Herman's blog
Herman's blog
Herman Martinus
Hi I'm Herman Martinus. I write words, ride bikes, climb mountains, and make things. Currently living in Cape Town — possibly the most beautiful city in the world. I'm the creator of the no-nonsense blogging platform, Bear, and a few other things. I also write short-to-mid length essays about life, tech, and whatever I currently find interesting.
Latest Posts
I've noticed that travel has become, of late, an act of collecting places. I've literally heard people referring to visiting a place as doing that place, as in "Have you done Japan?", assuming that one can do an entire country, and once...
I was recently asked on a podcast what my biggest game-changer was, whether it be a habit, way of thinking, purchase, or change of context. I didn't need to fish around for an answer, since I already know my biggest game-changer:...
A few days ago some 4 or 5 OpenClaw instances opened blogs on Bear. These were picked up at review and blocked, and I've since locked down the signup and dashboard to this kind of automated traffic. What was quite funny is that I...
There's a conspiracy theory that suggests that since around 2016 most web activity is automated. This is called Dead Internet Theory, and while I think they may have jumped the gun by a few years, it's heading that way now that LLMs can...
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. While I don't fully subscribe to the above quote, since I think it's important to continually improve things that aren't explicitly broken, every now and then something I use works so well that I consider...
I browse the discovery feed on Bear daily, both as part of my role as a moderator, and because it's a space I love, populated by a diverse group of interesting people. I've read the posts regarding AI-related content on the discovery...
Quick announcement: I'll be visiting Japan in April, 2026 for about a month and will be on Honshu for most of the trip. Please email me recommendations. If you live nearby, let's have coffee? I've always been fascinated by old,...
As outlined in my previous two posts: scrapers are, inadvertently, DDoSing public websites. I've received a number of emails from people running small web services and blogs seeking advice on how to protect themselves. This post isn't...
The web-scraping arm race continues
Being a solo founder needs company
Living intentionally in a world of distraction.
How to use piracy to your advantage.
Just some bits and pieces that don't justify a whole post.
How can we design better platforms?
Defaults matter