it's the only blog
| I still regularly read. There's a reason it's the only website
| I've looked at _everyday_ for the _majority of my life_ :
| consistent excellence. Anecdotally, whenever Jason has a guest
| writer come on his blog, I can tell before I even read the by-
| line. It's just not the same quality.
|
| And that doesn't happen for free. I imagine it takes a huge
| amount of work and thought to successfully curate The Whole
| Internet into something that people actually want to read for
| 24 years. Remember that his livelihood depends directly on
| driving traffic to his website -- there's no safety net or
| wiggle room. This sounds incredibly stressful to me.
|
| Secondly, in another comment you claim that because other
| people with different jobs might be burnt out from those jobs,
| it is not reasonable for Jason to feel burnt out from his job,
| and therefore his sabbatical is unwarranted.
|
| This makes no sense. Anyone can get burnt out from any job, and
| if they have the privilege to do so (and I do agree with you
| that it is a privilege), they should take time off. In a
| similar vein, if someone suffers from depression, that person
| should seek therapy if they can, regardless of whether someone
| else has life circumstances that are worse.
|
| It makes no sense to prevent someone from taking time off (or
| seeking therapy) just because their life isn't as bad as
| someone else's. Instead, we should advocate for better working
| conditions (or access to therapy) for those who cannot afford
| the privilege.
| MontyCarloHall wrote:
| I didn't say his sabbatical is unwarranted; he can spend his
| life however he pleases. I simply said that I think it's
| extremely tone deaf and sneeringly privileged for Jason to
| describe his current state as "burnt out." This is a very
| strong term referring to a state of extreme mental anguish
| induced by an unreasonable and inescapable level of overwork
| that applies more to people forced to work 60+ hour weeks at
| minimum wage than to people whose livelihood is posting cool
| links a handful of times a week. As I said in another post,
| it would be equally tone deaf for a millionaire to
| unironically describe themselves as being "impoverished" due
| to a small cut in their yearly bonus or an underperforming
| investment.
|
| If Jason simply wrote that he's sick of maintaining his blog
| and wants to try something new, that would be perfectly fine.
|
| >I imagine it takes a huge amount of work and thought to
| successfully curate The Whole Internet into something that
| people actually want to read for 24 years.
|
| I disagree. Plenty of prolific Reddit and Hacker News posters
| do the same thing in their spare time.
|
| >Anecdotally, whenever Jason has a guest writer come on his
| blog, I can tell before I even read the by-line. It's just
| not the same quality.
|
| Isn't that because they usually post more long-form original
| content (e.g. https://kottke.org/tag/Tim%20Carmody) than cool
| links?
| wfme wrote:
| I enjoy the irony of calling the author " tone deaf".
| jpadkins wrote:
| maybe people just need to take a break from the internet?
| especially people who have been a part of the internet for
| almost the whole time of the commercial web.
| MontyCarloHall wrote:
| It really rubs me the wrong way that someone claims to be
| "burnt out" from a job that probably requires an average of
| an hour or two a day of non-taxing work. I'd love to see
| Jason say with a straight face that he's "burnt out" to a
| minimum wage worker who works 12+ hours days, 7 days a week,
| or even to your average office drone who spends 8 hours a day
| pushing TPS reports without any breaks in a soulless cubicle.
| It just seems really tone deaf and privileged, especially
| given how much Jason has loved to post about issues regarding
| privilege as of late.
|
| It's on the level of someone saying they're "malnourished"
| because they had to give up a daily diet of Michelin Star-
| level restaurant food.
| edmcnulty101 wrote:
| I got the same feeling.
|
| Wish I had the luxury to tell my boss , hey I'm burnt out,
| be back in 6 months or so.
| bombcar wrote:
| The term used to be ennui in this case - but burnout
| makes you sound more like you're "one of us" I guess.
| santoshalper wrote:
| I really feel like you're reading too much into the term
| "burned out". You can get sick of doing anything and lose
| the spark. I've never managed to do anything consistently
| for half as long as he's run his blog. It's kind of amazing
| to me he lasted this long.
|
| I just get the sense that his interest in it is waning, and
| he doesn't want to just "check the box" every day. It's his
| right. Just because some people live in terrible
| conditions, doesn't mean he can't be sick of his job.
|
| I'm curious, would it have bothered you as much if he'd
| just said: "I'm sick of this blog and I'm quitting it?"
| because that's basically what he did, except he promised to
| come back (I wonder if he'll regret that promise in six
| months).
| MontyCarloHall wrote:
| I agree with everything you wrote. This is the crux of my
| annoyance:
|
| >I'm curious, would it have bothered you as much if he'd
| just said: "I'm sick of this blog and I'm quitting it?"
| because that's basically what he did, except he promised
| to come back (I wonder if he'll regret that promise in
| six months).
|
| Yes, this is exactly how he should have phrased it.
| "Burnt out" is a very strong term that refers to a state
| of extreme mental anguish induced by an unreasonable and
| inescapable level of overwork. It feels insulting and
| sneeringly privileged coming from someone whose job is to
| surf the internet for a few hours a day and sometimes
| post about it.
|
| It is as if someone unironically described themselves as
| "severely clinically depressed" after their favorite
| sports team lost a game, or someone in the top 1%
| sincerely calling themselves "impoverished" after a
| slight cut to their yearly bonus (or the recent bloodbath
| in the stock market).
| nullandvoid wrote:
| I think burnout is unique to an individual, and can
| simply be bought on by prolonged working on something
| (anything) that doesn't deliver the results you expect.
|
| If the blog poster expected to be happy, or to have
| riches for example, and neither occurred at the level
| they expect (especially now 24 years in) burn out occurs.
| nocman wrote:
| While I see where you are coming from, that's your
| definition of "burnt out", but it is not the only valid
| one, and many obviously don't require the condition to be
| as extreme as you do for the term to be valid.
|
| I don't know anything about Jason, so I can't make an
| informed call on whether I think he is overly
| exaggerating things by using the term.
|
| I do think there is at least a version of "burnt out"
| that just means you are really tired, because you have
| put a lot of effort into something for a long period of
| time, to the point that you are questioning whether it is
| worth it to you to continue doing it.
|
| However, yeah, some people probably say "I'm so burnt out
| on 'X'" because they've spent over a half hour on it, and
| it still isn't done. That doesn't qualify, in my opinion.
| patternMachine wrote:
| Is it possible that running a blog is not as easy as you
| think?
| thefaux wrote:
| You sound burned out.
| karaterobot wrote:
| You can get burned out from anything, though. I like pizza, and
| look forward to the next pizza I get to eat. But if you made me
| eat pizza every day for 24 years, I'd want to take a long break
| from eating pizza.
| kajecounterhack wrote:
| I'm not saying curation is the world's hardest job but stakes
| are a bit different when you've become popular enough to make a
| living off of it. It's like being a Youtuber -- folks donate to
| you because you add value to their lives via your content. Even
| if generating links and paragraphs seems low-effort to you, to
| do it well every day for 24 years you can't shut off your
| consumption of media and you need to stay in a certain mindset.
| You are always a bit concerned about whether you are delivering
| value too. Every job takes a psychological toll and one that
| involves being "on" for 24 years certainly warrants taking a
| break.
|
| It's also clear that Jason has other things going on in life
| and wanting to clear your plate and reset is very human and
| understandable.
| judofyr wrote:
| I think people react here because of the term "burn out".
| It's usually used when you've been under high stress for a
| longer period and you completely collapse and is unable to do
| any work.
|
| Losing motivation for a project and moving over to new things
| is _very_ different from a burn out.
| kajecounterhack wrote:
| > I think people react here because of the term "burn out".
| It's usually used when you've been under high stress for a
| longer period and you completely collapse and is unable to
| do any work.
|
| Yeah you're probably right, though it's so annoying when
| people can't contextualize the usage of terms like "burn
| out" -- what's "high stress" or "a longer period?" Isn't
| that subjective?
|
| > Losing motivation for a project and moving over to new
| things is very different from a burn out.
|
| Is it though? I googled "burnout" and got "Burnout is a
| form of exhaustion caused by constantly feeling swamped."
| If someone says the reason they are taking a break is
| because they are burned out, who is anyone to say that's
| not what they're experiencing?
|
| If you've heard of Chinese water torture, it's one little
| drop at a time over a long period of time -- seems entirely
| plausible that 24 years of being in non-stop curation mode
| could make someone feel exhausted and constantly swamped.
| munificent wrote:
| The emotional experience of an activity is 10% the activity
| itself and 90% the framing around the activity and what it
| means for your life.
|
| It's not the surfing and posting links. It's the knowing _if I
| don 't surf and post sufficiently interesting links every day,
| I can't afford my health insurance._ The stakes are much higher
| in the latter.
| MontyCarloHall wrote:
| >[K]nowing _if I don 't <perform satisfactorily at my job>, I
| can't afford my <life necessities>_"
|
| is true for literally everyone except the independently
| wealthy. It is a lot easier to not stress over for someone
| for whom "the activity itself" is a non-demanding job, than
| for someone whose job is inherently extremely emotionally or
| physically draining.
|
| As an extreme example, suppose my parents bestowed on me a
| trust fund. It affords me a monthly allowance that lets me
| live an upper middle class lifestyle without having to
| otherwise work. The only requirement to get this allowance is
| to have an earnest phone call with my mother for an hour each
| week. Failure to do so results in the trust being revoked.
| Saying that I'm "burnt out" from "knowing _if I don 't call
| my mom this week, my whole income disappears_" would be
| absurd. The ease of my carefree lifestyle is more than enough
| to offset the mild stress of having to remember to call my
| mom on a weekly basis.
| munificent wrote:
| Yes, and that's why jobs are more stressful than hobbies
| even when the activity is the same. I think you're just
| restating my point?
|
| The parent comment was, essentially, "Why is doing X
| stressful for Kottke who does it for work when I do X for
| fun and don't find it stressful at all?" And the answer
| is... Kottke does it for work and you do it for fun.
| kinnth wrote:
| Currently on my 4th month of a Sabbatical and not looking back.
| It's great to explore and find joy in the world offline again.
|
| I also no longer feel the need to be validated by the work that I
| do but really by how I feel and I feel good.
| benjaminwootton wrote:
| Could you expand on that?
|
| Something about "not feeling the need to be validated by work"
| sounds appealing and is bubbling in my mind recently, but I'm
| not sure how that looks day to day.
| gilbetron wrote:
| Fittingly, that tree seems to mostly need a larger place to grow,
| much like the author.
| newaccount2021 wrote:
| people posting things on the internet just isn't that much of a
| novelty anymore
|
| frankly nothing "internet" is a novelty anymore
|
| no one needs your edgy take, nonlinear thinking, "challenging
| ideas"...its all just blah blah blah
|
| the world needs people to build houses, not websites
|
| get used to seeing more old-tyme content creators sign off for
| good, most of their bits had just been reduced to noise anyway
| gentle wrote:
| I've been reading Jason every day for the last 20-something
| years. I love his writing voice and his perspective on the world.
|
| There's no other blog I read as consistently or as
| enthusiastically. I hope he gets the time out he needs from his
| sabbatical. I look forward to the next 20 years of reading his
| work.
| kingnothing wrote:
| I took a 6 month sabbatical and am just now interviewing for work
| again. It's been one of the best decisions of my career and I
| would highly recommend everyone who can to save up and make it
| happen for themselves. I worked for over a decade before feeling
| burnt out and realizing I needed to make a change. Fortunately
| I'd been saving for this for quite a while, knowing I'd want to
| do it eventually. It's been amazing to have time to myself to
| ponder what I want out of the rest of my work life, enjoy hikes
| in the middle of the week, work on a side project, level up my
| cooking game, and spend time with friends and family without
| regard for having to return to work at the end of several week
| long vacations. I'm eager to get back to work and am already
| looking forward to my next sabbatical and how it will affect my
| future self. Live a little leaner, save up, and take some time
| for yourself. We don't have much of it.
|
| Here's a relevant TED talk I found to be inspiring:
| https://www.ted.com/talks/stefan_sagmeister_the_power_of_tim...
| alisonatwork wrote:
| I am just returning from a 10 month sabbatical, my second
| deliberate one in the past 5 years, and one of several career
| breaks I have taken since I started working in tech in the late
| 90s. I also highly recommend it. For me weekends and even
| annual leave doesn't reach the same level of relaxation that I
| can hit when I know that there is no job hanging over my head,
| and no countdown to when I need to return. (Running out of cash
| would be a fairly hard limit, of course, but in our industry
| it's easy to put enough money away to live without work for a
| year every few years.)
|
| One thing I don't feel is that these sabbaticals have
| necessarily been some kind of radical life-altering experience.
| I pretty much just did the same stuff that I enjoyed doing
| anyway, but I did it entirely at my own pace, with zero
| pressure or stress. I'm not really seeking enlightment, I'm
| just seeking peacefulness.
|
| As I am getting older, I am thinking that perhaps instead of
| doing my usual 1-2 years at a couple of different companies and
| then breaking, it might be nicer to have a consistent job that
| would allow me to break and come back. I have returned to two
| companies in my employment history - one after spending a year
| overseas, and another that I returned to part-time as a remote
| freelancer during COVID. Unfortunately I don't think many
| companies are inclined to offer this as a formal benefit,
| especially in countries where months-long parental leave isn't
| a thing. I suppose people who enjoy these kinds of sabbaticals
| and come back refreshed and hopefully more productive are still
| enough of a minority that it isn't seen as something that would
| be in a company's interest to promote.
| xirdstl wrote:
| I took two sabbaticals last decade, the first 6 months and the
| second about a year.
|
| After the last, I started a new job full time for about a year,
| after which I transitioned to working just Monday - Wednesday
| (8 hour days). I'm in year 4 of this schedule. For me, I think
| this works better than full time and occasional sabbaticals. I
| have not approached anything near burn out.
| genmon wrote:
| Kottke.org defined a kind of blogging which expresses wonder in
| the world around us, a format which has been cloned and bent to
| the shape of SEO a million times since. More Kottkes and fewer
| content farms in the future please. My newsreader will be a less
| inspiring place until he returns.
|
| (Although... 24 years is a hella long time without a break.
| Sabbaticals traditionally come after 7 years. So no pressure to
| come back anytime soon Jason.)
| at-fates-hands wrote:
| Last year I started cycling off of social media. I normally do 30
| days on and then 60 days off. Rinse and repeat. Its definitely
| has re-shaped a lot of how I view my life and what's truly
| important and what's just white noise bogging my brain down.
|
| I'm not surprised by his move to unplug for an extended period of
| time. A lot of older people I work with (40-50's) are unplugging
| their social media, and starting to limit a lot of their screen
| time and their kids screen time.
|
| I feel like a pendulum is starting to swing away from being
| accessible 24/7 and always feeling like you need to be constantly
| plugged into everything.
| lqet wrote:
| > My plant is not ok.
|
| That pot is too small for such a large plant.
| jhoechtl wrote:
| The fig trees pot is to small.
| calibas wrote:
| It's also lanky and lopsided because it's trying to get more
| light.
| unpopularopp wrote:
| Wish more people had the financial freedom to just take a break.
| Everyone needs it, only a few can do it.
| thecrumb wrote:
| Must be wonderful to actually have the luxury to step away... I'm
| living the American dream - to work a non-rewarding job for no
| other reason other than health insurance. How do people manage
| these sabbaticals? Are they just wealthy enough so they don't
| need income?
| the_lonely_road wrote:
| You can buy your own insurance policy. You only chose to use
| your company provided insurance because they pay for half of it
| and no rational person takes on a large expense for no reason.
| If you can afford to take six months off and travel to Europe
| you can afford to pay full rate for insurance for 6 months
| while you do it and they go back to a half priced company
| policy when you get back.
| mgkimsal wrote:
| They may pay half, or most, or all, or none. OP didn't say
| explicitly?
|
| But... you may not be able to get your own with any tax
| benefits if your company offers _something_ and you choose
| not to take it. That 's my understanding anyway. And...
| health insurance is just totally hosed in the US, with
| regulations like that on the books.
|
| Take employers out of the equation. Let everyone buy their
| own, and/or, institute some basic govt policy, and let people
| buy private on top.
|
| If you're buying for a family, it can be prohibitively
| expensive. Even a few years back (2016/207), high deductible
| plans for some of my colleagues were north of $1500/month
| with $10k deductibles for 2 people in their 50s with an early
| 20s kid.
| nightski wrote:
| For a family yes it gets crazy. But as a self employed mid-
| thirties person it wasn't too terrible. $300/mo, $1,500
| deductible, etc.. Yes expensive, but doable for someone
| determined enough.
| dhosek wrote:
| I take 1/6 of every paycheck1 and put it in a CD ladder. This
| enables me (in theory) to take every seventh year off. I would
| be taking next year off except I ended up taking an unplanned
| 6-month break last year because of Covid, so I'm going to wait
| until 2025 for my next sabbatical. One key thing is to live a
| far below your means as possible.
|
| [?] 1. I also put half of any "extra" income that comes my way
| and if I slide money that I don't use into that fund as well.
| ryantgtg wrote:
| Kottke has a paid membership system, and in the post he notes
| he's not closing it down and doesn't expect _everyone_ to
| cancel their sub.
| tylergetsay wrote:
| If a knowledgeable person on your team is burnt out and
| considering a new job, a long (paid) vacation can be
| advantageous for all.
| SQueeeeeL wrote:
| Most managers don't have the luxury of being Gabe Newell from
| Valve. They'll just fire you as soon as you sound like your
| numbers are going down with some cause. Even if in the long
| run it'll be better, most managers only work at companies for
| 4 years, under VPs who only work their 6 or 7 years. The long
| term health of the team isn't a priority for anyone.
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| I'm sure it would be but I've never heard of that happening.
|
| I once went to my manager saying I was worried about burning
| out bc of pushing so hard on a project with a legal deadline.
| Asked him to consider/look into options for me to take a
| month off _unpaid_ at the end of it.
|
| He said he'd talk to leadership about it and get back to me.
| I got fired the next day.
| askonomm wrote:
| This is where I would have lawyered up. I don't know where
| this happened to you, but over in Europe I'm pretty sure
| this is illegal and I'd be gunning for some sweet, sweet
| money.
| themadturk wrote:
| Unless they're in a legally protected class or live in
| Montana, his or her employer can fire them for whatever
| reason they want (and the employee can leave for whatever
| reason they want as well).
| munificent wrote:
| _> Are they just wealthy enough so they don 't need income?_
|
| There's a sliding scale here. Few are wealthy enough that they
| don't need income _forever_. But many can save up enough to
| take a few weeks or a few months off. More like a long unpaid
| vacation.
| asellke wrote:
| Dare I say no one has done more for the blog form than Mr.
| Kottke. His humble, almost monkish 24-year commitment to not only
| the pursuit of knowledge and meaning in the world, but his
| absolute insistence on sharing that pursuit with anyone who wants
| to ride along in that journey is one of the all-time greatest
| contributions to the web.
|
| Godspeed, Jason. Be well and see you on the flip (in whatever way
| you deem fit).
| naikrovek wrote:
| mkr-hn wrote:
| I wish therapy were more accessible and better regulated. You
| shouldn't have to still be so upset about a normal early
| adopter experience 27 years later that you unload on
| strangers like this.
| shortformblog wrote:
| This has been downvoted, but as someone who has been blogging
| for 13 and a half years now, I'm sorry you had to deal with
| that. You did not deserve that discouragement.
|
| I faced discouragement early on when I wanted to get into
| blogging--in my first attempt, I faced a guy who was
| effectively trying to cyberbully me--but I eventually found
| my way in. I've been at it ever since. I encourage you to
| give it another shot, if you haven't.
| madrox wrote:
| I can't believe it's been 24 years. I remember exploring 0sil8
| way back when and being inspired by the cool things you could
| do with html. How time flies.
| smohnot wrote:
| I have to admit, I will miss the blog. Post the demise of RSS
| it's one of the few places I check in on directly every few days.
|
| What are your other favorites that might help me fill the gap?
| Adraghast wrote:
| > Post the demise of RSS it's one of the few places I check in
| on directly every few days.
|
| What do you mean by this? I saw the announcement in my RSS
| reader before seeing it here.
|
| > What are your other favorites that might help me fill the
| gap?
|
| I actually just purged a lot of my media consumption for
| "burnout" related reasons of my own, but can second some of the
| recommendations Jason included at the end of the post like
| Colossal and Open Culture. He also posted this a couple years
| back:
|
| https://kottke.org/18/04/blogging-is-most-certainly-not-dead
| camgunz wrote:
| Huge fan of kottke, he should take all the time he needs. I will
| say there's no way that tree isn't pot-bound though.
| deltarholamda wrote:
| Agree. Bigger pot will probably do wonders for it.
| mkr-hn wrote:
| >> _" What good is a blog without a thriving community of other
| blogs?"_
|
| This is something I feel every time I think about getting back
| into blogging. A post wasn't quite the scream into the void it is
| now. Back then you'd at least get a few views and a comment or
| two if you wrote something compelling. Sometimes a _lot_ of views
| and someone you don 't even know liking your words enough to
| share them.[0]
|
| I don't know if it's the context shift or the fact that
| newsletters are ascendant but drafting a newsletter doesn't feel
| as useless as drafting something in WordPress. Even with 0
| subscribers.
|
| [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4719730
| reggieband wrote:
| I watch a lot of YouTube and a fair amount of Twitch. Sooner or
| later every creator talks a bit about their anxiety working in
| that content creator grind.
|
| On Twitch, taking a day off may mean losing hundreds of
| subscribers. Streamers are cautious about taking bathroom breaks
| since they can lose thousands of viewers during a short break.
| YouTube ruthlessly punishes creators that don't upload on a
| consistent schedule. I imagine TikTok and Instagram are similar.
|
| My guess is that Kottke has been living under a similar stress
| for 24 years. That has got to wear a person down.
| dahfizz wrote:
| If you're a streamer large enough to be receiving hundreds of
| subs a day, and so many viewers you could lose thousands during
| a bathroom break, you're a multi millionaire. It's hard for me
| to be sympathetic about how stressful their job is when they
| could retire comfortably at any point.
| mkr-hn wrote:
| They always have staff they pay with that money. It doesn't
| all flow into their pockets. It's _very_ hard to reach that
| scale on your own.
| tmp_anon_22 wrote:
| It seems many streamers can barely take care of themselves.
| With the money involved I'd imagine a large cottage
| industry of Agents, Marketers, Content editors, and
| subsidies to friends and teammates who participate in their
| content. Not to mention a complicated tax situations,
| irregular income levels, periodic industry events, etc.
| mwidell wrote:
| Youtube does not punish you if you are not consistent. That is
| simply a myth. There are plenty of very successful youtubers
| who only publish occasionally or irregularly.
| eropple wrote:
| How many of them 1) _always_ published long-form material,
| and 2) hit their stride /"were selected by the algorithm" in
| the last few years?
|
| I would believe that what you describe is true for long-
| established YouTube personalities, and I can think of plenty
| myself, but I can think of pretty few that haven't been doing
| it for at least five years or so (with the exception of the
| woodworking space, where it seems like perhaps there's still
| some growth opportunities despite plenty of creators--my
| guess is it's because the ad revenue is way better there). I
| follow a lot of smaller essayists 'cause I like that sort of
| thing and have a friendly recommendation network to leverage;
| YouTube _very_ rarely recommends me long-form content, in
| either Search or Suggested Videos, from somebody I 've never
| seen before.
| manquer wrote:
| This is the same as between making tv series of 5-6 episodes
| or one of 24 episodes/season or a soap opera doing 200+
| episodes a year.
|
| YT as a platform works for all kinds of producers , but as a
| content creator you are the in the space of high volume low
| quality content then yes publishing frequently is a must.
|
| However if you are high quality low volume creator who is
| almost guaranteed tens of million views you could do only
| infrequently, however each video is going take a lot of time
| to produce.
| rockinghigh wrote:
| > YouTube ruthlessly punishes creators that don't upload on a
| consistent schedule. I imagine TikTok and Instagram are
| similar.
|
| Older videos are naturally downranked because users want fresh
| content. The age of a post is a strong predictor of user
| interaction. However, it doesn't mean Youtube actively punishes
| less frequent creators. YouTube actually promotes a lot of old
| content (>1 year old) compared to other platforms. At the
| extreme, Instagram Stories are deleted after 24 hours forcing
| you to produce content daily.
| prox wrote:
| Sovietwomble has had a stable following (and even growing) for
| years. He doesn't always stream, but yet he is very consistent
| in his timetable. He hardly loses many people when he doesn't
| stream for a while. The guy never goes on holiday though, but
| not because he fears losing subs.
|
| Perhaps it depends on what kind of content creator we are
| talking about. Is it the shock and awe / latest greatest / hype
| train type of content?
| waynesonfire wrote:
| nickelcitymario wrote:
| Please be sure to publish a confessional post the next time
| you're struggling and need a break. I'm sure we'd all like to
| give you the same love and respect you're affording Mr.
| Kottke.
| SCUSKU wrote:
| Personally I have finally come to terms with the fact that I am
| burnt out. This post is inspiring and I appreciate the author's
| honesty about his struggles. I hope soon I can take well well
| needed rest to recharge, and hopefully feel better about my life.
| djvdq wrote:
| I'm about to read it, just wanted to glance at the comments
| first. Man, I know your feel. It was end of last week when I
| realized I'm facing burnout. I've no idea what to do with it.
| Ideally I know that break would be good but yeah, I need to
| work because I like not to starve :/
|
| I hope this post will inspire also me somehow.
|
| But in the meantime - I hope you'll beat it fast.
| epberry wrote:
| Seems it's a good time to step away. Come back in a year with
| a less crazy market and mind.
| admn2 wrote:
| Kottke was very formative to my first big "deep dive" into the
| web and truly being blown away by the community / what would you
| could create. He was one of the original patreons.
|
| Side note: what happened to his social bookmarking site he was
| working on?
| throwawaycuriou wrote:
| kottke heavily shaped my thinking during peak RSS years. I miss
| it. social media taints the deep reflective thought he's fostered
| for over 20 years. I wish him bountiful inspiration on this
| journey.
| Vox_Leone wrote:
| >>> the plant is listing so badly to one side that the whole
| thing tips over without the weight of water in the pot
|
| It is listing towards the light of the window. All trees do it.
| Give it a 180 deg rotation and maybe it will straighten up. Good
| luck.
| lastofthemojito wrote:
| I see myself in Jason Kottke's writing about burnout. I used to
| occasionally marvel that I got paid (and paid pretty well!) to
| solve problems in software. The past few years I've felt mired in
| Jira/Agile hell, working on machines slowed by corporate-mandated
| anti-virus and whatever other spyware, building software that is
| often thrown away due to unrealistic requirements or just plain
| bad requirements gathering.
|
| I've also become a father, which is obviously a time-consuming
| and stressful endeavor.
|
| Oh, and there's this pandemic going on, so I didn't get to see
| much of my Mom while she was dying, but I did feel like I saw
| some extra ugliness in society in general.
|
| I'm not sure which of these (or other) factors have contributed
| more or less to my feeling this way. I've been starting to think
| about taking some time off, although I'm not sure how much I'll
| be able to swing. But if there were a clone of me out there, and
| I could press a button to approve a 6 month sabbatical for him,
| I'd definitely do it.
|
| It's easy to look at the superficial and think, "man this Kottke
| guy had an easy gig, he doesn't deserve a 6 month break", but if
| he's feeling similarly to me, I don't begrudge him. Like the
| Chinese expression says: Only the wearer knows where the shoe
| pinches.
| whafro wrote:
| Good for him. I hope he comes back in a few months with renewed
| energy for the next evolution of kottke.org, but even if not, or
| he heads in a different direction entirely, he deserves it.
| chrismeller wrote:
| While I respect Kottke...
|
| > I appreciate so much what I've built here at kottke.org -- I
| get to read and learn about all sorts of new things every day,
| create new ideas and connections for people, and think in public
| -- and I feel incredibly lucky to be able to set my own schedule,
| be my own boss, and provide for my family.
|
| Yeah, sounds miserable. If only those of us with 9-5 jobs and
| bills to pay could take six months off.
|
| Edit: and those who are commenting and downvoting... where are
| the people who claim they have student loans to pay? The ones who
| can't afford healthcare? The game devs that work 90 hours a week?
| This is a white male who can _afford_ to take 6 months off
| because he can't handle having no boss and writing a blog from
| time to time.
|
| Stop aggrandizing him, it doesn't take courage to take time off,
| it takes _money_. Hypocrites.
| [deleted]
| idiotsecant wrote:
| This comment seems to be more about your situation than it is
| about his.
|
| We aren't crabs in a pot. Someone else doing a good thing does
| not make your life worse. You can simultaneously strive for
| making your own life better and celebrate someone else doing
| something healthy for themselves.
| bombcar wrote:
| I mean this basically is a case of the pot calling the kottke
| black ...
| Adraghast wrote:
| "You're not wrong, you're just being an asshole."
|
| No, it's not very fair he's been able to coast through most of
| his adult life by scrounging up links to things that elder
| millennial nerds find neat, but taking swipes at a person who's
| been going through turmoil for a few years (apparently eight,
| but it's been coming across in his writing for at least the
| past two) does nothing to change that.
|
| Telling kids to clear their plates because there are children
| starving in Africa doesn't actually help feed those children.
| mym1990 wrote:
| Because mental health issues, burnout, and a general want to do
| something different at some point in life can ONLY be
| experienced if you have a 9-5 job and bills to pay.
| Sohcahtoa82 wrote:
| > Stop aggrandizing him, it doesn't take courage to take time
| off, it takes money. Hypocrites.
|
| This is a fine point to make, and I 100% agree.
|
| But your excellent point is ruined by the obnoxious negativity
| preceding it. It's obvious you're incredibly envious, and
| you've allowed your envy to turn you bitter.
|
| But more on topic, there was another thread somewhat recently
| where I commented a similar thing: There are so many people
| that rave about how much happier they are once they quit their
| job and started just doing things they want to do like travel
| the world and work on projects they deem enjoyable. These
| people conveniently leave out the fact that they've got a
| 7-figure savings account to fund their activities. They will
| literally ask minimum wage workers why they work shitty jobs
| instead of going backpacking in New Zealand or some shit.
| DocTomoe wrote:
| Have you considered that 9-5 jobs and bills to pay are a choice
| or at least the result of choices made earlier in your life?
|
| There's no sense in being jealous for the paths other people
| have chosen.
| chrismeller wrote:
| mym1990 wrote:
| And what would be wrong with that?
| chrismeller wrote:
| That's asinine. The fact that someone thinks you could
| just not have a 9-5 job or bills to pay? Sure, I'll just
| pull myself up by my bootstraps and suddenly not worry
| about a job or bills. Thanks, I'll just let them eat cake
| instead!
| jodrellblank wrote:
| You think kottke doesn't have bills to pay?
|
| You think there are no alternatives to 9-5 jobs? No
| people who work different shifts, no people who work 12hr
| days then take long days off? No people who work 9 months
| on / 3 months off? No people who work and live cheap
| while saving then spend the savings on long holidays
| because they want to? No people who have spent years
| building passive income sources so that they can one day
| take long breaks from working? No people who quit their
| jobs to live in the overdraft of their bank account?
|
| And on top of that you think a sarcastic one-line
| complaint is a good contribution to the thread?
| leokennis wrote:
| It's not either - or. I am glad Jason can take half a year off.
| And I wish people with a 9 to 5 like you or me could too.
| [deleted]
| sdoering wrote:
| > While I respect Kottke...
|
| And than showing utmost disrespect by gaslighting and
| diminishing their described experience/state of mind.
|
| Do you really think these "I'm not a... but' or" While I...
| but" comments add positively to the discussion? Why not accept
| that the author is in the described state, acknowledge what you
| read and then, without snark, write that you wished you would
| be able to have a sabbatical from your 9to5 job.
|
| Because than some people might be able to point out that there
| maybe are ways to achieve this. I know a lot of people that did
| that with a regular 9to5 job.
|
| Sure depends on the circumstances. But not impossible.
| Aeolun wrote:
| Wasn't there a post on here recently from a wise old man?
|
| I think they pointed out that _anything_ you say before the
| 'but' is invalidated, and what you really mean comes after.
| ask_b123 wrote:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31199300
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