Lucky Learner
I’ve read 2600 Magazine (2600.com) "The Hacker Quarterly" off and on for decades. I would run across it at random at places that sell magazines (Barnes and Noble, for instance) and buy that copy.
But I recently ran into it again at a Microcenter checkout, bought a copy, and subscribed to the print edition.
I’ve been reading my subscription issues cover-to-cover and I’ve been struck with how egalitarian 2600 is. They seem to print just about anything. Some of it is by old tech veterans, and some of it is by newbies discovering Linux for the first time. And I think that’s absolutely delightful.
Like many, I love this xkcd:
Saying 'what kind of an idiot doesn’t know about the Yellowstone supervolcano' is so much more boring than telling someone about the Yellowstone supervolcano for the first time.
It’s so easy to assume that whatever you’re passionate about has already been covered a million times. But you should write it anyway. Because for somebody, that’s the first time they’ve ever heard about it. They’re your lucky learners.
Another reason you should write about things, even if you think they’re heavily covered by other writers, is that your voice may be the one that finally speaks to somebody. There’s no one perfect way to describe something or explain something. They’re lucky readers to have found you!
For journalism and reporting too:
The very next day after I made this card, Emanuel of 404 Media (404media.co) wrote in the May 10, 2024 Behind the Blog (which is exclusive to subscribers, but I believe they won’t mind me quoting a paragraph):
"Something I see a lot is readers from communities that have more experience with a certain topic (in this case communications or tech; another very common one for me is information security) say an article is a non-story because they knew generally about it. There isn’t really a good way to say this beyond: the article may not be written specifically for you. There are a lot of people on the internet who don’t have your own experience on whatever the topic might be and likely learned something new from the article."
Exactly.