Jason Preston
Writing

Internet Voyeur (Part 1)

Jason Preston · 2 min read ·

I guess I’d call myself an Internet Voyeur.

Or maybe just a technology Voyeur. I like to see what other people do online and with their computers. I like to see how people use programs and what programs they use. How people think and browse and read and operate online.

I guess Voyeur isn’t exactly the right word because what I’m looking for is better ways to do things myself. I like to see what other people do in case it’s cool and I can do the same.

But it’s also just interesting to me.

So one of the things I like to do when I find good blogs is look for the very first post. For some reason, I feel like there’s a lot to be said about the first thing someone posts in their blog.

It’s really presumptuous to assume a lot of people will read your first post (unless you’re Scott Adams), but it’s also not something that you should ignore. The post should represent your journal and your writing style, but at the same time, if you haven’t departed from it then it probably means you haven’t grown as a writer. Maybe you don’t care.

Should a first post talk about being a first post? Should you get right down to business? It seems like a waste to post something really thoughtful and extensive, since so few people will read it. But it seems cheesy to make a post simply announcing a blog’s existence. I mean, it’s kind of obvious, isn’t it?

So I look at first posts. I think my favorite is from Eric Burns, who kept a “online journal” before he had Websnark. His first post, from April 18th, 1999 begins:

So where do you begin?

A friend of mine once said that
the most tempting sound in the world is silence in an auditorium.

How perfect is that? I think that’s a great way to start.

But it’s fun to see other people’s first posts. If you’re interested, here are some ones that I’ve found interesting:

I don’t know why I find these so fascinating.