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On closings

Update: I misused the term “salutation” in this article. What I meant was apparently “valedictions” or “closings”. I’ve updated the article below to reflect this, but the permalink will remain the same.

I have historically ended all of my articles with a closing like “Happy coding!” or “Happy debugging!”. Recently I tried a Lewis-inspired “Onward and upward!” and the controversial “Up the web!”.

I picked up the practice back when I was blogging my way through coding bootcamp. I’m not sure where I picked it up; probably something that I noticed other writers doing as I tried to find my own style.

But on further reflection, I’m don’t think that a closing is necessary online. And the amount of time I have spent thinking of the best gerund to follow “Happy” is not negligible. Instead, I could better use that time refining the conclusion.

Going forward, once I have made my point I will end the article.