I was thinking what to call the process when you decide to let go off some of the 'fruits' of your CRIMPing: de-CRIMPing or un-CRIMPing?

This is a new experience for me. It came about because my 5-yr old PC has just died and I needed to reinstall my essential software quickly onto my new Win laptop I got as my replacement machine. And it being all new and shiny (and a laptop), there is a disincentive to clutter it with old software that I no longer use (or never got into).

So this is a gentle way of 'disposing', as they just fall away, rather than being thrown away (and I still have the installer files and the licences if I ever change my mind).

I still quite like and appreciate some of the software that didn't make it through. It seems that in most cases they are the casualty of having been replaced by a competitor. There is just no need to have 2 or 3 of the same software in the very same category and with overlapping functionality holding the same data.

I guess this kind of hardware or OS failure is a natural remedy for setting off a recovery phase in the life of a CRIMPer...

I reach this stage periodically -- a machine reaches end of life or dies, I've known that's coming so I've been migrating my work to a new machine but only bringing along the software that was needed for active work in progress. And then one day the old machine expires and I leave the old software behind.

The cycle happened again recently. My MacPro expired after 9 years -- the last year spent limping along and crashing. I'd transferred my active work and related software gradually to a Mac laptop and by the time the Pro died and would no longer boot, I just moved it to the basement and closed the door. I'll harvest the SATA drives eventually and archive the data. But I won't touch the software because I either have new versions of the programs on my laptop, or I found I didn't need something and never installed it on the new machine.

It's easiest to de/un/exCRIMP one's software library if you avoid software that saves data in any kind of proprietary format that can only be read by that software. That's why I like markdown a lot. It's also helpful to realize some work is just not worth it. For years I compulsively tagged all my images in a Bibble library, and then Bibble died (or something like that; it just became unusable on new versions of OS X). I stopped tagging at that point because it how fragile proprietary library formats are.

"because it how fragile proprietary library formats are." ==> "because it showed me just how fragile proprietary library formats are"

Is there such a person as a de-crimper, or an un-crimper? Is one not forever a "recovering crimper"?

Hugh wrote:

Is there such a person as a de-crimper, or an un-crimper? Is one not
forever a "recovering crimper"?

Interesting question. It depends on whether we consider CRIMPing a form of addiction, and if so, which type of addiction. E.g. a recovering alcoholic can go on forever without another drop of alcohol but a recovering over-eater still needs to eat to survive.

It might be that CRIMPing is similar to looking for a way of life or a religion. Once you've found it (such as the optimal collection of software tools or life style choices or spiritual practice and community), there is no need for further (excessive and compulsive) shopping, only for maintenance and perhaps minor readjustments and replacements.

So, perhaps, a "lapsed crimper"?

Although I can't lay my hands on it at the moment, I remember reading a study about (non-dementia related) decline of grammatical complexity as we age. That is, there is a natural tendency to simplify our speech as we get older. I suspect the same thing happens with crimping. At least, in my experience, I find myself wanting to use simpler tools and workflows, the better to spend my time with the content, rather than with the complexities of the interface.

And then, of course, there is the occasional falling off the wagon to revel in the latest and greatest. Which doesn't last...

jaslar wrote:

decline of grammatical complexity as
we age. That is, there is a natural tendency to simplify our speech as
we get older. I suspect the same thing happens with crimping. At least,
in my experience, I find myself wanting to use simpler tools and
workflows, the better to spend my time with the content, rather than
with the complexities of the interface.

Maye this could also be explained as *learning*. Surely, if one is a learner (while accepting there are such things as learning difficulties), then one should accumulate some knowledge and skills concerning the tools one is using over time, getting better at selecting them and using them.

Especially as one builds up this collection/selection of tools and the associated knowledge to use them, one may have increasingly less need to keep acquiring new tools in large quantities at a fast pace [CRIMP] (though that does not preclude one from adopting new technologies if some major new discoveries take place or just keeping up with the evolution of the platform).

Moreover, the tools we're talking about here are intellectual tools, and we're using them for learning and developing new knowledge.

Speaking of age, there is probably a trajectory over one's working life where one's relationships to one's tools change due to the accumulated experience and practice of using them.

But things can get complicated when one's work tools also become the objects (toys?) of one's hobby! ;) Maybe that's when the dangerous line between work and obsessive or other unproductive behaviour (procrastination, addiction) gets crossed. :-)