> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Blog Paleontology - 15 years of Blogging - URL: https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/blog-paleontology-15-years-of-blogging/ - Published: 2025-08-14T22:45:00.000Z - Updated: 2025-08-18T17:45:45.000Z - Description: It's not easy to admit to the folly of one's youth. - Author: Matthew Brunelle - Tags: Paleontology #### On this page As noted in my post [All Personal Blogs Die, But Mine Came Back As a Ghost](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/all-personal-blogs-die-but-mine-came-back-as-a-ghost/) my blog has gone through many iterations over the years. When I recreated the site after letting it lapse I noticed that I didn't have my full collection of posts. At some point I had removed older posts from when I was young. This is understandable, as it can be uncomfortable to read one's old writing. Now though, I think there's value in remembering what I once wrote. So I've done my best to restore the old pages. --- ### A look through the post timeline Thankfully my old blog was kept under version control! So I could scrub through the commit log to find what was missing. The posts span 2011 to 2013\. Some interesting stats show a trend: - 15 posts in 2011 - 2 posts in 2012 - 3 posts in 2013 This corresponds to my senior year of high school and first two years of college. After that I didn't post again until 2018 when wrote about how I made [Soup Bot](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/soup-bot-a-slack-bot-that-scrapes-specials-menus-from-instagram/) for my first job. \[^ I was very excited by the idea of Soup Bot.\] After another burst of posts I only wrote a couple posts each year until 2021 when I stopped: - 5 posts in 2018 - 3 posts in 2019 - 2 posts in 2020 - 2 posts in 2021 2021 lines up with when I changed jobs and was a lot busier. In general I seem to write a burst of posts and then take some time off. --- ### Forgotten Things Some other fun details I found while going through the commit log: - I created pages for me to share recommended books, programs, rss, etc. Those pages were never filled out... This is shocking, but not surprising given the fact that I was planning to make those pages on the new version of the blog, but have not gotten around to it. Some habits never change. - One stylistic difference I've noticed: I used to stuff extra thoughts into parenthesis, whereas now I try to use footnotes instead. \[^ See like this.\] - I used to have a +1 button, which was Google's attempt at a like button for the now defunct Google+ - For a while I had a "Fork me on Github" ribbon on the site. - I had forgotten I joined the internet blackout for [SOPA](https://www.eff.org/issues/coica-internet-censorship-and-copyright-bill?ref=blog.matthewbrunelle.com) on January 18, 2012. --- ### Have a Read The restored posts can be found under the new [paleontology](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/tag/paleontology/) tag. Instead of just posting them as is, I've added a little bit of commentary and context at the top of the post. I also tried to clean up spelling, formatting, and dead links when possible. Another detail I noticed was that I initially started the blog because of the trend to "manage your online brand". I was not writing because I enjoyed the act, nor because I wanted to share things with the world. Looking back the reason was more selfish: to get my name out there. I think this explains why the writing was never lasted more than a year or two. Now I write for the sake of writing and I hope blogging will be a sustainable habit.