Blogging-- why would an individual bother?

[Jack_Key]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wabmester In any case, to me a blog is just a subset of a vanity websites.* *I don't have a problem with them, but I really don't understand why they generate so much buzz.* * I've been posting my thoughts on the internet since 1981, so blogs seem really old-school to me.

When a writer writes a book, is that vanity? When people write diaries, is that also as a consequence of vanity?

Blogging and discussion boards are two different things, just as writing books, writing diaries and posting on forums are different things.

I read some blogs and can state some reasons why I like them better than message boards. Message boards need you to be more involved in your reads. On boadrs, there are many topics, many threads and subthreads and many posters. Sometimes, the boards get flooded by irrelevant comments and discussions. If you spot someone who generally have interesting things to say, you have to browse though many topics and threads to read his posts and, most of the time, you'll have to read an entire thread to understand the context.

With blogs, you just go on blogs from people you appreciate, look if they did post something recently, read it and go elsewhere. Better, you can use a RSS feed reader, see all updated blogs in a form at once and read posts you are interested in. It takes me about ten minutes a day to stay tuned with 10-15 high quality blogs.

Regards,
Jack

[Leslie]

I'm glad some people choose to blog--I spent a big chunk of today reading this guy's: http://thefatmanwalking.com/

He is a 39 yo ex-Marine who managed to get to 400 pounds. He decided to walk across the US from San Diego to NY to lose weight. He left in April and is as far as the middle of Arizona. Its a great story of a guy trying to get his act together...

Thanks for allowing me the interjection--I thought maybe someone else might wanna see too.

[Michael Moore]

I don't do a blog, but all of my hobby projects get written up (with photos) on my website, which is devoted to that hobby (motorcycling) as well as my little side business in that area.

In general, people seem to be very appreciative of the information, especially the "I did this, and I recommend you don't" stuff.

For discussing a topic I like a web forum or an email listserve. But then I run about 7 listserves on various m/c topics too.

Fora and listserves give a dialog, and I think that makes it more interesting for everyone. I do occasionally browse some blogs, and some of them make for interesting reading.

cheers,
Michael

[deserat]

I do think that boards like this and blogs have overlap but also have different purposes - perhaps some are for vanity - but not always. Heck, if you like dialogue ynot ytalk or some other variant? I look at it as different tools for different jobs. I personally like reading specific blogs--you get a sense of a personality of the person and what they are doing. Reminds me of the cyber sci-fi books and virtual communities with Avatars. In addition, good blogs will have a dialogue aspect to them as well. Plus, for some blogs there is a community atmosphere like that of this board. Perhaps some blogging communities haven't evolved or matured such as this board so that is what is turning one off of them.
For me, if I'm looking for information, I'll look in many places and through many formats.

Bridget

[deserat]

Hey Nords? So why would you bother to blog ;-)..........A little jump in the wayback machine for you. I don't blog anymore, but I think you do -heh.

[kramer]

After I first ER'ed, I did a blog on my world travels that many of my friends followed (2007). It was easier than sending out emails to everyone. And many with just a casual interest could see the latest once in a while.

After about a year and a half I got tired of all the work involved and retired from my blogging career. I also got the sense that my writing was coming through so as to prove I was having a good time, a writing style I despise.

Additionally, there were personal things that I just didn't want to post for a larger audience.

I was surprised at the reaction from many people when I stopped blogging, I had more followers than I realized.

I think nowadays most people would just do all of this via Facebook.

As I have gotten older and my life is more independent from my old pre-ER life, I think I have gotten more private. I recently turned down a fair sum of money to write an article about retiring abroad in my current country, and it mostly just came down to privacy, just not wanting to blast intimate details of day-to-day life (including a personal interview) to a large audience that I did not know.

[truenorth418]

The Early Retirement Extreme blog helped me get over the goal line of my own ER decision.

[martyp]

Just before I ER'd I was putting a list together of the things I might do in retirement. Keeping a blog was on the list. After I ER'd it didn't seem important. I go to a lot of new restaurants and I could have tried a restaurant review blog but it would have been too much work and there are so many other good restaurant review blogs out there I didn't see the point of starting another. Instead I have a Google map of my restaurants and occasionally I send it to other foodie's to pass along restaurant recommendations.

I actually did create a blog of some of my favorite poetry. I just wanted to see what blogging was all about.

[ItDontMeanAThing]

I blog for four reasons. First, it's a record for my use. I knew going the expat route would not be easy. Figured keeping track of my struggles and triumphs would help when I looked back to see what I'd learned. Second reason is other expats or potential expats might find something useful in my experience. Next, there were a few friends and relatives back home who wanted to follow my journey from the beginning. Reading the blog eventually discouraged most of them. Fourth reason might be the most important or it might be simply one aspect of the first reason. In my late 20s I realized that the best way for me to clarify and simply my thoughts and feelings about something was to explain it to another person. Turns out that explaining it to myself by putting it in writing has the same effect. My blog is Four Letter Nerd.

The only blog for which I drop everything to read the new post is Travel'nLass. She's a retired American expat teaching ESL. In her words: "Off-the-beaten-path travel is my passion, and I've always lived life "like-a-kid-in-a-candy-store" - eager to sample as many flavors as I can. Indeed, my life motto has long been: 'This ain't a dress rehearsal, folks!'.

And in that spirit, after years of running my own adventure travel company, and flitting off to far-away places every chance I got, it suddenly dawned on me that in my retirement - why not simply move lock, stock 'n barrel to some distant corner of the world?"

[nun]

Blogs are only as good as the blogger.....I read several devoted to bicycles, They are like hyper focussed geeky magazines and have pretty good feedback mechanisms IMHO

The Path Less Pedaled
Lovely Bicycle!
America ByCycle

the oldest site has been around for many years and was built by a cycling computer nerd to host cycling blogs and travelogues, so it looks a little old fashioned now, but still works very well.

crazyguyonabike.com: Bicycle Touring: A place for bicycle tourists and their journals

[arebelspy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deserat Hey Nords? So why would you bother to blog ;-)..........A little jump in the wayback machine for you. I don't blog anymore, but I think you do -heh.

Hah. Reading the first post in this thread 7 and 1/2 years later is quite amusing.

Time makes fools of us all.

(No offense to Nords intended, his blogging is a great thing, I'm glad he changed his mind, or at least made an exception.)

[target2019]

Some blogs are established by successful article writers in other media. This allows them to have an associated site that has active comment rather than static content in a web. Either there are comments, or not. Comments can quickly get out of hand, with spam and other annoyances freely posted.

Search engines no doubt take into account how widespread your posts. This is certainly why a media network would allow the writer to have an affiliated or un-affiliated blog, meaning it raises search order rank, and so on.

What about the rest of us? Some are trying to raise their visibility, or that of a business. On a personal level, a blog can quickly attract the attention of others. This could be a good thing. Brother has child with a disability, and he has met and enlisted aid of others through their networks.

Many different flavors of social media out there.

[healthyandfun]

I see blogs as a means to educate oneself. Learning from the mistakes and successes of the blogger per their experiences. Follow several travel, $$, and retirement ones. Much to ponder to make informed decisions and avoid pitfalls and they are very interesting. If the blogger makes $$ from my visits so be it. If the blogs doesn't meet my needs, I simply move on.

[LitGal]

Was required to read other people's writing for decades. Just can't do it much anymore, unless I'm looking to learn new things (hence, joining this site).

Particpating in (and reading others') discussions on ER.org is informative and inspiring. Otherwise, there are stacks of books I've waited to read, and there is so little time. (The library awaits....)

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords I see that a couple posters here also run blogs. MarketWatch has a Robert Powell article that largely pans the retirement-blog genre. It also bemoans the lack of blogs from those near or in ER, which sounds a little peevish considering that we must have "so much time" to devote to blogging about our ER experiences. Powell wants people to tell him what blogs he should read so that he can publicize (or pan) them in a future article. I can appreciate that blogging is a great way for a business to grab your attention every day or week with "Look what I'm doing!" posts. But it seems to be a monologue rather than a dialogue and it's not easy to see who's reading or how busy the site is. My impression is that bloggers are quite happy to yak away without caring if anyone is listening, let alone pausing to let someone else carry the conversation, and that blogging "feedback" mechanisms are minimal. I don't read many blogs and I don't think it's worth my effort to start one. Personally I'd rather stick with the more challenging discussion-board format. But if my impressions are wrong, I'm ready to be dissuaded...

Hmmmmmm............



Glad you decided otherwise. And apparently it is a two way street after all, as it sounds like you receive lots of feedback.

[yakers]

It looks like Nords/OP is addressing 'serious' financial/ER blogs. I only have a couple travel blogs, India, Bhutan, Nepal and Nirvana and Driving to the Arctic
which I set up to comunicate to family & friends rather than trying to send individual emails and pictures. Probably Facebook has replaced this function for most folks but I prefer not to mix the travel story with Facebook posts.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yakers It looks like Nords/OP is addressing 'serious' financial/ER blogs.

Note also his post is a bit dated - July of 2005.