L’anno prossimo saranno 17 anni di questo spazio. È bello trovare ancora benzina per andare avanti. Di questi tempi forse me ne serve meno, perché quello che c’è là fuori mi riporta sempre qui. Ma ogni tanto trovi qualcuno che ha scavato più a fondo e ha scoperto le parole giuste. E allora le prendi e le porti qui, nella speranza possano essere utili anche ad altri.

Ultimately, social media became too burdensome to achieve that goal so I take the same approach with blogs: they are starting points that lead to connection and more focused conversation away from the public web.

The tagline for the blog at one point many years ago used to be "expanding my online world" which fits perfectly with this desire to connect with more interesting folks around the web.

Further to this, there is the feeling of being part of something bigger than yourself: the blogging "community". Even though blogging is a very singular pastime, the knowledge that there are others out there, just like you, who throw words at the web through some kind of compulsion to write and share — even if no one will read it – is profound. It reaffirms who you are and what you are doing.

Blogging is a lifeline, a connection to people and a world that might not be possible offline because of the reticence to interact and the fear doing so generates. I can't think of a better reason to do it.