Recently I came across a great idea that I’ve been talking about with everybody who’ll listen – Scott Hanselman’s exhortation to not waste your key strokes.
I love this idea. It speaks to my own impulse to write so I leave something of myself behind. It isn’t purely selfish, as the idea is that if you know something, and you’re in a position where you’re going to tell someone about it, it’s better to work that knowledge into a shareable form that’s accessible while you’re not in the building and then send them the link, rather than putting it in one email to one person. Thus advances humanity.
Think about the amount of times a Reddit comment from ten years ago has saved your ass. And then think about the times you’ve been screwed at work because the only person who can answer your question just went home, or quit, or is on holiday.
Or died.
Single points of failure really suck.
I’d already kinda come to a similar conclusion myself. I’ve had this blog for over ten years now and part of the reason I started it was to share some knowledge while it was still fresh in my brain. I remembered how impenetrable Ulysses was before I finally made some progress and decided to write my undergrad thesis on it. I didn’t want that knowledge to sit on a shelf somewhere, so I whipped it up as accessibly as I could and turned it into this blogpost. Ditto my post on academic essay writing; a lot of my friends were asking me for advice around that time, so I thought why not do a post.
(I am not an expert, I’ve just shared what I know, whatever that is).
And I remember hearing about the Sims reading list and not being able to find an easy copy of it. I ended up finding a photograph someone had taken of a page in the manual and posted to Twitter. It definitely wasn’t on Goodreads back then like it is now. Still, in the spirit of sharing, I transcribed it and threw it up on my blog. It got linked to under a Super Bunnyhop video which is like, a career highlight for me. A few other people have found it since and hopefully it’s been of use to them.
I try take and share notes at work as often as I can. I take the notes for my own benefit (if you think your memory is flawless you’ve just forgotten how bad your memory is). But if I’ve got them, I might as well share them. And I work in a sector where outcomes aren’t always obvious; being able to demonstrate change is really important. A trail of notes helps me do that, and sharing the notes means my colleagues can spot patterns that have eluded me.
Then there’s my D&D campaign journal. We’re a few sessions in and I’m already finding the notes from earlier sessions invaluable. It’s nice to know the name of the blacksmith, and keep track of what your character owes their party. And it’s up on a blog, so other people in the group can access it as they please. And if anyone else finds it entertaining, then great!
I used to really love sites like GameFAQs and Everything2, and I was really sad that I didn’t have the skill or the knowledge base to contribute to places like that at the time. I’m glad I’ve found someone who has put a name to this impulse.
So yeah, don’t waste your keystrokes! Writing what you know is the first thing people tell you for a reason, but consider what you know that you could share, for the betterment of humanity and our collective knowledge, the way the internet was supposed to be.
- Header image source: https://negativespace.co/white-keyboard/
James Farson 
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