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Gaurang
Gaurang

Posted on

Do you go back to edit your published articles?

Hey Dev's!

So I've been wondering. I often spend days to write an article.
'Cause I never feel the article is complete and ready to be published.
Does the content make sense? Is it relatable? Did I spend all this time just rambling?
Maybe there's a wrong assumption? Wrong fact? Did I make a googie?
Maybe it's not relevant to other people? Maybe it's bland? Maybe I should add a diagram? Or an example?

When I feel that the article is decent enough and I've gotten tired of editing it, I quickly publish it before I can change my mind.
And being the self-obsessed person that I am, I often come back to reread them.
And often I feel like, maybe I could add reference to that article that I recently read. That quote. Maybe this Codepen.
Maybe active voice would've sounded better than passive here.

Once it gets into my mind, it bothers me that something is amiss in my article. And I edit it.
So yeah, here's my question.

  • Do you guys do it too? Do you edit your articles if you find something to add/change in it?
  • Or once it's published, you don't touch it again at all? Like, religiously. Add comments instead maybe?
  • Or add new stuff with a new "Edited" section.
  • Or store your ideas till you have enough of them to make another independent article?
  • "You're crazy Gaurang. Nobody thinks about their articles so much. Here, have a cookie ๐Ÿช"

PS. I took more than half a day to post this question

Top comments (9)

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raphael_jambalos profile image
Raphael Jambalos

I occassionally re-read my articles as well and revise parts of them as I see fit. It's nice that some of my more technical posts have comments where users have questions. Based on their feedback, I also revise parts of my post to make it more relevant.

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gaurang847 profile image
Gaurang

But, wouldn't that make the comment irrelevant?
A new reader, who does not know that you edited your article, might think the commenter is stupid and ignorant for reiterating what has clearly been addressed in the original post.

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raphael_jambalos profile image
Raphael Jambalos

Ahh yes. I reply to the comment to thank the person for her feedback and that I have revised my blog post accordingly. I usually put what section I specifically revised

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gaurang847 profile image
Gaurang

That makes sense. Thanks man!

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gavinsykes profile image
Gavin Sykes

Most definitely, if I ever notice a typo or a code improvement to be made, or if it's part of a series of posts and I add something to one of them that would fit well into some or all of the others.

Or even if someone asks a question and I feel it would be useful to include the answer as part of the original post.

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gaurang847 profile image
Gaurang

Thanks a lot for sharing!
For some reason, editing previously published articles used to feel like cheating to me before.
But reading your comment makes me feel better. โœŒ๏ธ๐Ÿ˜

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sergix profile image
Peyton McGinnis • Edited

Absolutely, I'll go back and reread my articles occasionally to ensure that I didn't misspell anything or accidentally misinform. You're not the only one. ๐Ÿ˜†

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gaurang847 profile image
Gaurang

Thank goodness! ๐Ÿ˜†๐Ÿ˜†

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moha1234566044 profile image
Mohamed Hassan

Of course :)