Insomnia can't sleep, lying in bed thinking about the article I saw before introducing xlog. Actually, there are two reasons that have been bothering me to try it. The first reason is that web3 is very stressful for someone like me who almost doesn't understand technology. The second reason is that this community feels mainly technical-oriented, and I'm afraid of being criticized if I post random thoughts.
Try a new blogging system#
Actually, it feels more like a blogging community rather than just a blogging system. The content format is similar to that of Jianshu, but the technology used is web3. Because of the technology of web3, I feel that most people who play with this are programmers. As someone who doesn't understand programming at all, I don't know if I can keep up with it. I usually just post my random thoughts on my blog.
I started using blogs almost 10 years ago. I initially used WordPress, which was quite fun to set up (for someone who had just started using the internet), but it was quite bloated, and deploying a blog required various costs (domain names, servers, and even being DDoSed for a site with little traffic). Then I came across static page blogs like Hexo, which had the advantage of being fast (although it slowed down when there were too many things in Hexo, so I switched to Hugo), but every time I updated, I had to write it in Markdown locally and then push it to GitHub using Git. I'm not a programmer, so it was always a hassle for me to use this.
Actually, thinking back, the reason why I wanted to start a blog in the first place was quite funny. I couldn't stand the fact that I had to go through the platform's review process for everything I posted. I wanted to have my own experience without any restrictions. Ten years ago, that was still a relatively relaxed era for reviews (at least compared to now), and it was all about rebellion.
So when I heard about the design concept of xlog, I was slightly intrigued.
I just don't know if xlog supports exporting. After all, I'm currently using Hugo for my blog, and if it supports exporting, I feel like I can maintain two versions, with one as a backup website.
Although I like writing, I'm a bit embarrassed to let others read what I write. So posting content in the community may not be my original intention for blogging. My original intention for blogging may just be to settle my own thoughts. I like a quote from the Argentine writer Borges: "I write not for fame, nor for specific readers, I write to find peace as time passes."
Confusion about web3#
I just registered a wallet, but I don't know how to use it, I'm very confused. Web3 seems to emphasize immutability (although theoretically it can be tampered with, it's almost impossible to get enough votes to do so), but I haven't found any simple and understandable articles to explain how to use it, or even seen any use cases. Although a blogging community is a good attempt, blogs have always been difficult to monetize.
I remember seeing a trading platform before, and I was puzzled. It said that distributed currency had to be traded on a centralized exchange, so how could it overthrow the centralized exchange?
And why do I need an immutable attribute in this blog? Of course, other platforms can block or delete accounts, but the significance of immutability in blogs doesn't seem that great, unless you write some politically sensitive content that would get your account banned on other platforms. The best the operation can do is not recommend it to others, but theoretically, it's still on the blockchain.
In the end, I still don't understand what blockchain is until now. They say these things are packaged in blocks, but where are the blocks stored? Are they transformed into a string of numbers using an algorithm or something?
Maybe programmers need to start explaining what blockchain is to non-programmers from "hello world"?
User experience#
From registration to usage, I haven't encountered any major obstacles so far, and I quite like this visual editing interface. When I first started using Hexo, I had to write articles in Markdown, and it was difficult at first. A plus.
However, the webpage crashed once while I was writing, and it told me to check the console. I'm not a programmer, so I didn't bother looking. But fortunately, everything was still there after refreshing the page. If it had disappeared, I would have given up immediately. One minus, one plus.
It seems that there is a gas fee for publishing, but I haven't figured out where to get it. The introduction says it's free, but some comments are worried that it might become a paid service in the future. If it becomes a paid service, it means that I have to pay for every random thought I post. In terms of cost-effectiveness, it's not as good as static blogs like Hugo. This concern is not unreasonable, so that's why I mentioned earlier that I don't know if exporting is supported. If that situation arises, exporting backups will become important. I just searched and found out that exporting is possible, so it's a plus. Theoretically, every modification is a new submission to the blockchain, so it requires gas fees each time. Although the introduction says that the provided gas fees are enough for hundreds of submissions per day, I'm still observing for now. I, who like to post random thoughts, might not be able to handle this.