“Tell me, what are words for?” They are for blogging! Earlier today during an informal espresso live stream in the #indieweb cafe, Spotify was playing an auto-generated daylist, something like “romantic 80s tuesday morning”, and the 1982 song “Words”^1 by the band Missing Persons came on. When we heard this lyric: 🎶 What are words for when no one listens? 🎶 I remarked half-jokingly in response: Words are for blogging, whether anyone is listening, reading, or not. Another participant noted that blogging sometimes feels like screaming into the void. I noted it doesn’t matter if anyone is reading (or listening), it’s fine to blog for an audience of one, yourself, even just to have something to refer to or reference in the future. When I write a post it’s often directed at only a small number of people, who may be part of a larger conversation. The point of publishing it publicly is to assert a level of confidence and credibility by the act of “putting it on the permanent record” (since nearly everything blogged is promptly indexed and archived.) with a permalink. The lyrics have some quite prescient bits, like this: “No one notices, I think I'll dye my hair blue Media overload bombarding you with action It’s getting near impossible to cause distraction” Written and sung more than forty years ago. Long before the web (or #socialWeb) was a thing. Rewriting the lyrics as a parody could be a fun project, e.g.: 🎶 What are blogs for when no one reads them? 🎶 some existing lyrics barely need any edits, like: “It’s like the feeling at the end of the page When you realize you don't know what you just read” perhaps an exercise for the reader for now. Previously: “Inbox Zero” (parody of The Fixx “Saved by Zero”^2) * https://tantek.com/w/InboxZero (2009-01-29 https://tantek.com/twttr/status/1160324190) This is post 10 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts ← https://tantek.com/2025/055/t1/three-steps-indieweb-cybersecurity → 🔮 Glossary blog https://indieweb.org/blog blogging https://indieweb.org/blogging permalink https://indieweb.org/permalink why blog https://indieweb.org/why_post References ^1 https://libre.fm/artist/Missing+Persons/track/Words (YouTube link inside) ^2 https://libre.fm/artist/The+Fixx/track/Saved+by+Zero (YouTube link inside)

“Tell me, what are words for?” They are for blogging!

Earlier today during an informal espresso live stream in the #indieweb cafe, Spotify was playing an auto-generated daylist, something like “romantic 80s tuesday morning”, and the 1982 song “Words”¹ by the band Missing Persons came on.

When we heard this lyric:

🎶 What are words for when no one listens? 🎶

I remarked half-jokingly in response:

Words are for blogging, whether anyone is listening, reading, or not.

Another participant noted that blogging sometimes feels like screaming into the void.

I noted it doesn’t matter if anyone is reading (or listening), it’s fine to blog for an audience of one, yourself, even just to have something to refer to or reference in the future.

When I write a post it’s often directed at only a small number of people, who may be part of a larger conversation. The point of publishing it publicly is to assert a level of confidence and credibility by the act of “putting it on the permanent record” (since nearly everything blogged is promptly indexed and archived.) with a permalink.

The lyrics have some quite prescient bits, like this:

“No one notices, I think I'll dye my hair blue
Media overload bombarding you with action
It’s getting near impossible to cause distraction”

Written and sung more than forty years ago. Long before the web (or #socialWeb) was a thing.

Rewriting the lyrics as a parody could be a fun project, e.g.:

🎶 What are blogs for when no one reads them? 🎶

some existing lyrics barely need any edits, like:

“It’s like the feeling at the end of the page
When you realize you don't know what you just read”

perhaps an exercise for the reader for now.

Previously: “Inbox Zero” (parody of The Fixx “Saved by Zero”²)
* https://tantek.com/w/InboxZero (2009-01-29 https://tantek.com/twttr/status/1160324190)

This is post 10 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts

← https://tantek.com/2025/055/t1/three-steps-indieweb-cybersecurity
→ 🔮

Glossary

blog
https://indieweb.org/blog
blogging
https://indieweb.org/blogging
permalink
https://indieweb.org/permalink
why blog
https://indieweb.org/why_post

References

¹ https://libre.fm/artist/Missing+Persons/track/Words (YouTube link inside)
² https://libre.fm/artist/The+Fixx/track/Saved+by+Zero (YouTube link inside)