I have been using a text file (actually an org mode file) since 2009. Before that I used a plain text file.
It doesn't handle video/bookmark/pdf. If I have to save those, I put them in a separate directory and make a note of it in the text file.
It's pretty well organized, thanks to org mode. It has a section that is by date, like journal entries, and a section that's by topic. Since it's just a single file, it's very easily searchable. It will never "go down". I don't need to run a database (I tried using wiki software for the same purpose). I can even "link" different sections, by having plain text labels. For example, I can refer to "ZFS Setup 2009-01-01" which is another place in the document I can search for.
I can "jump" to sections by using the orgmode annotation. Searching for "* Computers" will go to that top level section.
I liked this system so much that I also use it at work. People are very impressed that I can find things in my "notebook" so quickly. It's just text search.
Websites disappear. Web apps disappear. Apps disappear. My text file, does not.
> It doesn't handle video/bookmark/pdf. If I have to save those, I put them in a separate directory and make a note of it in the text file...
I've used a similar system in the past (though not based on org mode), but was too brittle if/when "links" broke or were altered. For an over simplistic example, if the references that you made to a video within your master text file(s) breaks because the video's containing folder name has changed even slightly, well that becomes annoying. For a small number of references, types of destination media types, etc., maybe not an issue, but after some point, it can become too much maintenance/annoyance. Is this an issue that you encounter? If so, do you have mitigations for avoiding/resolving the broken links? Just curious.
As someone with a similar setup, I have a Google Doc named "Weekly Scratchpad" with a shortcut on my Android home screen. At the end of the week, I copy anything worth saving into my plain text file(s) and delete the rest.
It doesn't handle video/bookmark/pdf. If I have to save those, I put them in a separate directory and make a note of it in the text file.
It's pretty well organized, thanks to org mode. It has a section that is by date, like journal entries, and a section that's by topic. Since it's just a single file, it's very easily searchable. It will never "go down". I don't need to run a database (I tried using wiki software for the same purpose). I can even "link" different sections, by having plain text labels. For example, I can refer to "ZFS Setup 2009-01-01" which is another place in the document I can search for.
I can "jump" to sections by using the orgmode annotation. Searching for "* Computers" will go to that top level section.
I liked this system so much that I also use it at work. People are very impressed that I can find things in my "notebook" so quickly. It's just text search.
Websites disappear. Web apps disappear. Apps disappear. My text file, does not.