In the sixth Elegy of Rilke’s Duino Elegies, there is praise for the fig tree that almost entirely omits to flower. Rilke is considering the big issues of life and death, as all artists should. He contrasts the flower-like shallowness of the acrobats with the value of the fulfilled fruit.

But this idea – that drawing attention to yourself by flowering matters less than fruiting – can be applied to The Internet too. Everything of worth on The Internet does not need bangs and whistles, bold colors or shouting from the rooftops.

Such transparently valuable projects as The Open Source Movement, Wikipedia, Project Gutenberg, The Open Directory Project and The Scout Report are appreciated for what they do, not for the fanfare that they create.

And this should be your aim if you are starting out with an Internet idea: Provide nourishing fruit, and even if, like the fig, your site does not flower in a big way, it will still be found and appreciated.

One of the characteristics of The Internet is that good ideas, like Wikipedia, take root eventually without the need for advertising. Similarly, ideas that are promoted heavily but are less good tend to be forgotten eventually.

It’s over six months since The Internet is God went live and I’ve had very little interest in the idea as yet. However, I knew at the outset that this might be a difficult idea to sell. It may never catch on and I can live with this. I’m busy with other things and have lots of other ideas that I have no time to implement.

But you never know. Ideas can suddenly establish themselves and as quickly become unfashionable. Stuff happens whether we like it or not and the only thing to do is to keep serious, continue to believe that at least some of our thoughts are worth having and see what happens. You could spend every spare moment promoting yourself and writing press releases or you can relax with the thought that if the idea was worth having in the first place, others might think so too before too long!

Perhaps it’s a rationalization to say that I’m enjoying the lack of attention and the opportunity to consider other things. If so, I’m all for rationalization. Rationalization is one of those kindly tools that the human mind can use to soften disappointment and negotiate everyday life. The best strategy when things don’t go exactly to plan may be to continue to like and trust yourself but not take yourself too seriously either, or beat yourself up about things that are out of your hands anyway!