Should notes be public by default? §

Tough question, and the one I’m asking myself right now. I want to lower the friction of publishing things, in other words, make it easier for me to blog. However, the bulk of my output I would rather keep it private. At least in my current perception. Therefore, I tend to think that notes should be private by default. Only when they reach a certain maturity stage, they are ripe enough to become a public note.

Looking at other’s digital gardens I had the feeling that this argument can be easily challenged. First:

There is a big difference when I’m writing something knowing it will be public §

Take this note. I’m trying a bit more to formulate meaningful, connected sentences. To dialogue to a reader, not to myself. It is extra effort. It is effort that I wonder whether it’s justified. Someone could read a concept, an idea of mine and challenge it. I like this. This could create a feedback loop, whereby my understanding of a given topic improves even further. This mechanism is compromised when the bulk of my ideas remain private.

It is also difficult to ask oneself, when a note is good enough to become public. Is an extra burden taking resources when writing things. I think that writing, or more broadly, the sharing of ideas, should be as easy as it can be. My tooling should reflect that.

Now, second:

It could increase my motivation §

When something is open for feedback, you get directly reminded that you produce the object of the feedback. This comes with the friendly reminder attached to revisit your thoughts on the topic, which leads to a more natural round of spaced repetition. This is a cool thing. I wonder, however, how favorable this plays out in the long run. It could easily become another source of stress.

My two cents §

I’ll leave my notes private by default. Not only because of privacy concerns, but also I think of my experience reading other digital gardens. Commiting everything: journals, ideas, inputs, easily lead to a cluttered experience to who is seeing. It becomes hard to filter the relevant stuff. All seem unfinished. I know, that is the whole point. But I’m still not convinced that this is the way to go.

I’m adept of small bets. And this is one of them. I’ll try to share more read-worthy stuff here. It’ll be kind of a blog. A blog where publishing stuff is more in-sync with my second-brain.