I think a lot of why I don’t end up writing things is that I fall into the classic trap:
Here I’m giving myself a pass because it would be too ironic not to: what follows is my defence of stating the obvious.
A brief aside first: what is obvious? There are of course two types of obvious:
(I didn’t come up with this distinction, but ironically I can’t find a source)
One excellent reason is that it might be wrong, and unless I say it, I’ll have a harder time finding that out (or perhaps I’ll simply find out the hard way).
Another is for those who haven’t encountered it yet: I have benefitted immensely from the internet writing of others, and I’d be glad to make some small contribution to the circulation.
Even for those who do know it, it can still be useful to have a succinct reference: even the obvious sometimes benefits from clear expression.
And then there’s something elusive like planting a flag: there are always many people making many claims about many things, and it is entirely possible that something will become a lot more obvious in ten years time. So to state the obvious is a way I can show that it is obvious to me, now, for better or worse.
I think that of all of these, the last one is the best reason to write, but also the one that requires the most courage.