# Using Discourse as a personal Journal?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227
**Category:** Community Building
**Created:** [February 26, 2021, 1:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227 "2021-02-26T13:11:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pacharanero](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pacharanero)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2021, 1:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227/1 "2021-02-26T13:11:43Z")
I have an instance of Discourse which I use as a public Blog, resumé (CV), and also has private sections in it which I use as a notebook and personal ‘wiki’, ideas bank, and even Kanban.
Recently I also started (trying to) keep a journal, simply by creating a Topic titled YYYY.MM.DD and making some notes, scanning and uploading documents etc…
I just wondered if anyone else out in the Discourse community is using Discourse in this way?
If I was going to use it like this long term I’d perhaps want to build a theme component or plugin which made journalling easier:
- auto-fill the Topic title with today’s date
- sort that Topic strictly by Topic creation date, not date of most recent post.
…
what else?
---
### Author:  [@Bill](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Bill)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2021, 3:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227/2 "2021-02-26T15:39:10Z")
There is an existing blogging plugin for Discourse. You should look into that. I think it just changes the style to look more like a blog.
---
### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227/3 "2021-02-26T16:24:04Z")
Cool! I use DIscourse this way for myself too, and I love it.
Discourse for Teams provides a weekly update topic for each member of the team. It is generated automatically each year and the team member can then add replies each week. If they forget, they are automatically sent a reminder.
With Discourse you can also use various features to make it easy to keep a journal. For example using [topic templates](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-are-topic-templates/38295) to set up a category so new topics have some info prefilled. I also like [Reply Template](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-reply-template-component/162373) which lets you add a reply automagically with some info prefilled - it supports dates as well. Then add a bookmark with a reminder for when you want to next add a reply, and you’re golden. ☀
---
### Author:  [@Timelord](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Timelord)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2021, 5:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227/4 "2021-02-26T17:54:50Z")
I am using it in the exact same way. I “blog” about issues I have come across in my professional life, and make them public, however I have a boatload of topics in a private category that help me keep track of things.
[My Broken Computer](https://mybrokencomputer.net)
---
### Author:  [@anon82467725](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon82467725)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2021, 10:02pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227/5 "2021-02-26T22:02:30Z")
I also use Discourse as a blog. I use it in combination with Blogger. Everything just fits together perfectly. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@chrispanag](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chrispanag)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2021, 11:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227/6 "2021-02-26T23:23:44Z")
> [@tobiaseigen](#):
>
> Discourse for Teams provides a weekly update topic for each member of the team. It is generated automatically each year and the team member can then add replies each week. If they forget, they are automatically sent a reminder.
Did the “featured topic” profile functionality trickle down from this feature? (from Discourse for Teams?)
---
### Author:  [@Timelord](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Timelord)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2021, 2:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227/7 "2021-03-01T14:54:08Z")
> [@anon82467725](#):
>
> I use it in combination with Blogger
Can you explain more about this integration?
---
### Author:  [@anon82467725](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon82467725)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2021, 2:12am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227/8 "2021-03-02T02:12:55Z")
I use both services synonymously. If Blogger wasn’t owned by Google and heavily integrated with their services (which are practically critical to the existence of my life 🤣), I would be using Discourse exclusively. Both services have their pros and cons.
---
### Author:  [@simon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/simon)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2021, 2:36am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227/9 "2021-03-02T02:36:13Z")
> [@pacharanero](#):
>
> I just wondered if anyone else out in the Discourse community is using Discourse in this way?
Sort of. I keep track of my work at Discourse in a PM that I’ve sent to myself. I bookmark the PM with a reminder to update it at the end of every day. My PM isn’t encrypted, but an encrypted PM that a user sends to themselves seems like it would make a good journal or diary.
---
### Author:  [@noahubspot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/noahubspot)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2021, 8:29am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227/10 "2021-04-19T08:29:00Z")
I use Discourse as a blogging platform, and, honestly, it deserves more attention.
---
### Author:  [@Paul\_Wolfson](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Paul_Wolfson)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2021, 9:02am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227/11 "2021-05-02T09:02:45Z")
Woah! I never actually took Discourse in a way that it could be used as a personal journal, this would be very useful in making documentations about logs, especially in big communities!
I’m willing to try this!
---
### Author:  [@pacharanero](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pacharanero)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2025, 10:06am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227/12 "2025-12-02T10:06:55Z")
I recently wrote a more complete guide to Discourse as a Personal Journal:
> **[Discourse as a Personal Journal](https://bawmedical.co.uk/t/discourse-as-a-personal-journal/1261)**
>
> I have a personal Discourse instance which I use for multiple purposes, I recently talked about some tips and tricks for using Discourse as a Personal Notebook. This blog is another instalment in my series of articles describing some more niche...
---
### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2025, 12:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227/13 "2025-12-02T12:19:55Z")
Despite me _working_ for Discourse, I had never thought about this usecase. How cool! I could be interesting, if you want, to post your blog here on Meta too. Might reach more people who are interested in setting up something similar.
I’ve been thinking for a while about a series like “Discourse as a…” and write community-specific setups guides.
---
### Author:  [@pacharanero](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pacharanero)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2025, 12:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-personal-journal/181227/14 "2025-12-02T12:48:54Z")
> [@chapoi](#):
>
> if you want, to post your blog here on Meta too
Thanks @chapoi I will post it here. I will check it over and refine it first.
> [@chapoi](#):
>
> a series like “Discourse as a…” and write community-specific setups guides.
I’ve done a couple over the years, and there are numerous others that the community could write and keep updated.
I’ve done:
- [Discourse as a Personal Journal](https://bawmedical.co.uk/t/discourse-as-a-personal-journal/1261)
- [Discourse as a Conference Platform](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-as-a-conference-app-in-person-virtual-or-hybrid/151583)
- [Discourse as a Personal Notebook](https://bawmedical.co.uk/t/discourse-as-a-personal-notebook/1260)
- [Discourse as a Doodle Poll](https://coop.pavilion.tech/t/create-doodle-esque-polls-in-discourse/781)
And some of the ones I’d like to see in the future include:
- Discourse as an OpenWebUI/LibreChat alternative (using LLM APIs)
- Discourse as an ‘Organisational Memory’ Wiki
- Discourse as a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager)
- Discourse as a Blogging platform
- Discourse as a Company Website (Landing Pages)
It would be nice to see them brought together somewhere