And Now For Something Completely Different
Originally Posted: May 14th, 2022
And Now For Something Completely Different
Something completely different. (image credit: bbc.co.uk)
I’m Bad At Writing
I’m not a naturally productive person. It takes a lot of intentional effort for me to finish anything. I tend to obsess over small details, and get distracted. I chase perfection, and I am usually disappointed with the results.
My first drafts are always terrible. My second, third, and fourth drafts usually aren’t much better. I have gotten better at editing away mistakes, but it’s always a struggle to turn a draft into a post. I spend a lot of time re-writing, correcting myself, and updating things that I misunderstood, or are no longer true. Over the past few years I’ve spent a lot of evenings and weekends doing that. It still feels like there isn’t enough time to fix everything.
As an example, I can’t count how many times I’ve updated my UniFi Comparison Charts. My first attempt was truly awful. My second attempt wasn’t much better. I’m probably on my 17th draft, and I’m still finding things to improve or fix. Maybe the 18th will be perfect, but I doubt it.
I enjoy making posts that are too long, or go in-depth in one area. I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied by writing a 500 word review, or glossing over details. I’m more likely to write a bloated 5,000 word draft before forcing myself to cut it down, or split it into a 2nd part I’ll probably never finish. It’s hard to make something your proud of when all you see is all the ways it could be improved. Perfect nuance and clarity are impossible, but I enjoy chasing it.
Working on this website is rewarding, but draining. My last two posts — my eero 6+ and Pro 6E review, and my U6-Pro and U6-Mesh review — both took dozens of hours over multiple days. The words, the photos, the iPerf tests, the charts, and the graphs required a ton of work. If I was better maybe it would be easier, but that’s not my style. I’m never fully satisfied at the end, and I always find something wrong. Writing is thinking, and Writing is Telepathy. It takes a lot of energy and time, but I love doing it, and sharing it as freely as possible.
Goodbye Google Adsense
Recently, I found out that my Google AdSense account ran an “experiment” on my behalf, turning on those awful ads that come in from the top or bottom of the screen. I didn’t realize this happened, because I haven’t checked my AdSense account, and the main browser I use to check my website has an ad blocker. I should have noticed it before, but it was also an interesting experiment with interesting results. My ad revenue went up significantly, and turning them off led to a dramatic decrease.
AdSense revenue from May so far — I turned off “vignette” ads on May 5th.
Typically, by only allowing the least profitable “inline” ads, I earned maybe $1 per day. With those awful “vignette” ads and a similar amount of traffic, it was closer to $5 per day. So why would I want to turn off vignette ads? Why would I spend dozens of hours creating something, and then post it on Reddit with no ads, no affiliate links, and no way to earn money from it?
For me, earning money from terrible ads feels gross. It’s a bad experience. I personally hate seeing them, and I hate websites that serve low-quality content littered with distracting popups and banner ads. I want to do the exact opposite.
I want to make things that are good and useful, and I want to be an example of how websites should be. I want the Internet to be better. I want information to be more accessible. I want high-quality explanations, guides, and reviews to be easy to find and understand. I want to show that you don’t need to monetize every single interaction, or maximize revenue at the cost of quality and user experience.
I want to lead by example, so today I’m turning off ads entirely.
Chasing Quality
For me, making something great and presenting it in a useful way is a reward of it’s own. I have fallen in love with writing several thousand carefully-chosen words, complementing them with useful graphs and charts, and overly-saturated (but pretty!) photos. I care a lot about quality. My definition probably doesn’t line up with yours, but that’s OK. My motivation is internal.
I tend to be a bit stubborn and opinionated when it comes to this. I seek out bad reviews, ad-infested websites, and poorly-written guides and explanations. I like seeing how not to do things, so I can use that to improve what I do. It’s a long journey, and I’m only getting started.
Right now though, my life is a bit strained. I just started a new job that I love, and I’m about to sell my house and move. I also have a vacation or two coming up. In general, the next few months are going to require me to spend less time writing and working on this website. I’m not quitting, but I do need a break. I’ll be back later this summer, hopefully with something completely different.
