--- title: blaugust desc: "blog + august = blaugust" date: 2026-08-31 22:22 keywords: - blaugust - discovery - authenticity - disclosure - opml - "goodhart's law" --- # ```ebnf Blaugust := Blog + August ``` It is an annual event, started in 2014 by Mark Temple (aka Belghast), where every August bloggers have a [challenge/contest](https://aggronaut.com/2014/07/17/blaugust-is-coming/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) to do one post for every day in the month: the target being 31 posts in August. There are optional weekly themes if people need a kickstart to their writing. Discovery is usually aided by the organizer providing an OPML[^opml] file containing a list of the participants' RSS endpoints (and any half-respectable feed reader can use it); there is also Discord. Mark Temple died on July 2, 2026, which meant a last-minute change by [@Krikket](https://mindly.social/@Krikket) and others per [Blaugust 2026 is Coming!](https://nerdgirlthoughts.game.blog/2026/07/15/blaugust-2026-is-coming/). ## Caveat There are two tensions within Blaugust: measurement (chasing a target of writing 31 posts during August) and authenticity (the continuum of written by a human, human-written but assisted by an AI, written by an AI). As people chase the quantitative goal of 31 posts, meeting this is considerably easier when an AI can do some or all of the work and what is an acceptable line in the continuum moves. What is missing is the third apex, the qualitative factor[^quality], because both humans and AI can write filler or slop when pursuing quantity over quality. ## <31 = unworthy During the early years, people who failed to post 31 posts felt they had failed, and there was very much a "I successed, you failed" split. In 2015, primarily because latecomers to the event could not complete the one-post-per-day-in-August challange, it was modified to 31-posts-in-August. In 2022, "Blaugchievements" were introduced, as an optional [side-challenge](https://aggronaut.com/blaugchievement-list/#:~:text=The%20idea%20was%20to%20separate%20the%20core%20“31%20posts%20in%2031%20days”%20portion%20of%20the%20contest%20from%20all%20of%20the%20purely%20optional%20content.%20All%20of%20the%20various%20“nice%20to%20haves”%20have%20been%20converted%20into%20achievements.%20Let%20me%20reiterate%20again%2C%20that%20these%20are%20purely%20optional%20and%20are%20considered%20to%20be%20on%20the%20“honor%20system“) to the main 31-posts target. Achievements linked to awards to encourage people to engage and participate is not necessarily bad, but as soon as something competitive is introduced we're in the realm of gamification and its unintended consequences. Competitive behaviour will happen, despite the "not a competition" disclaimer. As soon as you start to measure something, and people chase the measurement instead of the something, it is no longer a good measure. This manifests as some low-quality posts because people are chasing that KPI of write 31 posts to get a Rainbow Diamond Award instead of writing some good posts in August. [Goodhart's Law](https://xkcd.com/2899) FTW. The number of post-event posts that are effectively saying "I achieved 31 posts, yay to me and my Rainbow Diamond!" is telling. In 2024, the competitive aspect was softened: the intent of the 31-post-target is now optional and not a [grind](https://aggronaut.com/2024/07/12/blaugust-2024-is-coming/#:~:text=the%20idea%20is%20to%20spark%20creativity%20and%20get%20folks%20to%20create%20more%20content%2C%20not%20necessarily%20grinding%20them%20to%20dust%20on%20the%20millstone%20of%20some%20lofty%20goal)[^grind]; things should be a bit more collaborative; and the achievements are now: Newbie Blogger Award : You did it! You joined Blaugust for the very first time and we are extremely happy to welcome you into this raucous community. As a result, we are going to recognize your efforts just for signing up. Bronze Award : You made at least 5 posts during the month of August. Silver Award : You made at least 15 posts during the month of August. Gold Award : You made at least 25 posts during the month of August. Rainbow Diamond Award : You beat the original challenge and posted 31 times or more during the month of August. ## To AI or not to AI The use of AI became a problem child in 2025. - On one hand, people use this technology because they see it as a tool (and some will disclose to what extent they have used it, and others will not when they have) - On the other hand, people use AI to ironically mock AI (which is of course perfectly valid when they go out of their way to say this is what they are doing[^no-humor]) Meanwhile, on the third hand, people feel they have cause to complain because "tradition" dictates "must be written by human" and the retort that LLMs are "destroying creativity", and they want to see no part of it, ironic or otherwise. With the benefit of hindsight, the underlying issue is that of authenticity, disclosure, and acceptance: if you use AI do you disclose it, and to what extent is AI accepted or not within Blaugust. Furthermore, this issue is not being debated just within Blaugust, but is a reflection of the wider discussions happening elsewhere in the creative milieu. The debate about AI continued in 2026, with the two loudest sides being: pro-AI (who felt shut out) vs traditional bloggers (very much no-AI here). People had to be reminded about the fundamental policy that applies to Blaugust: _don't be a dick_. [^grind]: Asking a bunch of mainly gamers not to grind seems a bit of an oxymoron [^opml]: Another piece of over-engineering developed by Dave Winer, it is an outline marshalled into XML. See [OPML](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPML) [^quality]: Pirsig has much to say about this in _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_. [^no-humor]: And even when you tell people you are performing satire or irony, many people still do not get it. Are satire and irony no longer taught at school? Do people no longer install a sense-of-humor chip?