Comments on: Think Unoriginal, Think Blogging

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 10:22:57 +0000

You have obviously never seen DeanHunt.com then

His blog is one that I have read and he seems to challenge the standard blogging and blog principles. I recommend you read it.

I enjoyed your post though, and I agree.

Chris

By: Simonne

Simonne — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:35:51 +0000

I agree with you, Moshin, that myth is wrong and it has to die. Maybe we can help that

By: Mohsin

Mohsin — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:00:42 +0000

soubriquet, people aren’t interested in reading personal diaries of people they don’t know. You have to be Winston Churchill for your diary to be of any value.

Zen Habits and Lifehacker are two examples of blogs that seek to influence their readers.

As for luring visitors to your blog, if you don’t ‘lure’ them, they wouldn’t know if your blog exists. We call this marketing.

Other than that, you are entitled to your opinion.

Simonne, right, but I’d argue that this is the result of the widespread myth that only a select few (inborn geniuses or something) can be creative. However, this is wrong. Anyone who learns to be creative, can be. So all we need to do is educate people to be creative. This is even more important when we are dealing with bloggers, who are supposed to be more creative than their non-blogging neighbors.

By: Simonne

Simonne — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:12:40 +0000

This is pretty much like in real life jobs. How many people in a company are creative? 1-2%? And if they are not the bosses, they soon find themselves in the situation to either stop being so creative or resign. If they are in charge, I bet most of the employees would be unhappy and soon leave. Most of the people hate creativity.
I don’t want to get rude now and name a few dull blogs with amazing readership. But they only confirm once more my belief that creativity amongst humans is the exception, not the rule.

By: soubriquet

soubriquet — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:54:26 +0000

Firstly, ‘Bloggers who take blogging seriously’? Who is to judge what is serious?
“Bloggers who are into blogging for material gains” ah… non bloggers and spamwriters then…
Those who seek to influence their readers. -Yes there are some, like religious fanatics, people who believe flying saucers are taking over the earth, government departments?
And as for writers of diaries…. Might I mention Samuel Pepys? Virginia Woolfe? Franz Kafka, Winston Churchill, to mention a few diarists of note…
I’ll bet Pepys would have had a blog, had they existed in 17th century London.
Oh, did I forget Anne Frank? Buckminster Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Florence Nightingale, diarists all,
To denigrate personal diaries is somewhat unwise, given that the importance of diaries to the historic record, and to interpersonal insights.
I’ll agree that many blogs are not worth the effort of reading. Few are great artistic endeavours.
But I’d rather read a genuine blog by a person who is writing about something they care about or are interested in, any day, than some tedious dross trying to sell me search engine optimisation, or how to lure new readers to my site, regardless of whether they really want to be there.
Blogging, as I said before, is a diverse and yet undefined activity. There are niches for all sorts of people.
I for one would be happy not to ever again see a blog full of pictures of someone’s cat. But I’d stand up for their right to go on posting them, if that keeps them happy.
I think, Mohsin, you should step back a bit, and realise there are many facets to blogging, and celebrate a freedom for expression.

By: Mohsin

Mohsin — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 07:25:23 +0000

Sylvie M and soubriquet: Any person who chooses to voice his opinions through a specialized medium is different from the rest of the masses.

When I talk about bloggers, I mean bloggers who take blogging seriously, and who are into blogging for some material gains, or those who seek to influence their readers. And I certainly don’t mean those whose blogs are nothing more than their online personal diaries.

Blogging works the same way as any other writing form. For example, if I say all horror writers write similar stories, and that they should innovate and be creative with their plots, you wouldn’t lump them with the general population and say that it’s not their fault, will you?

By: soubriquet

soubriquet — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:49:15 +0000

Interesting article.
However…….. Yep, I disagree with some or all of your points.
You say bloggers “claim to be an innovative and creative lot”.
No.
I don’t think that’s true at all, because bloggers are, in fact, a diverse set of individuals with different goals, beliefs, motivations. There is no membership of a group, just access to a medium. There are no agreed goals, no rights and wrongs.
Layouts tend to be similar because most bloggers use pre-existing platforms, with pre-existing templates available (such as blogger, wordpress etc). Many bloggers are people with no special interest in learning HTML, nor in using fancy layout guides.
More important to them is just writing, showing their pictures, having a voice.

Yes, some bloggers seem to feel there are rules, and etiquette involved in blogging. I beg to differ. As yong as you do’t piss off your service provider, i’d say just go on inventing your own rules.
Content. If we were all great writers, influential thinkers, well maybe we’d be writing daily or weekly articles in the mainstream media, or too busy with our next bestselling book to bother with blogs.
Truth is, blogging is not the primary activity of most bloggers.
Niche?
Yep, there are a few. Some people are happy staying with what they know. Who are you, or I, to criticise that?
And, just to finish off. Traffic.
Who cares?

Yep. Anathema!
I do not seek either money or fame from my blog. I don’t presume to tell anyone how to live their life, nor do I have a product of any sort to push.
If you stop worrying about the numbers on your counter, you can relax, go a month without posting. YES! you can. Blogging is not compulsory. Don’t feel obliged to write a clever piece each week, don’t count your words, don’t worry if it’s been said before, and most of all?
Don’t let anyone else tell you you’re doing it all wrong.
There are no rules. The internet is your platform, use it as you wish, not as some mystery overlord tells you.

Aah Sylvie M just commented as I was writing this, good to hear I’m not alone!

Mohsin, thanks for the post, it made me think more about the nature of blogging.

By: Sylvie M

Sylvie M — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 17:18:26 +0000

“Bloggers claim to be an innovative and creative lot…” Unwarranted assumption. Maybe you’re also guility of not reading outside your niche? The vast majority of bloggers have little or nothing to say, and they say it endlessly. There’s no more reason to expect creativity or originality from bloggers than from any other segment of the net population–or any population, in plain fact. Otherwise, your critique is a good one.

By: Mohsin

Mohsin — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 14:28:57 +0000

It’s impossible to do serious reading on screen. There are too many distractions especially if the Internet is on.

Nothing can still replace the convenience of conventional paper books.

By: Aaron Stroud

Aaron Stroud — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:46:02 +0000

Recently, I realized that my computer reading had crowded out other types of reading. Cutting back my screen time and getting into books books again has been a refreshing change.