Blogging and the Freedom of the Web

Blogging looks obsolete since streaming got popular, but have you tried to follow a video tutorial? Specifically for tech content, blogging is still a good platform to share knowledge, but as a blog owner who receives few visitors, sometimes I find myself thinking if it worth to go on. A couple of days ago I stumbled upon with a Luciano Ramalho's post in which he explained the motivation behind his personal blog, so I decided to write this post as an extension from that one, with my own perceptions.

The Web born to be free in a sense that each person could be able to create her own site to share ideas. As the Web 2.0 got live, it became even easier because Content Management Systems (CMSs) handled the hard part of maintaining a portal so the content creators could focus on the subject of their interest. But in the end of the day, those tools still required a lot of expertise, despite the fact that many vulnerabilities were discovered for such systems forcing the administrators to continuously update the software.

Of course there are many other variables and stories in between, but the fact is that platforms such as Blogger, Tumblr, and Medium aggregates a lot of bloggers who create content every day for someone else's platform and in return receive a platform that they don't have any administrative issues. On the one hand it is good, because they have any technical burdens, but in the other hand, each day the Web get more and more centralized and people depend on a few companies.

Well, that's basically why I decided to host and create my own space on the Web. I'm a tech guy and I like it, so here I can learn and test a lot of things I read on the books, such as:

• DNS: This protocol is essential for the Web, so I must understand at least its basics to direct traffic to my hosting service.
• Git: My current site is a single Git repository, so I must know how to create and handle repositories.
• Continuous Deployment: Since I wanted to keep things simple for day to day tasks, after each commit the deploy is automatic.
• HTML/CSS/JavaScript: These are basics to structure content, adjust the look and feel, and the behavior of the site.

Of course I'm not an expert in any of these areas, but running this site allowed me to learn more than the books describe. Despite this technical approach, having all of my topics of interest in a single point usually help me. I'm the #1 visitor of my site, because now and then I use it to remember a command or a tip I've already write about.

Last but not least, nothing better than writting to improve write skills. As a security professional, I need to write reports for many activities, and here I keep practicing. Since English is not my mother language and I don't have many opportunities to write day to day, writing posts like this one is my own way to practice.

Let's move on!