The urge to blog is low these days
I’ve been blogging too long. A topic comes up and instead of feeling inspired I think, “Oh that topic again! I should dig my entry about that out of the archives.”
I’m so lazy.
I have never really gotten trolls. Why is this? I know that there are some people who read me who vehemently disagree with things I’ve written (I can see this in my stats) and yet they have never attacked me here. Why is this? (Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy about it.)
Here are my theories:
1. I’m out of the loop. I think there are blogging cliques out there and I’m not in them so when these turf wars start, my blog is never in the fray.
2. I don’t get as many hits as the flamed bloggers. Popularity sadly makes for opportunity.
3. Sheer luck. I think this also goes along with the clique thing — I’m not posting on the hot button issues when the issues are hot.
I need something new to talk about. J is gone; I am sad. The house is a wreck; I am crazed. I have a headache (again); I am frustrated. Same old same old.
Here’s something funny. J sings while she’s doing other things, like cooking or waiting or shopping. Madison does, too. She sings her way around the house and it’s the same kind of pretty meandering “la-la-la” that J does. Who knew this kind of thing was genetic?
Madison’s favorite things at the moment:
–unloading the dishwasher, whether or not it’s clean;
–unpacking drawers in the kitchen and her room;
–placing shirts on her head or around her neck to look dressy;
–sitting in big people chairs and then announcing, “I sit!”
I think you don’t get trolls because of how you express yourself. You’re always well thought out, open to new information, and never over emotional. Your writing commands respect.
I also think it’s partly posturing and domination: people will troll you when they think they can “win” at some kind of verbal smackdown. They know they can’t beat you, so they don’t troll you.
It’s definitly not hits
If was you’d be getting way more trolls than me. I don’t know about cliques; I’m not in any either. Luck, maybe.
I think we all go through phases when finding things to blog about is more difficult. I find, personally, that that happens to me when there’s a lot of stuff going on that I don’t want to post about publicly, and I end up just writing in my off-line journal then. I think you’re a great blogger, but why would you want trolls?
Frankly you always carry yourself with an air of dignity. I just think people don’t mess with you. You have been around a long time. You don’t ever seem to write irrationally. Now there are bunches of people who carry your same qualities and get trolls, but I think they may write on more controrversial subjects.
The no inspiration to blog thing has hit me hard over the past few months, so I understand. I finally realized that it’s not that I have nothing to blog about, it’s that I’m feeling constrained by knowing who - my mother - reads my blog. The build-up to the switch to the new site has me excited again, especially now that I can password protect certain entries.
I have to agree with the above sentiments. Not once have I felt my hackles rise while reading any of your posts. You just write in such balanced way. Not that I’m one to flame other bloggers, I’m not. But there are times when I read things and think “Oh no they didn’t!” I find I can disagree with what you are saying and at the same time hear what you say in a way that makes me reexamine my own ideas.
But I hear you on the inspiration draught. I’m a bone over here.
You know, I think that most bloggers have periods where the well runs a little dry. Honestly? Maybe that’s a good thing. If life were so exciting all the time, it’d be even more exhausting. Maybe we need periods of calm and not a lot going on worth writing about, to recharge.
Anyway, I love your blog and don’t mind that you aren’t in the fray or the thick of things. Or in any cliques. The nice thing about the internet is that it’s bigger than high school and one can avoid those and read whoever one wants. Which would be you.
I am a relative newcomer to blogs and yesterday I was updating my blogroll for the first time. I decided to “categorize” the blogs I read, and even though I did include you in one of the categories, I was thinking to myself that you and your blog are pretty unique. I *love* the fact that it’s not anonymous, and that you share so much of yourself, and write about your life so candidly and yet so elegantly as other people have described. Your blog was also one of the very first I read, I almost stayed up all night one day last October reading your adoption story. It definitely was one of the things that motivated my decision to start bloggin.
I was also wondering why you don’t get trolls (even though I thought you might have gone password protected for a while because of some kind of thing like that - I didn’t follow closely enough, so I don’t remember if you ever disclosed the reason), and the only thing I could think of was already said - you can present your arguments in a wonderfully level-headed way, and you are so knowledgeable and persuasive, that these annoying people know they can’t really argue with you.
Anyway, you blog is unarguably one of my favorites, I hope you don’t ever quit blogging, even if the motivation to blog is “low” as you said! (moving and househunting, BTW are topics of interest to me
Yeah, I have to agree that you don’t get trolls because you behave enough like a grownup to attract mostly other grownups–or at least encourage grownup behavior.
Watch. We’ve cursed you now and the troll hoards will appear and burn this place to the ground…
Hope not, though, because it’s nice having a reliably grownup blog to read!
I agree with the above assessments of why you don’t get trolls. I think people who seems to need affirmation from the internet are much more likely to get trools. You use your blog as a way to work through your feelings and to bat around ideas, not to generate support, so there’s nothing really for a troll to attach to.
I wonder if it isn’t just August in general? I’m feeling tapped out blogwise right now and almost every other blogger I reaqd is saying the same thing or just not updating.
(El Chico does that same humming while working, which my grandfather always did, too. So cute.)
That’s interesting about the singing thing. I do that, and so does Liam. If there’s one thing he seems to specialise in more than other kids, it’s definitely singing. he sings at the table, in the shower, in the car, while he plays… Sometimes he stops breastfeeding in order to sing. I figured it was probably just from copying me. But maybe it is genetic, who knew?
Unless you’re super popular, you have to actually get involved in flame wars to really attract trolls.