I know why Mark Pilgrim quit the internet.
I am not sure if I have said this before, but one of the biggest things that constantly keeps me interested in human nature is why people do the things they do and what motivates them?
Now I didn't really know Mark Pilgrim existed until yesterday (yes, I am anti-hipster god! I didn't know about him) but I have heard of his work like the diveinto(html5, python) series. He recently just quit the internet, unplugged from the matrix, gone of the grid, total radio silence, LOCKDOWN. Although community is glad to hear he is okay and a little annoyed.
Now I am going to take a moment to reflect on how boss that is! Seriously you take down a couple (there maybe more) of websites and the whole development world takes notice. May that be the very reason he quit? You can deny he commanded the attention and respect of alot people, I can't imagine what his inbox looked like.
This isn't the first time a software developer just simply got up left the internet. The first noticeable instance being _why back in 2009. No one knows why (pun intended, maybe its the most elaborate joke ever?) or what caused it to happen.
All I know is that I have had the similar feeling many a night, when I have had an extremely busy day, I am tired, and all I want to do is sleep, something pulls me to the computer to see what is going on. Just to make sure I haven't missed anything new or an interesting point of view. Where do I get the energy or will power to do this? Maybe I am superhero, maybe I have oversized thirst for knowledge, maybe I am just like every other software developer. I will leave that as an exercise for the audience to answer.
I used to play World of Warcraft, when I was in university (dark time in my life). In the game they have a concept of dailies, something that you needed to complete daily, regardless of whether or not you needed to or not but you were compelled to because eventually it would lead to some rewards. At first its fun and exciting everyday you log in, get your dailies done, and move on with your day. After sometime though, it starts to become a chore, but you see that everyone else is doing it and helps refine your skills in the game, so you keep doing it regardless of it being fun, in the hopes it would pay off.
Does this sound familiar? This is the usual grind I do in my day, trying to keep up with whats happening and producing original content for my group of sites. Responding to emails, learning new things. For me, right now its extremely fun and keeps me motivated and excited all the time. Its literally what I want to be doing in life!
But if you see this anytime soon on this site, You now know why.
