# Does our site need a blog like a few sites on the network have?

Does our site need a blog like a few sites on our network have?

To me this question is a compact version of the following sub-questions:

• What do we use the blog for, if we had one?

1. TeX. SX has a blog. The blog, usually hosts the compiled version of TeX talk -- interviews with top users of the site and some general funda of interest to the growth of the community. (Frequency of posts$^\dagger$: $3$ posts per month.)

2. CStheory.SE has a blog where they usually seem to write about the upcoming TCS conferences and yes, they also write some technical stuff! (Frequency of posts$^\dagger$: $3$ posts per month.)

3. Stats.SE has a blog. Here again, they write technical stuff and those of interest to the community. (Frequency of posts$^\dagger$: $3$ posts per month.)

The pattern is quite clear: A community blog hosts material relevant to the community--technical (relating to the subject of the site) and "social"--by this I mean, relating to the aspects of the site that are of interest to the growth of the community.

Now, there has been a recent upsurge in the feeling among the users that, math.SE is an evolving body of mathematical knowledge, which we strive to organize$^\ast$. There has been a general feeling that we must organise our material into a useful resource. In my opinion, we have already taken the first step:

$\bullet$ Martin Sleziak suggested, see his meta post, that we collect the results pertaining to an idea -- a brief overview -- and put them into what he called "Organiser Posts".

$\bullet$ The Chaz conducted a survey, see his meta post, that is of interest to the theme of the post. The survey asked us, if we would be interested in compiling resources for, say, abstract algebra and if so, should it be a chain of links or a single page. Atleast $5$ different users would like to put them in a single place and may be more will..

$\bullet$ J.M. Aryabhata compiles a list of a abstract dupes here.

In my opinion, these posts would make good posts for a community blog. Searching from there should be relatively easy. We can tag these resources or maintain a separate page for this purpose. Similarly, we can put together other online resources, for example, like the one compiled here.

And, would it be possible to put together a list of conferences or related things like TCS blog, if we are willing to have one?

• Technicalities?

For one, I do not know what is required from the community to start a blog for a site. Secondly, if we started a blog, how do we keep the number of posts growing at a reasonable pace--as in: how do we make the members of the community contribute?

FWIW, I'd like to edit the entries for the blog if an editor is required at all!

Some relevant Meta posts:

If the community consensus is that, we need a blog, I am willing to post a feature request on Meta, that would be based on this post. Please write your thoughts in the form of an answer below.

$\dagger$ I judged these numbers by spending a few minutes on the blog, looking at the number of tags and posts filed under each of them; recent activity and using them to arrive at a rough figure. I don't claim that these numbers are precise.

$\ast$ This is paraphrased from Bill Dubuque's recent answer, which in fact inspired this post.

• Maybe it's just me, but I don't see how this blog can be well-maintained over a long period of time. – Asaf Karagila May 4 '12 at 20:20
• @AsafKaragila Fair enough. But, it would be nice if you write up your concerns in the form of an answer, which would facilitate the discussion. BTW, how do you do? Haven't spoken to you in a long time. Regards, – user21436 May 4 '12 at 20:25
• I'm sorry, I'm a bit lazy right now to write up a full answer (see, if I can't make myself write an answer, who would write a full blog post? :-)) – Asaf Karagila May 4 '12 at 20:28
• People like me who take a long time in writing out posts such as this! :) – user21436 May 4 '12 at 20:32
• I think this is a brilliant idea. Or at least we should certainly give it a try. Why not? I think I'd be willing to spend some time maintaining another blog, too (as long as I wouldn't have to do it solo) – davidlowryduda May 5 '12 at 0:59
• In the interest of correcting wrong impressions: it is Aryabhata, and not me who started that list of generalized questions. I am just a (somewhat frequent) editor of that CW post. – J. M. is a poor mathematician May 5 '12 at 4:28
• About organizer posts: If they are posted to they are posted as an answer, any user can edit them and they can be easily updated. Would we be able to do the same, if they were transformed into a blog. (If you think that this deserves a longer discussion which would be off-topic here, feel free to continue this discussion at the question about "organizer posts.) – Martin Sleziak May 5 '12 at 5:24
• Dear @Martin You raise a good point. I agree that it does become difficult. But, I should find out about how the blogging Works. I'll do the same by hanging out at some chat rooms and will let the users know. Regards, – user21436 May 5 '12 at 8:53
• @mixedmath Thanks for your support. No worries. For one, as I said I am willing too and of course, several members of the community will be willing to do too! – user21436 May 5 '12 at 8:56
• I really can't call a few votes "consensus". – Asaf Karagila May 5 '12 at 14:04
• Yes, sure. I agree. I am still waiting for people to respond. @Asaf – user21436 May 5 '12 at 14:08
• @Downvoter Would you care to explain? You have been kind enough to downvote the answer after requesting you not to? Can you please, break the seal of anonymity and explain your deed? Regards, – user21436 May 5 '12 at 14:47