Just because you built it doesn't mean people will come. Everyone knows that. But then we stop there. What comes next?
OK. I built it, no one came. Now what?
Is it my fault? Did I do it wrong? Did I miss a step? Or does this adage exist only to make you feel terrible about yourself then offer no solution? I don't think so!
One motivated evening, I wrote 5 blog posts, then I built a blog engine. I set the date for each post to self publish with 2 days intervals. No one came to read it of course.
I remember that I was humble, and very patient. But records show that I wasn't. I removed the date check and published everything on day two. Records also show that I immediately started spamming reddit and hackernews until one of those banned my domain for good.
I built it, not only they didn't come, but they made sure no one else would.
That was seven years ago. What does it feel like to write in the dark? This is what it feels like. This blog doesn't have regular readers like other blogs do. Yet sometimes, people show up and read. Sometimes, they even send me a little thank you email.
They said build it, and they will come. I built it. No one came. But after I wrote for a little, some of you came.