Why are we blogging?
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Warning: personal rant ahead... Today I got a whopping 136 unique visitors on this blog. Of these 136 the majority came from people who are using Pivot templates that I've created for the public domain and a lot of Google searches. It made me reflect upon everything for a moment and wonder: Why are we blogging? Why are we actually bothering. Specifically: Why am I?
Last week I had a whole week minus one day off. I spent almost the entire period to create the new design you are currently looking at. In fact I was hoping I might finally manage to get featured at CSS Vault, StyleGala, Unmatched Style or any of the other CSS showcase sites on the net. It didn't happen. Of course I ended up with a really nice design that a lot of people really like but the goal I had in mind before starting the biggest weblog design job I've done so far was miserably missed. The ball didn't even hit the bar. Maybe my foot even missed the ball. We'll never know. Why I failed I have no clue. Maybe a real designer can respond and let me know why it doesn't cut the cake. I myself fail to understand.
Then there's the writing. I write on several blogs. This one is just one of them. On my Dutch blog I've written a whole collection of short stories* which take quite a lot of time to write as you may know if you've ever tried so yourself. I think only a handful of people have ever read them. On this blog I've written some articles that could be of interest but again: hardly anybody is noticing them.
Then there's the coding. I have created several critically acclaimed Pivot extensions among which the Pivot Blacklist and the Taggerati plugin are the most well known ones. Especially the blacklist is being used by hundreds, if not thousands of people with Pivot weblogs. Finally there's the three themes for Pivot that are on Pivot Styles that I've created and are quite widely used as well. They are Craftsmanship, The Writer and the recently released 'Slick' template. All of these efforts contain links to the weblog you're currently reading...
Despite all these efforts in the field of free PHP software, design templates and writings ... I got a whopping 136 unique visitors today. Of which the majority... well you know the rest. It makes me really wonder about the question what it is why we're actually blogging. There are Dutch girls that write in Dutch about the daily ongoings in their life who receive double, triple, quadruple or even more times the amount I just mentioned. They didn't release any software, designs or whatsoever and they're writing for the tiny audience of Dutch speaking internet users. Also they're just writing down what happened the other day and aren't engaging in real proza or topical article-like material.
So... if you've managed to read this entire rant and you still didn't close this site please take some extra time and let me know why I'm doing all this really?
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only blogger with these feelings so I guess this could be an interesting topic for many people when it comes to the reactions. But then again, there probably won't be more than five or so from people I can already guess who they'll be...
end of rant.
*) Not all of them are mine, 13 or so are
Then there's the writing. I write on several blogs. This one is just one of them. On my Dutch blog I've written a whole collection of short stories* which take quite a lot of time to write as you may know if you've ever tried so yourself. I think only a handful of people have ever read them. On this blog I've written some articles that could be of interest but again: hardly anybody is noticing them.
Then there's the coding. I have created several critically acclaimed Pivot extensions among which the Pivot Blacklist and the Taggerati plugin are the most well known ones. Especially the blacklist is being used by hundreds, if not thousands of people with Pivot weblogs. Finally there's the three themes for Pivot that are on Pivot Styles that I've created and are quite widely used as well. They are Craftsmanship, The Writer and the recently released 'Slick' template. All of these efforts contain links to the weblog you're currently reading...
Despite all these efforts in the field of free PHP software, design templates and writings ... I got a whopping 136 unique visitors today. Of which the majority... well you know the rest. It makes me really wonder about the question what it is why we're actually blogging. There are Dutch girls that write in Dutch about the daily ongoings in their life who receive double, triple, quadruple or even more times the amount I just mentioned. They didn't release any software, designs or whatsoever and they're writing for the tiny audience of Dutch speaking internet users. Also they're just writing down what happened the other day and aren't engaging in real proza or topical article-like material.
So... if you've managed to read this entire rant and you still didn't close this site please take some extra time and let me know why I'm doing all this really?
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only blogger with these feelings so I guess this could be an interesting topic for many people when it comes to the reactions. But then again, there probably won't be more than five or so from people I can already guess who they'll be...
end of rant.
*) Not all of them are mine, 13 or so are
At 06 April '05 - 21:03 Max wrote:
Keep in mind, though, that even if the visitors don’t come in thousands, they are there. I’d rather have 10 really interested visitors, that know what I’m talking about, that feel what I feel, that don’t go “huh?” when I talk about techie stuff, than a 1000 folks that can only relate to you because you have nothing to say.
God, that sounds cynical…
Oh well, just keep it up, already. Stoppen is voor mietjes =]
At 06 April '05 - 21:27 Marco wrote:
At 06 April '05 - 21:51 Simon wrote:
Soo, nothing spectacular over there either. Why I still maintain a log? I’ve asked myself that question sooo many times. Answer is pretty simpel… Because I like to do so. I like maintaining it and work on my lay-out. I stopped logging for some times. Just when I didn’t fell good about whatever, I could delete the whole thing in just 3 seconds (happend 2 times…). But I built it up again, from the ground. I guess I couldn’t live without it anymore? Well, that’s not true of course, but I prefer having one than not having one.
But it’s a question that keeps every weblogger busy I’m certain. Guess we’ll never now the answer…
...untill I receive the money of the ads. ;)
At 06 April '05 - 22:09 Marco wrote:
At 06 April '05 - 22:36 Arnoud wrote:
Lately I’ve become one of your frequent, daily?, visitors. Because I am a pivot-user and I really needed the blacklist as a solution to comment spam. I think It was today I thought of myself as someone who really admires you work. I even like to read your tech posts….
I use the slick template on my site, simply because it came closest to what I had in mind and I simply didn’t find the time to learn all the skills to get so far. Last monday I first saw these balloon shaped comments and it made me feel kind of depressed, I was trying to get a result much like that for my ‘uitgesproken’ section on my site a few weeks ago, worked on it for hours and didn’t get it to work yet…
... too much wine for now… I think I’ll have some sleep…
At 07 April '05 - 00:14 lijn wrote:
Because you have a real live site you can experiment with.
Because 136 interested readers is more than the audience you would get in the local cafe when you’d try to tell what you’re telling on your blog.
I am a techie. And a girl with a blog about stories about nothing. And a lot more visitors than you. And the funny thing is that the best read stories are about tech things even I don’t understand.
So the real question is not why you do it. The real question is always: Why do they read it?
At 07 April '05 - 00:21 Bram wrote:
I don’t know why I do it either, maybe it’s some sort of addiction? Maybe we try to learn something? I guess it’s better then watching TV all evening
At 07 April '05 - 04:53 Chantal wrote:
According to my statistics, people like it. I also get a lot of visitors from Google. So I keep on blogging…
At 07 April '05 - 08:28 Marco wrote:
At 07 April '05 - 08:31 Simon wrote:
But now we’re talking about why we’re having a weblog… Anybody has a clue about why we’re on earth in the first place? :p
And now don’t come up with ‘Because we need to breathe and that’s not possible on Mars’
At 07 April '05 - 10:58 Max wrote:
At 07 April '05 - 11:51 Bram wrote:
At 07 April '05 - 11:59 Marco wrote:
At 07 April '05 - 12:38 David Forward wrote:
Just look at the wild hysteria that drives the seemingly non-brainers to rush to scream at a glimpse of Michael Jackson or the Millions of people who have spent millions of pounds just to see a dead body displayed in Rome. Surely it is better to be recognised as a talented, clever, artistic, original, productive and useful person than it is to be a waste of space like other types of people I have hinted at.
It is far better to have few intelligent supporters than thousands of idiots just following the crowd quite aimlessly. The mass of fools out their who would willingly wear dogs excrement on their heads if it were the latest fashion. You don’t need those people.
You are unique and sometimes it takes a while to be appreciated by significant numbers. Never give up on your desire to reach your goal. The i-Marco trade mark will one day be as recognised as Nike or Coke-a-cola. Pivot engined and Marco modified out of the box solutions will one day be the norm where the user only has to tick a box to implement a function, even Dutch blogger girlies will be able to get it up and running whilst filing their nails.
At 07 April '05 - 15:08 Marco wrote:
Damn that’s gotta be the coolest description I’ve read in a long while. Thanks for that, it made me smile
At 11 April '05 - 13:27 Cissi wrote:
If so, where’s all the topics about sex?!! That ought to increase your audience!
:P
Patience, my friend. 136 visitors daily is a respectable number. If you continue with your good work, it will eventually grow. My site used to receive a whooping three visitors a day, but now it is at around 70-90 per day.
Personally I would rather see comments, rather than just visits. Comments are more meaningful, and it seems you have ample.
At 21 April '05 - 15:00 Ben Askins wrote:
Don’t despair, I think your design is great. And I love the Slick template. Without it I wouldn’t have such a nice looking site :)
take care,
Ben