What's happening at New In Linux
I'm keeping you in the loop on my thinking and direction.
I've been writing about Linux and open source news and software here at NIL for the past month and a half, and I'm taking a moment to reflect openly on and show off what I think I've done successfully here.
Choosing what to cover isn't easy
I'm one person, and as people are known for, I'm of limited capacity. So I'm pretty judicious about what stories I cover at NIL. Some topics I leave to other outlets.
My strategy so far has been to focus on stories that have clear impact on the Linux and open source ecosystem. That's why I've been ignoring the news about the new Steam Controller (though I do have a lot of love for my OG Steam Controller).
I'm also hesitant to cover software and distro updates that are just maintenance or bug fixes. That feels like reporting for reporting's sake, and I don't want to flood NIL's feed with news that isn't really news.
Why it's important: This is why I always include a "why this is important" paragraph in all my news articles. It serves you as the reader in understanding the broader context, and it keeps me accountable.
- Sometimes while writing that paragraph, I realize I can't justify the story and decide to kill it.
RSS feeds are staying full-text
Speaking of feeds, I want to point out that you can add NIL's RSS feeds to your preferred feed reader and you'll get every article I publish in full; no annoying "keep reading on the main website" links.
Jordan Gloor
I knew from the start I wanted to make full-text RSS available to at least some people, and for a moment I considered making it a paid-only feature. After looking into the concept and thinking about it for a while, I changed my mind. Not only is that a technically challenging feat to achieve, but it's also sort of contradictory to the spirit of open source.
- Still, I think my work has value, which is why I'm going to regularly ask for monetary support and limit some website features, like comments, to paid readers only.
I'm enhancing my own Linux skills
While publishing on NIL, I'm also educating myself on Linux systems management with an online course. Even if the job market is a nightmare right now, at the very least this will make my Linux reporting better informed.
I'm adding resources
While researching stories, and also Linux information for my own uses, I've noticed a dearth of reliable resources that are up-to-date and from trustworthy authors. It's increasingly difficult to rely on anything other than man pages.
So when I'm not working on news, I'm working on well-researched and carefully crafted resources, like my guide to age attestation on Linux. I have more in the works that I'll be publishing soon, and I hope they'll rise above all the AI slop that's permeating search engine results these days.
Jordan Gloor
I'm still not writing with AI
I keep reading about the negative effects of major LLMs use in creative and problem-solving work, so I'm still not using it to write articles. I prefer to keep my skills sharp and my brain in a lucid and independent state.
- I understand that one of the "tells" for LLM writing is heavy use of bullet points. I just happen to like bullet points as well, and they existed before LLMs, so I'm going to keep using them.
Paid subscriptions are here
If you're interested in what I'm doing and would like to see me do more, you have a chance to help. As I mentioned earlier, you can support me with a $4 per month subscription.
- Right now, this gets you only the ability to comment on articles. In the future, I plan to expand the benefits without raising the price.
- I'm also committing to donate 10 percent of all subscriptions to the Open Source Collective. That means by supporting me, you're also supporting some of your favorite open source software.
