Software is always going to change. Who remembers WordStar? Because of that, it’s a good idea to use software that enables an exit strategy. Who remembers being locked into Bento?
Immersing oneself in junk collecting has nothing to do with software. Software might make it easier, but it doesn’t cause the disorder.
G.R.R Martin does 
(True story – he writes, or at least used to – write on it, on a machine without Internet, even well into the 2010’s.)
I am a big collecter of stuff but I do always have a reason for what I collect. What Obsidian is doing for me is much better linking and much better visualization of those links, my constellation of references.
I also have implemented an inbox in my Obsidian vault so everything I collect or initially create goes there. I have toprocess stuff out of it just like I process email, or any other digital inputs. I do find that some of what initially seemed worth collecting never maes it out of the inbox into the real system and takes a trip to the trash instead.
Yes to both. And more too. So Yes, an exit strategy is critical for all info.
Not sure I’d entirely agree with you. If we are given a larger amount of space we tend to fill it. Reduced costs of hard disks and their increase in data storage space does not encourage people to decide what to keep and what to throw away. It is all hoarded. People tend to only really sift through when forced to.
People also tend not to collect junk per se. It’s more of, this might be useful in the future.
Technology can, and does, easily encourage this behaviour.
I think the challenge is as you’ve highlighted, and that is to have a clear process by which information is evaluated. That often creates friction because you’re forced to think about it, but does improve the quality of what you retain.
Was just going to ask about this. Thanks for writing it up.
I’ve started over with Obsidian (I have probably 2,000 notes in Roam). Trying to find a structure that works well there and then will slowly hand pick what to import over from Roam, either that or do what you suggested and dump all of the roam stuff into a specific folder in Obsidian. Would love to know how your journey goes as I’m planning to move completely out of Roam after going pretty deep over the last year.
I enjoyed this episode quite a bit, and really have learned a lot from the comments in this thread.
I think the fascination with Markdown, even without the intent to publish, is interesting. But regardless, what is interesting me about this more than just the focus on Obsidian is getting back to basics…plain text (which of course Markdown helps TONS with). The more I use Apple Notes, the more I wonder if I just need to get to plain text, which is platform agnostic. I have no intention to leave Apple, but I also like the portability of generic file formats.
And I can tell you from personal experience that having access to 30+ year old emails have proven very beneficial. So the “It might be useful later” often is and the key is being able to locate and access it quickly enough to use it when you do finally need it.
I think there really are good cases; like email; where keeping stuff is good. The bigger challenge is with notes and resources. I still have a whole load of folders I need to process! Ironically my MS Word docs from 1995 have needed little processing and are easier to handle than my old RTF files that everyone said would be the best “future proof” format, but has turned out to be terrible.
I appreciate your points. I don’t see any problem with moving to better software if Obsidian is superseded. By helping each other master software, we’re reducing the risk that someone will move without fully understanding the potential of their current software, but not everyone can do that and it’s okay if someone switches to software that has a better set of defaults for them, out of the box. We should actually expect that to happen in the area of note-taking and text management as it grows financially, making room for more variations on the same concepts.
As to why we capture and manage text: certainly the text should have some purpose and utility. Better information management lets someone spend more of their effort on that purpose, or pursue something that they wouldn’t previously have had time for. It also lets them pursue purposes that require more complex information management to make discoveries. It’s not always clear whether that discovery will emerge, so fruitless information work is possible, but if software increases the expected value of a bet someone would have made anyway, or helps someone reach a negative result faster, that’s still a good thing.
Finally, some simply enjoy information management for fun in their leisure time; they’re hopeless and should be pitied. 
One thing I have always done is before any change to my major computer or to a totally different piece of software, I bring all the old stuff along and do the file conversions then. Now I ado have a folder of stuff mostly old macWrites from earliest Mac days from ym mother that are notyet converted because it’s a manual 2 stage process but all of my own stuff has beenmigrated each time from the mid 1980’s on to present.
Sigh. I remember Lotus Notes, and fondly. Its functionality has been superseded eight times over, but when it was new it was *chef’s kiss*.
I’ve declared Pocket bankruptcy enough times to know that the minute I hear my self say “Hmmm … I may want to refer to this someday” I need to close that browser tab and move on to the next one.
Just checking back to say, I am all in with Obsidian. I’ve exported my 2600+ notes from Roam (still working on getting them all sorted) and have been going deep in the forums, videos, etc. I really really like it. Thanks for the push off the cliff @MacSparky.
Also – I just discovered the Alfred App plugin for obsidian. Mind blown.
I’m still relatively new to Obsidian, but I like @MacSparky 's workflow around linking between Omnifocus and Obsidian for more detailed notes on a project.
I threw together a quick OF automation script that allows me to generate the note automatically in Obsidian, append the Obsidian note into the notes field in OF and then also link to the OF project within the newly created note
/*{
"author": "Ryan M",
"targets": ["omnifocus"],
"type": "action",
"identifier": "com.ryanmo.Create Obsidian Note For Project",
"version": "0.1",
"description": "Creates an Obsidian note with the name of the project and creates links in both locations",
"label": "Obsidian Project Note",
"mediumLabel": "Obsidian Project Note",
"paletteLabel": "Obsidian Project Note",
}*/
(() => {
const vaultName = 'Notes';
const createObsidianNoteUrl = (fileName, content) =>
`obsidian://new?vault=${vaultName}&name=${encodeURI(fileName)}&content=${encodeURI(content)}&silent=true`
.replace(/#/g, '%23');
var action = new PlugIn.Action(selection => {
// Add code to run when the action is invoked
const project = selection.projects[0];
const obsidianName = project.name;
const omnifocusUrl = `omnifocus:///task/${project.id.primaryKey}`;
const content = `# ${project.name}\n\n[Link to Project](${omnifocusUrl})`;
const createUrl = createObsidianNoteUrl(obsidianName, content);
URL.fromString(createUrl).open()
project.appendStringToNote(
`obsidian://open?vault=${vaultName}&name=${encodeURI(obsidianName)}`
);
});
action.validate = selection => selection.projects.length === 1
return action;
})();
Anyone have a good collection of templates ready-made that they would be willing to share?
Maybe @MacSparky is saving all of his templates for the next Field Guide???
Somewhere above someone may have mentioned this 
but you can actually show a side-by-side preview of your markdown that updates in real-time. Toggle on “Page Preview” in the Core Plugins settings and then hover over the document icon at the top of the note and click while holding ⌘.
