Simon Willison on Technical Blogging | SpinGraph: Altruistic reframing
SpinGraph analysis of Simon Willison's Weblog's Simon Willison on Technical Blogging story: altruistic reframing, The Halo, Spin Score 25%, moderate AI repetit…
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technical blogging, perfectionism, publishing discipline
Willison recounts his motivation for starting and sustaining technical blogging. He identifies the 'most surprising impact' as unexpected professional opportunities and community recognition. His core advice is to publish while still dissatisfied with the draft — prioritizing output over polish.
Emphasizes writer psychology and generosity; minimizes discussion of audience reception, editorial rigor, or downstream consequences of unvetted technical claims.
Developer-as-teacher: blogging as humble service, not authority-building or product promotion.
Simon Willison advises developers to lower their standards and publish imperfect technical blog posts to avoid never publishing at all.
No discussion of editorial review, fact-checking norms, or accountability when technical posts contain errors.; No acknowledgment of power dynamics — e.g., how Willison’s established reputation insulates him from scrutiny that newer voices face.
Combines first-person authority (Willison’s recognized expertise) with empathetic language ('nobody will ever know how perfect') to make imperfection feel like solidarity rather than compromise. The framing makes psychological relief feel like professional virtue — even though the article offers no evidence about how readers actually perceive or use such posts, nor addresses situations where technical accuracy outweighs timeliness.
My number one tip for blogging is to lower your standards! Aim to hit publish while you are still actively unhappy with what you have written, because the only alternative is a huge folder full of drafts and never publishing anything at all.
Extracted statistics from the source narrative
Single republished interview from Cynthia Dunlop's 'Write that blog!' series