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Recent Posts

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401
Hoard Archive (the large reserve pool)
Inbox Vestibule (small pool ready to power processing)
Sources Library (archive that's been processed in the production of Notes)
Scriptorium (notes and all other unpublished material I have written myself,  essentially work in progress at all stages)
Reading Room (my published work)
Attics (processed items not considered worth keeping in Library -  I realised that simply putting them in Archive (unprocessed) or throwing them away completely might mean that they were processed again in future because they give initial impression of being interesting).
Chapter House - for anything requiring action: todo lists, emails etc.

I decided to trial a switch to folders. Some advantages, some disadvantages  - but bulk changes are easy with a Text Editor. So there'll be no problem if I decide to switch back.

After some experience with the system, I've decided to extend it. Mostly to include more mundane issues: correspondence, todos & etc. Works best in the system because they sometimes need linking and it keeps everything in one place.

I've also given a lot of thought to names. It's important that I know instantly what a folder is for - so nothing I don't instantly recognise - and the physical analogies work well for me. They also need the right vibe because that helps me work better. Its a very personal set of preferences.

Papyri - all the notes, research etc
Vestibule - limited size space for new notes;
Library - all fully processed useful notes;
Archive - unprocessed notes squeezed out of the Vestibule because of limited space;
Attics - fully processed nites which have outlived their usefulness, or more frequently were deemed unhelpful from the start.

Vivarium - my own writing and research; creative, academic, practical etc.
Scriptorium - writing in progress ; includes all the planning etc.
Reading Room  - completed and published work
Bibliothekai - unattached or unused bits of writing

The Rolls - administrative records and documentation
Chancery - written records and correspondence
Exchequer  - financial records and correspondence
Chapter House - todo lists, emails etc - stuff for immediate or imminent action
Treasury - a separate secure vault only stored locally. This is for confidential information.

Nalanda - all the sources

Canary Wharf - anything work related. This vault is local only.

Explanation of name choice, if anyone is interested:
Spoiler
Papyri - it's the plural of papyrus, but mostly reminds me of the House of Papyri in Herculaneum.
Vestibule - a small room or antechamber in great houses and other buildings. Always small.
Library  - I  imagine it as like a private room in the Bodleian.
Reading Room - like the Reading Room in the British Museum
Archives  - the endless rows of books and manuscripts in the Bodleian stacks or the British Library,  many, if not most, entirely unread.

Vivarium - an early monastery and educational facility in the south of Italy. Attempted to copy and preserve old books and manuscripts from across the ancient world
Scriptorium  - the room, or space, in which monastic scribes worked.
Bibliothekai  - shelves and cabinets in the Great Library of Alexandria

The Rolls - formal charters and records kept as part of the governance of England from 1200 or so. The senior judge in the Court of Appeal is still called the Master of the  Rolls.
Chancery - the place where scribes wrote and stored government records
Exchequer - ditto for managing government taxes and revenues
Chaper House - the very large room in monasteries, used for daily meetings, task allocation etc

Treasury - the secure storage place for precious goods, used since ancient times.

Nalanda - renowned and very early Buddhist monastery and university in Northern India

Canary Wharf - huge (from a London perspective) set of office blocks east of the City of London, contains many banks and finance firms. The area is the Isle of Dogs. Artificial,  nothing organic about it at all.

402
I'm also thinking about switching my rooms from tags into folders.
The original reason for tags was flexibility and speed. And that it would be most effective to keep everything in one folder (vault).

But I've been learning to appreciate a lot of value in Obsidian's capability with nested vaults. This means that I can have everything in one overarching vault, but still keep the nested sub-vaults separate. And i can have a couple of vaults in the middle too. And I can work either in a sub-vault or the overarching vault,  or both together in separate windows. Maximal linking in the overarching vault. Graphs to be viewed separately in each vault.

Just an idea until I've tested it out more. Has the advantage that folders map better on to my room analogy. Also removes the tension between these tags (strict categories) and all my other tags which are 'fuzzy'.
403
you look at revenues over time to see the worth of a company
If you try to do this, you will end up losing money.
Sales are part of the picture.
Profits, if you are able to work out what they really are, make another part.
Assets a third.

But if you buy a business, you will never get the sales or profits it made in prior years. You only have a right to what will happen in the future,  so you have to predict.

The stock market, especially tech, had been too high for a few years before the dot.com bust. Buying at the top always loses you money for a few years however well you try and calculate value. Despite that, if you'd held a balanced portfolio of tech stocks then till now, do you really think you'd be poorer now?

The thing to remember about emerging industries is that it is very hard to predict which businesses will be the big winners. Some will stutter,  some will meander, but most will fail.

The Roam valuation is based simply on an evaluation that they might be a big winner. $9m is nothing to get in at the base level. The investors will be aware it will probably fail, but they know that the small number of bug winners more than pays for the losers.
404
central banks are pumping money into economy like crazy
Yes, though not so much in Europe.
The key is that they are probably just printing that money, but they've arranged it so that the money can be unprinted thereby creating an uncertainty about the value of the money in the future.

The mechanisms have meant that a great deal has flooded directly into the markets, so valuations have risen in money terms.
The value of money has dropped, but most people haven't realised it yet from an everyday life point of view. And they may never see the usual consequence since the deflationary pulse is so strong. So most prices could stay about the same.
And in Europe even medium term interest rates are negative.

The rise in prices is justified to the extent that money is worth less, so the businesses must be worth relatively more. But there seem to be a lot of new investors who don't know what they're doing. They are acting like the typical private investor in Chinese markets.

And many companies are only staying 'afloat' because of the sea of cheap debt holding them up and central banks' money keeping the wheels of the economy turning.
405
Back in the day valuations made sense
Valuations have never made sense, they're simply transactional. The point at which buyers and sellers are prepared to meet.
Tesla is worth 360 billion $ and it only made its first profit this year.

Madness.
Hmm. This is tougher.  The volatility in Tesla's price (up and down), plus the relatively low level of free stock implies that it would be more accurate to calculate a valuation range.

There's huge disagreement about it as a business. I know a number of investors who were heavily shorting the stock when the price was a fraction of the present price. Most got out on one of the dips (therefore with some profit) or when they realised they might never be proved right (loss) or some facts changed (manufacturing targets met - also a loss).
As Keynes said, the market can remain irrational for longer than you can remain solvent.
406
I'd dispute that figure above, which is why I don't really count it as already there currently
Why would you dispute it?

It ought to be a simple calculation. Investors paying $9m for ? = $200m valuation means ?  = 4.5% of the enterprise, post investment. Always possible it was actually $9m for 5% of the business as it was, in which case the calculation ought to have been (9x20)+9 = 189 which is still pretty close.
Not seen anything about other conditions, options etc though I'd expect there are some. But it's hard cash he's already spending.

You can't get a better test of value than people paying hard cash for something.
407
I've added a new room - Chapter House
For 'business' related notes and documents: todo lists, etc. Anything that requires an action. When documents are no longer current they will be filed away in the library.

(Not work related stuff; that goes in a separate building, Canary Wharf. In practice most real work related stuff is confidential,  and goes into a separate secure location.)

The Chapter House in a monastery was a very large room where they had daily meetings, allocated jobs etc. All the tedious stuff. The one in my local Cathedral is a pretty spectacular space.
408
It might come in somewhere at the 100s of millions
Already there.
Notion is at $2bn.
Trello was sold to Atlassian for $425m over 3 years ago. Tech valuations have rocketed since then.
Evernote reached $1bn in 2011 before it took its eye off the ball.

Conor's vision is a big one. It will either reach over $1bn or crash. The odds being on crashing which is why the current valuation is only $200m. I'm certain all the investors believe it has a reasonable chance of reaching the billions, because the reward would not balance the risks otherwise.
409
I don't know.
For my money, now that it has its foot in the door, I think it will get to being a $ billion company.

Conor has a vision, he's good at convincing people. I think the vision centres on collaborative and shared development of human knowledge. But he (wisely) keeps detailed ideas to himself.

The thing they are investing in is the feature users want the least, at least users like us.
I don't think he has any significant interest in users who are interested in files. Or markdown. He's interested in knowledge and believes it is built better by people sharing (and I'd have to say there's any number of Obsidian users who just want to put their vaults on the web). I think he's aiming at being the primary host for that endeavour.

And, shorter term, teams are good for revenue - corporates will pay a lot more than individuals who are mostly good for creating the buzz. Look at the Trello and Notion business models. And their valuations.

At this point, I'd be more interested in investing in Roam than using it myself. I have concerns about some of things Conor says and does - but that's never held Elon back.
410
the standard valuation of a company is 4 times revenue, and they aren't making $50m a year.
That very much depends on the company and prospects (and a host of other things).
Look at the current value of Snowflake
411
WHOA
You have to remember that no-one actually thinks it's worth $200m.
You have a group of investors placing a $9m bet that it will actually be worth a lot more. With Roam's owners trying to give away as little as possible in exchange for circa $10 m.

The key to the price was the success of the believers scheme and $15 a month subscription.

What happens next will depend on how successfully Roam deploy the money.
First steps seem to be teams (collaborations) and an API.
412
It's  not his first podcast advocating Roam.

Strange thing is that you could achieve the same thing in Obsidian just as easily. There are things that work easier in Roam but he didn't hit on one of them this time.

There's a tendency for people trying to switch from Roam (usually because of cost, sometimes irritation) to try to carry their workflow with them. Most frequently blocks, but it includes a rigid concept of a page. Most of them have little concern about having their life's work in an online database that is specifically targeting collaboration and sharing ideas - so the genuine advantages of Obsidian etc pass them by.
413
And this is a big reason Conor does not impress me as a founder. He's petty, vain, impulsive, and egotistical.
Gates
Jobs
Ellison
Zuckerberg
They don't do badly for ticks, and could add a few of their own.
You don't need to remind people of who they are, and nor have they been replaced.
414
May be enough to stop some users switching to Roam.

But I don't think it will be many. Roam is quite expensive (money, learning, curve, need for regular use) for someone to use as well. And Notion does many things Roam doesn't, so not a good replacement for those who use those things. Roam has a clear idea of what it's trying to do and I doubt Notion can duplicate its ability to do that which leaves people wanting that switching anyway.

What it does do, is free its users from backlink envy.
415
Roam Research valued at $200m in a fund raise where it took $9m outside investment.
416
localization. Does Obsidian have that yet?
Yes, and increasing. Doesn't have the same level of need as some of the others, since they are just documents, so no relevance for quantities etc.
417
I don't know how/why but despite being very new, it seems to be further along in some key areas I care about vs. others (even vs. Obsidian in some respects).
It's features seem to be a better fit for you. A code exchange with Athens is apparently being discussed.
Not for me,  being database not files.
418
Logseq may be the Roam alternative I've been looking for! They've already solved block *and* page embeds as well as syncing/backup (Github). In that sense they're ahead of Obsidian. Very interesting indeed.
As an intended Roam equivalent (database outliner; self described as Roam + github) blocks are straightforward. I thought Obsidian now does page embeds, though its not something I've tried to use.
Foam has introduced block references using UIDs.

I've only had a cursory look. Imports the Roam .json but Obsidian markdown files are less straightforward because of syntax differences.

Intends to switch the database to HTML in future, to reduce the amount of processing involved in markdown conversion:
Yes, the html version of Logseq will store user's notes using a datascript db instead of markdown or org. There're a lot overheads to sync the plain text with the internal db. Also, we'd like the html version to be used for real-time collaborations in the future.

Any more info regarding what that html fs-sync would imply?
What I'm thinking about now is that user can save the serialized db to the native file system and load it next time when they open the computer, so there's no need to login, no need to sync using Github or Dropbox.

(Imo, would be so cool if logseq would be a org/markdown browser/editor interface ontop of the raw files its built on atm, that also would allow for graph querying of the filesystem org/markdown files.)

Yes, we'll have a desktop app version which will work directly with the native file system.

419
eventually i can end up scirbbling diagrams and saving the images, and those images are my zettel.
I do that!
A bit. Sometimes just drawing on paper or a board and saving a photo. Sometimes just hand writing. OCR is remarkable now. But mostly on my tablet.
And gets processed in exactly the way anything typed.
I find it much more productive to rough some things out by hand.
420
another strange application from back in the day called....liquid story builder
Nothing comes close to the strangeness of Liquid Story Binder. It worked, if you could learn the techniques, but it was always in the way of any creative flow. It was strangely antiquated even when it first launched.

Scrivener also has a steep learning curve, but is a good program. Particularly good for some things, especially if you write in small chunks, but mostly OK and functional. But the Windows version always struggles to keep up. After an extraordinarily long gestation the developer promised the final version would be out around this time last year. Still hasn't made it. But works reasonably well, doesn't lose data and can be used free until it's finished. I've used it from time to time but it has never aided creativity,  just getting the job done.
And not really designed around screenwriting.

I like Scapple,  but I like using a pen and Android tablet more.
421
"Scapple"? Only some are way more mature than it sounds like it is currently
Scapple is actually an old program. Designed as an adjunct to Scrivener. The simplicity is deliberate.
422
"database vs. text" is a false dichotomy
Clearly we disagree.

It is a dichotomy  - the programs either work using a database or they use files. (Or potentially both in the case of WriteMonkey 3).

"data ownership" (not a given with a DB, e.g. if it's using an open DB format and/or all content is markdown and it has a robust exporter).
Here you are introducing caveats specifying things to be watched for in a database.
Such watching is unnecessary with files.
In practice, databases don't use pure markdown (although they may attempt to export it ). The file based programs aren't pure either as they all prefer wikilinks. Not that any markdown is really pure.
And exports from programs like Roam need a lot of work to convert to useful files - and that is likely to increase as Roam continues to add features.

In theory, a database can provide any feature that a program using files has.
There are additional benefits, such as only having one file to backup. And speed - everything is loaded in a usable format whereas files have to be loaded before any processing.
But also disbenefits - they're rigid, you can only do what the program does; databases corrupt; export may not be as robust as you thought, especially if development is rapid.
The differences make the difference between the approaches a useful dichotomy to consider. For many, maybe even the majority, the benefits tip on the side of the database. Going with either approach means accepting the disadvantages of that choice.
423
I want to know these specific advantages and use cases for external tools operating on text files.
External tools have already been through a competitive process to decide which ones function best for me.
They have their own development trajectory which is entirely independent of a whole database program.
I can add any program at any point to gain a feature. I am not dependent upon the database developers choices and preferences.
424
This program called Scapple.  It's just a brainstorming tool.  You write in bubbles and connect them, that's it.  But I have been using it similar to how a zettel works, which is one scapple file per thought.
I periodically return to Scapple. It's one of those programs I think ought to suit me (because it's visual) but never quite does in practice. It's very good if it's working for you though. Quite a lot of people are major fans.
425
DB component
WriteMonkey 3 operates a hybrid system; JSON database with option for documents to be synced to independent files. That works OK for me.

Obsidian has a settings (workspace) file and, I think,  a JSON file with some saved info. It automatically replaces both if they are deleted, but there's some database functionality at least during a session.

I think they may extend the database functionality. I will be watching carefully what they do with that. They have already reserved YAML front matter for themselves (I believe this is to expedite future plugin functions); I'm definitely not keen on this approach because it starts cluttering the file up with extraneous stuff - I'd prefer plugins were allowed to use a JSON file.
Simple for me to avoid plugins I don't like. If Obsidian itself goes in a direction I dislike,  I'll stop using it or just have updates turned off.
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