"If I'm just adding to the noise, turn off this song."
---Switchfoot
Wow. I just read something that really turned me off blogging. And that something is.... everyone else's blogs.
Since I have nothing to do at my morning job, I literally sit and play on the internet for three hours and get paid for it. I have my rounds - my favorite is clicked.msnbc.msn.com, because it's just a bunch of links to more silly entertaining internet stuff.
Today Clicked said this:
"Speaking of giving up, One Post Wonder is a blog that features blogs that have only managed a single post. Blogging seemed like such a great idea until they actually tried it."
So I clicked it. Funny idea, yes? But in the end, so terribly, terribly humiliating.
And here I am...adding to the noise.
Thanks for reading. You get a cookie!
4 comments:
Humiliating for you? Or for the would-be bloggers?
We all have half-finished (and half-started) projects and ideas in life. These blogs are a little more public than others, but no more embarrassing than the would-be-dieter who gives up 2 weeks in, or the friend who promises videos to several friends and then perpetually never finishes them...ahem.
I think your perception depends on your intended audience. There's been quite a few famous bloggers arise in recent years (and I think it's kind of lame to be famous and paid for your opinion on whatever--it seems only somewhat more legitimate when you're employed by a newspaper).
It is a little cringe-worthy to set out to become a famous blogger, and so obviously fail. If your audience is just the vague masses, then perhaps you deserve some ridicule for trying to seem more important than you are.
Blogs with a specific audience (either _____ geeks or devotees, or friends and family members) are both more humble in tone, and understandably forgiven when they don't end up going anywhere. Not everyone is motivated or gifted in expression, and it takes an audience of some type to motivate/justify continued blogging.
I guess I don't feel like it's adding more to the noise than an annoyingly-talky coworker (of which I blessedly have none), or people publishing useless books. There's always going to be too much to read and know, and thus, always a necessary decision about how and where one spends their time...
...and we're spiraling off into other topics now.
dang. my comment's longer than your post.
someone got a little out of hand.
Humiliating for ME! Not others...I don't think that, nor would I say so online, especially not in a blogging community.
I am no better or worse than the other blogs out there: I can't even articulate that! What I meant was I felt quite pointless and absurd typeing these few lines and posting them somewhere, along with hundreds and maybe thousands of other bloggers doing the exact same thing.
You forget that you're in the midst of all these other words, just throwing your words out with the rest.
I guess it's like looking up at the stars on a clear night: Just makes you feel so large and significant! ;)
I like to rock out to your noise.
Post a Comment