Blogging can just be stating the obvious
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
State the obvious in a blog post, even if nobody else is saying it.
Jim Nielsen reflects on John Gruber's critique of user-hostile website popups, noting that Gruber's post exemplifies how blogging can simply state the obvious: "A webpage should show the webpage." Nielsen describes feeling like the child in The Emperor's New Clothes when stating something glaringly obvious but unspoken. He argues that a key ingredient to blogging is willingness to state the obvious or link to someone else doing it, as those posts are often the best.
What commenters are saying
Commenters largely agree that stating the obvious has value, with several offering supporting frameworks. The curse of knowledge means what's obvious to you is new to others. Emmett Shear tweets that repeating basic ideas imparts your worldview. One mathematician describes feeling intimidated by the sense that everything has been done before. Another points to xkcd #1053 on the eternal September of new learners. A subthread debates whether AI can help identify prior art.