I am working on a new project of mine, one that involves a community, and user generated content.
I was working out the quirks in PhpFox, changing the little things that I don’t like, moving things around, etc.
The project is still in very early stages, there is only the basic logo, useless links everywhere. A single, but huge page of content from me as a sample for the members. There is a faq, but no step by step guide on how to use the site’s features.
I still have plugin integrations, code tweaks, sql optimization. It still has a months worth of work left.
Late at night, I got bored of webdesign. I was looking at the site, trying to be objective. Looking at it from the visitor’s point of view.
And then a thought dawned on me. I will launch it now.
Why wait? The basic structure is there, the usability exists. I will never be pleased with the site anyway, I am going to edit and move stuff around forever. So, why not launch it?
So I did. I wrote a nice submission on social bookmarking sites, hit publish, and went to bed.
I woke up to find the community alive. Of course, not huge, but its there. Its something, where there was nothing before. And they liked it 
So, where am I going with this?
People are shy. And people are shy to publish their creations. It takes guts to hit that publish button, really. As soon as you publish anything, it becomes prey to everyone around, judging it, and in turn, judging you.
That is where the fear comes from. I believe that a man pours a tiny bit of his soul into his creations. And by looking at those creations, you see the true self of that man. (replace man with woman if it suits you, I am not sexist)
Everyone unconsciously knows that. People will judge you by what you create.
I was lurking in an amateur writer’s forum a while ago, and I read something that gave me a little shock. They were having a huge thread, on publishing, agents, problems, rejections, experiences etc.
And one guy wrote, that a writer sometimes writes for himself, that his writings are for his eyes only. They are his little children, his fragile creations, and he fears that if another human lays eyes on them, he will stain them forever. Beautiful, ain’t it?
Well, no. That guy is a pure pussy. Chicken. COWARD. I don’t care if he is at the same level as Dickens or Tolkien. Not having the guts to publish his writings, makes him useless. If you want to write for yourself, write a journal. Don’t pretend that you are a writer, hang out in real or virtual writer’s joints, and talk about writing, when no one has ever seen your work because you are too afraid to hear their comments.
Have you seen the movie “Knocked up”, where the guys are working months on creating a website about which movies have which actresses boobs showing? They delay, working on perfecting it every day. They learn something valuable in that movie, when they log on one day, and find “MrSkin”, a cooler, sleeker, and active website with the same idea as them.
MrSkin had the balls to hit the publish button.
Every human, has a different way of experiencing things, a different worldview. I watch an action movie at the cinema and notice the guns and the computers/gadgets. The guy next to me sees only the actresses ass. The girl on the other side checks out her shoes, ignoring the huge explosion that fills the screen.
Everything you make, everything you create, will touch people in a different way. Some will be offended, some will admire you, some will learn from you. Most will misunderstand you. Readers of my Anarchy Online post found it refreshing! I never expected that someone would find that refreshing, but they did. Great! It touched them in a different way. My goal was to “teach”, to share a worldview. But the world is a huge place, with an endless variety of people. Each and every one of them will have a slightly different opinion on every creation they lay their eyes on.
But you must not be afraid of that. Sure, your fellow webmasters will find the template ugly. Visitors will think you are cool. Newbies will learn something.
But in order for those things to happen, you have to hit the damn publish button.
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