Constructive Criticism and Resolutions for Future Content Creation
Tags: watercooler, webdev
Published: 2023-02-24 10:58:49

Looking back on my own blog posts here, it is obvious that I had reasons to rant, but I promise that my future posts will become more constructive again. I also plan to record and release some YouTube videos, as a retrospective retake of the online meetups that we never recorded (on purpose). So if you prefer to see some live coding, stay tuned!

## Rage, Anger, and Constructive Follow-Ups

Rage and anger, unpopular as they might seem, can be positive emotions and provide motivation and energy for changes. I will elaborate on emotions and healthy productivity in a follow-up to [Productive Procrastination vs. Apparent Productivity](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/productive-procrastination-vs-apparent-productivity-fbd) and [emotion-driven development](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/emotion-driven-development-4ai1) (_updated 2/2024_)

{% post https://dev.to/ingosteinke/emotion-driven-development-4ai1 %}

I will also try to provide more constructive follow-ups to my series about [Symfony, Shopware, WordPress, and how to improve PHP-based Web Development](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/symfony-shopware-wordpress-and-the-future-of-php-based-web-development-5mi), some #showdev posts about gradually migrating from WooCommerce to a custom web application for an open-source ERP/PIM back-end, and how to use WordPress in a developer-friendly way without completely bypassing the block editor, and of course there will be more CSS stuff for my fellow front-end lovers. 

[![Looking back on 2022 from a developer's perspective, even without talking politics, war, climate, health, and injustice, despite CSS updates and AI progress, it feels like two steps forward, one step back. I used to curse ReactJS and Webpack, but we can have breaking changes everywhere else, like PHP 8 vs. WordPress. Oh yeah, and why do customers still love WordPress so much that we have to mess with this unstable abomination with its half-baked Gutenberg block editor and (full) site editing? And what about "social" media? Well, never mind, after Usenet and Myspace, why did people favour Facebook and Twitter in the first place?](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/zkbdnn1a0dwznzz59x8o.png)](https://devrant.com/rants/6183885/looking-back-on-2022-from-a-developers-perspective-even-without-talking-politics)

After publishing [excerpts of my DEV Bookmarks / reading of other people's posts from 2021 to 2022](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/dev-bookmarks-reading-list-excerpts-for-2023-1opf), here are some features of my own past posts and series. Those are posts that "EVERY developer MUST read IN 2023", I promise!!!11!!!!!! 😉

- [Artificial "Intelligence" and Controversial Ideas about Future Technology](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/artificial-intelligence-and-controversial-ideas-about-future-technology-1chj)
- [Productive Procrastination vs. Apparent Productivity](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/productive-procrastination-vs-apparent-productivity-fbd)
- [CSS :has(.parent-selectors)](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/css-hasparent-selectors-287c)
- [Printable Lazy Loading 🖨️](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/printable-lazy-loading-3hb6)
- [How to fix Frontend Tests as a lazy developer](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/how-to-fix-frontend-tests-as-a-lazy-developer-15ga)
- [Automating Tests using CodeceptJS and Testomat.io: First Steps](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/automating-tests-using-codeceptjs-and-testomatio-first-steps-3b2e)
- [Symfony, Shopware, WordPress, and how to improve PHP-based Web Development](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/symfony-shopware-wordpress-and-the-future-of-php-based-web-development-5mi)
- [WordPress (plugins) compatibility check to prevent fatal errors](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/wordpress-plugins-compatibility-check-to-prevent-fatal-errors-mpm)
- [Testing a local WordPress Instance on BrowserStack](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/testing-a-local-wordpress-instance-on-browserstack-n4l)
- [Using JSDoc to write better JavaScript Code](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/using-jsdoc-to-write-better-javascript-code-17a)

Update: [Relevant DEV posts - an updated reading list (no developer must read this, December 2023)](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/relevant-dev-posts-an-updated-reading-list-no-developer-must-read-this-5eej)

{% post https://dev.to/ingosteinke/relevant-dev-posts-an-updated-reading-list-no-developer-must-read-this-5eej %}

As we can see, I did write many constructive and useful posts already. But maybe the controversial content tends to attract a greater audience on the internet, which might also be the main problem of so-called "social" media. That's why I prefer actual socializing at in-person events:

- [(Not) giving up one’s Agency: some personal notes about beyond tellerrand conference 2022 in Düsseldorf](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/not-giving-up-ones-agency-some-personal-notes-about-beyond-tellerrand-conference-2022-in-dusseldorf-1de0)
- [Takeaways from a Testing and Refactoring Conference (apart from the T-Shirt)](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/takeaways-from-a-testing-and-refactoring-conference-apart-from-the-t-shirt-50cj)
- [Virtual and actual events 2022](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/virtual-and-actual-events-2022-237i)

To finish this list, I want to come back to another problem of social media and content creation. How can we find and honor quality when the community algorithms and marketing logic seems to dictate "consistency" and quantity instead?

- [Stop rewarding quantity!](https://dev.to/ingosteinke/stop-rewarding-quantity-20o8) 

The full list of my DEV blog posts and series can be found on my DEV profile at [dev.to/ingosteinke](https://dev.to/ingosteinke) and the less technological content is also available on my personal weblog at [Open-Mind-Culture.org](https://www.open-mind-culture.org).