Comments on: So: Why Blog? http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12 Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:20:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: A Blogger’s Life: Why Blog and When Do You Stop Blogging? http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12&cpage=1#comment-38 A Blogger’s Life: Why Blog and When Do You Stop Blogging? Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:42:10 +0000 http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12#comment-38 [...] Dr. Johnson’s Cat asks “So: Why Blog?”, a question that plagues many bloggers, wanna be bloggers, and wish-they-weren’t bloggers. Why do we keep on blogging when the fun drains away. And what keeps bringing us back. Googling the phrase “stop blogging” gets 171,000 hits: Ten Reasons Why I Should Stop Blogging; Should I Stop Blogging? 20 Questions to Ask Yourself; 29 reasons you need to stop blogging right now; Why Bloggers Stop Blogging; How to Know When to Stop Blogging; Stop Blogging and Get to Work; etc. The tract “What Everyone Should Know About Blog Depression” (Loss of pleasure in the Internet; feelings of sadness, disappointment, anger, self loathing, hopelessness, dementia; passive aggressive moaning and a steady lengthening of the interval between posts) is now three years old. And why shouldn’t people be depressed? According to a recent study (via Jakob Nielsen via grow-a-brain) visitors to websites on the average read only 20% of the text; 28% tops. People starting blogs only to abandon them within months, or even weeks, is such a commonplace that you’re surprised this hasn’t become a a ubiquitous trope on sitcoms. Where indeed are the reality shows where the participants, instead of holding out to the last “What have we learned?” episode, instead wander off seriatim, not so much called back to real life as completely unsprung by despair. [...] [...] Dr. Johnson’s Cat asks “So: Why Blog?”, a question that plagues many bloggers, wanna be bloggers, and wish-they-weren’t bloggers. Why do we keep on blogging when the fun drains away. And what keeps bringing us back. Googling the phrase “stop blogging” gets 171,000 hits: Ten Reasons Why I Should Stop Blogging; Should I Stop Blogging? 20 Questions to Ask Yourself; 29 reasons you need to stop blogging right now; Why Bloggers Stop Blogging; How to Know When to Stop Blogging; Stop Blogging and Get to Work; etc. The tract “What Everyone Should Know About Blog Depression” (Loss of pleasure in the Internet; feelings of sadness, disappointment, anger, self loathing, hopelessness, dementia; passive aggressive moaning and a steady lengthening of the interval between posts) is now three years old. And why shouldn’t people be depressed? According to a recent study (via Jakob Nielsen via grow-a-brain) visitors to websites on the average read only 20% of the text; 28% tops. People starting blogs only to abandon them within months, or even weeks, is such a commonplace that you’re surprised this hasn’t become a a ubiquitous trope on sitcoms. Where indeed are the reality shows where the participants, instead of holding out to the last “What have we learned?” episode, instead wander off seriatim, not so much called back to real life as completely unsprung by despair. [...]

]]> By: RodeWorks » Why Blog? http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12&cpage=1#comment-31 RodeWorks » Why Blog? Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:18:47 +0000 http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12#comment-31 [...] So: Why Blog? | Dr. Johnson’s Cat [...] [...] So: Why Blog? | Dr. Johnson’s Cat [...]

]]> By: arvind http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12&cpage=1#comment-25 arvind Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:09:32 +0000 http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12#comment-25 I see a cycle. I see a rush of ideas waiting to explode at times. And other times, completely dry and senseless. Since it has happened so many times, I accept this as natural cycle for any blogger. Good post. I see a cycle. I see a rush of ideas waiting to explode at times. And other times, completely dry and senseless. Since it has happened so many times, I accept this as natural cycle for any blogger. Good post.

]]> By: Why Should I Blog?: Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation « Trinity’s World http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12&cpage=1#comment-23 Why Should I Blog?: Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation « Trinity’s World Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:53:54 +0000 http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12#comment-23 [...] about. I was readingLorrel On WordPress where she was highlighting a post on another blog called “So: Why Blog”. The post was by Dr. Johnson’s Cat and was a reflection on how his personal blog journey has [...] [...] about. I was readingLorrel On WordPress where she was highlighting a post on another blog called “So: Why Blog”. The post was by Dr. Johnson’s Cat and was a reflection on how his personal blog journey has [...]

]]> By: reasonable robinson http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12&cpage=1#comment-22 reasonable robinson Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:38:24 +0000 http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12#comment-22 Lurking beneath the 'rationalised' reasons for blogging, such as anonymous self expressions, ego-centric self expression, self promotion, professional writing, monetizing etc is something that is rarely mentioned...blogging's complusive and potentially addictive nature. I spent many years in the Gambling business and began blogging a year ago for professional academic interest to get a grip on this social phenomenon. One thing struck me immediately. The interelationship between the 'expenditure' of effort and creativity in posting and the metrics that can be tracked. What we have here is one of the most powerfully addictive reinforcement schedules - the intermittent variable reinforcement schedule. Vegas is built on it! This works on the blogger through the variety of 'hits'/visistor numbers on any given day and the irregularity of visitors, such that bloggers 'chase' visitor numbers. Little and often stimulates the blogger to keep going and then a rare big hit aka jackpot only serves to feed the compulsion. Not only that we have the 'Bloggers Fallacy' which runs something like 'just one post, just one more, this is going to be the one that scores!' And finally we have the 'Illusion of control' - the blogsophere is crammed with advice on how to generate traffic and build visistor numbers - loads of heuristics and not much proof, just like all those tips on how to 'beat the system'. That's why I always rub my keyboard with a rabbits foot and never type in green :) Lurking beneath the ‘rationalised’ reasons for blogging, such as anonymous self expressions, ego-centric self expression, self promotion, professional writing, monetizing etc is something that is rarely mentioned…blogging’s complusive and potentially addictive nature.

I spent many years in the Gambling business and began blogging a year ago for professional academic interest to get a grip on this social phenomenon. One thing struck me immediately. The interelationship between the ‘expenditure’ of effort and creativity in posting and the metrics that can be tracked. What we have here is one of the most powerfully addictive reinforcement schedules – the intermittent variable reinforcement schedule. Vegas is built on it!

This works on the blogger through the variety of ‘hits’/visistor numbers on any given day and the irregularity of visitors, such that bloggers ‘chase’ visitor numbers. Little and often stimulates the blogger to keep going and then a rare big hit aka jackpot only serves to feed the compulsion. Not only that we have the ‘Bloggers Fallacy’ which runs something like ‘just one post, just one more, this is going to be the one that scores!’ And finally we have the ‘Illusion of control’ – the blogsophere is crammed with advice on how to generate traffic and build visistor numbers – loads of heuristics and not much proof, just like all those tips on how to ‘beat the system’. That’s why I always rub my keyboard with a rabbits foot and never type in green :)

]]> By: A Blogger’s Life: Why Blog and When Do You Stop Blogging? « Lorelle on WordPress http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12&cpage=1#comment-20 A Blogger’s Life: Why Blog and When Do You Stop Blogging? « Lorelle on WordPress Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:20:26 +0000 http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12#comment-20 [...] Blogger’s Life: Why Blog and When Do You Stop Blogging? Dr. Johnson’s Cat asks “So: Why Blog?”, a question that plagues many bloggers, wanna be bloggers, and wish-they-weren’t bloggers. [...] [...] Blogger’s Life: Why Blog and When Do You Stop Blogging? Dr. Johnson’s Cat asks “So: Why Blog?”, a question that plagues many bloggers, wanna be bloggers, and wish-they-weren’t bloggers. [...]

]]> By: Mark Evans http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12&cpage=1#comment-2 Mark Evans Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:45:51 +0000 http://www.chrishodge.org/blog/?p=12#comment-2 Dr. Johnson, Great post. I've been thinking along the same lines recently. In particular, I wonder whether there comes a time when you know that it's time to stop a blog and/or stopping blogging. Do blogs have best-until dates? Interesting. Mark Dr. Johnson,

Great post. I’ve been thinking along the same lines recently. In particular, I wonder whether there comes a time when you know that it’s time to stop a blog and/or stopping blogging. Do blogs have best-until dates?

Interesting.

Mark

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