<a href="/zh/blog/useless-things">（點此閱讀中文版）</a>I’ve never understood why I’m so fascinated by <a href="/en/tags/plotter">pen plotters</a>, <a href="/en/tags/letterpress">letterpress printing</a>, and vintage typewriters.
I did notice what these three things have in common: they were all invented to improve human productivity, and then they were completely replaced by more efficient tools.
I consider myself a practical and rational person. I can’t understand why I’m so drawn to these outdated tools—especially when they cost more combined than buying a computer and printer.
A few days ago, I read this quote from <a href="https://sive.rs/">Derek Sivers</a> in <a href="https://wiwi.blog/blog/derek-sivers-quotes#%E6%B2%92%E7%94%A8%E7%9A%84%E8%97%9D%E8%A1%93">Wiwi’s post</a>:
<blockquote>
“Art is useless by definition. If it was useful, it would be a tool.”
</blockquote>
This suddenly made me realize: I’ve been trying to make these useless tools useful.
But here’s the funny thing—I’m using them for artistic creation, so the results are still useless.
Or maybe, I’m empathizing with them.
They were replaced by computers, just like us engineers are being replaced by AI.
So can we—this group who are destined to become obsolete—work together to create something beautiful?
I’m still searching for answers.

Useless things

<a href="/zh/blog/start-a-personal-website-again">（點此閱讀中文版）</a>I’ve built countless personal websites over the past decades, but most of them fizzled out—I just couldn’t keep them going. (That’s why you’re seeing this “new” website right now.)
This post documents my thoughts on why I decided to build a personal website again. My thinking might change over time, and when it does, I’ll write an update.
<h2>Why build a personal website?</h2>
I’ve had many interests that didn’t last. Over the past few years, I’ve always felt like I was just scratching the surface, and I was too embarrassed to make noise when I only had half a bucket of knowledge. So I stayed quiet.
But as I approach mid-life and look back at the first half of my life, I suddenly realized something: however “easy” the knowledge is, if I don’t review it, I’d forget it completely in less than a year. When I pick it up again, I always have to learn it from scratch. I keep regretting not documenting my learning and creative process.
<h3>The “public sharing” mental block</h3>
When I seriously started thinking about documenting things, I got lost for a while.
If I’m going to spend time documenting, should I find a platform to put my notes so I can easily share them with like-minded people later?
If I’m going to find a platform, should I pick one that makes it easy to reach more people and build upon it? Maybe that account could become a side hustle.
If I’m considering turning this into a side hustle, should I research effective posting strategies?
When I put my work out there, should I present myself professionally so that people will think I’m an expert, pay more attention, and maybe even reach out for collaborations?
The more I researched, the more stuck I felt. If I want to appear professional, I need to become professional first. If I want to become professional, I need to have a learning plan...
I felt like I’d never be ready. I didn’t know where to start.
<h3>Choosing the right way to share</h3>
It wasn’t until <a href="md/blog/rereading-show-your-work-by-austin-kleon/index.en.md">I reread Austin Kleon’s &quot;Show Your Work!&quot; at the end of October</a> that I snapped out of this confusion. This book reminded me: my original intention was simply to document and share my learning process.
Fame is just a lovely side effect that might come from sharing publicly—it wasn’t my goal from the start!
However, at this age, I’ve learned that being honest with myself is the only way to keep going. I can’t pretend I don’t care about money and fame at all. As long as I publish on platforms that could go viral through algorithm recommendations, I’ll inevitably obsess over the best time to post and analyze what content gets good reactions. When a post performs well, I’ll be happy. When the next one gets fewer views than usual, I’ll be disappointed.
<h3>Where no response is normal</h3>
So I chose a middle ground: post publicly, let like-minded people find me, but choose platforms where “not getting a response is normal.”
I try to <a href="md/blog/choosing-sns-platform.zh.md">pick social media platforms like Plurk</a> that don’t use recommendation algorithms to push content. I also build this personal website and blog.
I’ve actually always missed the blog culture from more decades ago. Back then, everyone subscribe to blogs with RSS feeds. We never worried about missing new work from creators we admired, and no one was anxious about platforms not pushing their posts. Sadly, under the influence of social media over the past decade, I thought hardly anyone in Taiwan was still using such old-school ways to publish creative work.
Luckily, I recently discovered that Wiwi’s blog has been updated daily for at least a year. He actively advocates for <a href="https://wiwi.blog/blog/just-blog/">putting content on your own public website rather than social media</a>, which aligns perfectly with what I’ve been wanting to try. I also learned about many bloggers with the same philosophy from his <a href="https://wiwi.blog/blogroll">blogroll</a>. I realized that while my idea is uncommon, it’s not strange—which was hugely encouraging.
The downside of this route is that it’s hard to go viral with a post favored by a platform’s algorithm. On Plurk and personal websites, you have to rely on content that readers genuinely want to share, or content that’s easily discoverable (keywords, SEO, etc.), to be seen by people who didn’t know about you before.
This is also the upside: since it’s so hard to be seen, it’s normal to have zero response. Intentionally choosing platforms that are difficult to gain followers on prevents me from obsessively checking my phone all day after posting.
<h2>Social interaction is still welcome</h2>
If I’m going to post in public anyway, why deliberately choose channels that are hard to reach? That seems stupid and counterintuitive, right?
Well, I’ve had countless experiences of getting too caught up in metrics, and I don’t want to repeat that. Right now, my goal is to keep learning, documenting, creating, and posting. So I’m consciously eliminating everything that might make this habits unsustainable—unwieldy creative tools, platforms that easily lead to excessive attachment, and so on.
After all this, I’m still posting with some hope of being seen and found by like-minded people. If you resonate with what I said and want to <a href="mailto:rayshine.liang@gmail.com">email me</a>, please do. It’ll make my day. 🥰

Why I’m Building a Personal Website Again at 37

<a href="/zh/blog/kids-drawing">（點此閱讀中文版）</a>The bittersweet of watching my kids create.
I'm so happy they have this pure fun now. But I know one day the comparison trap will steal their confidence.
All I can do is help them build a strong bank of fond memories.
Maybe they'll stop making art as teens, but I hope the joy helps them find their way back later.
Just like I did.