What Makes You Want to Read a Blog?

[Target9000]

I love blogs. I hate blogs.

The problem with the damn things is that there are so many it is hard to find the ones that *you* might enjoy. Something like, how do I find a good book? Or perhaps, which is the best TV show? There are just so many options and of course, we may all disagree on what is right or wrong as it is strictly a matter of taste.

I read a great many blogs for different reasons. I enjoy travel/adventure logs where the writer tells stories of places they've visited and sights they've seen. I enjoy technical blogs that reveal good or better ways to do things. And of course I enjoy a blog with a witty writer or poet that has a way with words. These things are rare and they're hard to find.

One great thing I love about blogs is that they give you a glimpse into the writer's world on a personal level. You get to know a person from their blog. And should they have comments or email, you sometimes really do get to know them, and some of those relationships have been greatly rewarding for me. I'm not out cruising yet and blogs give me a way to reach out and correspond with amazing people I wouldn't have otherwise had a personal relationship with.

However, I find there are a great many that do not satisfy and are generally bad. The problems range from ugliness of the site, poor load speeds, hard navigation, and the worst, bad content. So many blogs are run by just "normal joes" that aren't really writers and I put no blame on them for not entertaining me, but I do not read those while still respecting the writers wish to write. Perhaps someone else will enjoy.

To me, the things that I truly do not like are blogs which are written in vanity, that inject personal politics or religion, or that have donate buttons everywhere. Just a personal preference.

Good photos help a lot. Good stories are the best. And frequent posting is welcome so long as it has something to say.

PS. I enjoy feedly for reading blogs, it simplifies the experience and gives a consistent background without actually having to visit a blogger's site.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

I disagree.

Blogs are still relevant but the early days when blogs would have huge followings are past. Still lots of them and new ones coming on line.

Facebook, twitter and the micro post stuff serves a different purpose.

Then what in your opinion has replaced them? I don't think they're outdated and, for me, they're not. Now I prefer books (ebooks and kindle, not the paper kind) but I like blogs a great deal. I don't like facebook or twitter. I also for cruising stories find blogs better than online magazines because they cover longer periods. I start an article and it only covers two weeks often. I'd rather read about weeks and months.

But we all have our preferences and we'll see what survives in years. Personally we love to read books but only electronically. I read the newspaper daily but only online, never buying a paper copy. I like non-fiction better than fiction. My wife loves literature of all eras where I'm mostly interested in current activities.

[Hudson Force]

There was a common joke in the 'sixties concerning the anguish of guests that were exposed to their host's home movies. The only thing that I like about blogs is that there is nothing rude in a brief scan without reading much. If you're in someone's living room you are trapped!

[lancelot9898]

The only reason I might go to a blog is to gain so information concerning a project that I'm working on or to see the author's insights into sailing to a particular location where I have been or where I might be going. Even so, not many are detailed enough for me to follow.

[Canibul]

1. What makes you choose to read and follow a particular blog.
Content that is well presented and interesting to me personally. Well presented means basically that they can write and that they can take photos of decent quality. Interesting to me personally means that the subject matter has to be something I am personally interested in. Getting a boat from A to B is not generally of much interest unless there's a story with it.

2. How often do you want to see a posting
Every time the author has something new and interesting to post. Whenever that occurs.

3. Are you interested in the comments others post to the blog?
Yes, but that's because the type of blog I read includes some technical knowledge. The comments tend to be questions that I might ask myself, and frequently discussions include comments on the materials and methods used. I'm only interested in blogs in which I am learning something. The other people commenting have something in common with me.

4. Would you continue to read a blog if it did not have a comments button?
Sure. Why not, If the blog is interesting and entertaining? If I have questions or comments I have absolutely no problem contacting the writer directly.

5. What would make you stop following a blog?
Offensive, boring, or inappropriate content.

As a "blogger" myself, to some extent, I find this thread very interesting. One of the first things that caught my attention is how many respondents come back to the OP's questions with responses that do not address the questions and are just means of conveying their own negative feelings about blogs. Makes me want to ask...If you don't read blogs, then why did you bother to read a thread written specifically to solicit comments from people who DO read blogs?

I agree about the sheer numbers of blogs. MOST sailing blogs that I've run across are unimaginative logbooks. But the few nicely done ones are worth wading through the badly written ones. Unlike forums, you can easily and quickly see which ones you like, and which you don't.

As for blogging being dead, well, I don't know. How do you judge that? That very statement demonstrates that the writer is concerned more about what he considers trendy than about the quality of an individual blog's content. Anyone who prefers Twitter or some "social" media over well written prose and interesting photos has pretty much eliminated themselves from qualifying for this discussion anyhow.

In my own case, I'm still seeing between 400-800 page views a day for a blog that I never expected to keep going for this long. People write when they haven't heard from us in a while, and I have struck up long going email penpal exchanges with people who first contacted us via our little blog. Many of them are for posts that are two or three years old. Why do people keep writing from all over the world saying things like " I just discovered your blog...."? It's certainly not dead to them.

I also noted with intest Ms. Pardey's initial comment about the permanent nature of things posted on the internet. I try to remember that some of this stuff will be read by my grandchildren and great grandchildren, who will probably never meet us in person. I would like for our blog to be something that makes future readers wish that they had met us.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Outdated. I stand by my statement.

So by that logic is facebook dead? It started out as a group of college kids sharing pictures of girls to decide if they are hot or not. Now it's populated with soccer moms and grandparents.

Blogging has simply adapted. Instead of a small number of blogs with huge followings, there are are a huge number of blogs with smaller followings.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

So by that logic is facebook dead? It started out as a group of college kids sharing pictures of girls to decide if they are hot or not. Now it's populated with soccer moms and grandparents.

Blogging has simply adapted. Instead of a small number of blogs with huge followings, there are are a huge number of blogs with smaller followings.

Don't underestimate the followings many blogs still have. There are some very profitable blogs out there with amazing page views.

Also some websites that we no longer think of as blogs but are. Huffington Post traffic April 2014 was 110,000,000. Number 14 on the list was Jezebel with 10,500,000. Blogging is most definitely not dead. Cruising blogs have limited appeal but there are many that are excellent reads.

[rumiko dan]

Most of my thoughts have been captured, even repeated. One thing that I like when done, dislike when not, is having a "labels" index.

An example is on THE BIANKA LOG BLOG
which I read for information on electric sailboats, but which I enjoy otherwise as well.

Down on the left side, there is an archive, but there is also a labels index, so you can go find the posts related to batteries, or motors, or books, etc.

Thanks
Dan

[JPA Cate]

1. What makes you choose to read and follow a particular blog
Only occasionally look at blogs. The two I have, one is my daughter's; the other is quite well done by old cruising friends of ours. I like to catch up with them through reading the blog. But then I send them an e-mail.

2. How often do you want to see a posting
About once a month


3. Are you interested in the comments others post to the blog?
Very rarely

4. Would you continue to read a blog if it did not have a comments button?
Yes

5. What would make you stop following a blog?
Lack of content of interest to me, or if the poster quits posting.

I would never blog, especially after seeing the sharks gathering after the rescue of the folks from Rebel Heart and its scuttling. That was an exceedingly distasteful experience for me as a spectator, and few seemed to have empathy for the survivors.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

I would never blog, especially after seeing the sharks gathering after the rescue of the folks from Rebel Heart and its scuttling. That was an exceedingly distasteful experience for me as a spectator, and few seemed to have empathy for the survivors.

I would never blog in anything approaching real time for those reasons and more. If I were ever to create a blog or story of a cruise it would be long after the fact and just to share the places and things and experiences. We do share with those we're close to but no public access to our daily lives. I just am not going to share my every move of what I'm doing today and what is planned for tomorrow with strangers. Also, I'm not going to share seeking comments or opinions. You want to read it, fine. If not, fine.

[boatman61]

I would not equate FB to blogging.. far from it... either that or I've got better friends than many.. buncha bludi irriuts in the main.. just like me..

[RainDog]

Originally Posted by Lin Pardey

I am currently working on an article about blogging. Want to make sure folks consider why they are blogging, remind them of the highly public nature and talk about what folks want to read. Appreciate some thoughts on the following:

1. What makes you choose to read and follow a particular blog
2. How often do you want to see a posting
3. Are you interested in the comments others post to the blog?
4. Would you continue to read a blog if it did not have a comments button?
5. What would make you stop following a blog?

Thanks for your help.

I am an avid blog reader. What makes me chose to read a blog, In order of importance:

1) Know the people blogging
2) Blogger is a "celebrity" in our own little world
3) Contains DIY project information with enough photos/details to be instructive
4) Blogger has same model of boat I do
5) High quality of prose

I follow blogs with RSS, so frequency of posting is of no importance unless I know the person personally, then I would like to see postings at least once a week. For people I do not know, I would say I only want them to post of they have something valuable to say. I have quit several blogs because they post too often.

Comments are really only useful for communicating with the blog author. Comments could easily be skipped if there was a way to email the blogger. I would find it off-putting if neither was available.

I usually stop following blogs because they have none of the above items that make me want to read them. Normally I subscribed on a recommendation, but find nothing of interest there.

[chanson1]

I am not sure what has happened but I posted 2 comments on this thread. They were there yesterday but are not there at this time. Anyone know how this could happen.
my blog is
Google search for Confusion on the water
Or
Hollowdog213.blogspot.com

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

I find blogs very boring and particularly hate two things:

1. black background
2. reverse dates/reading backwards
.................

Well, I don't usually find them boring but I do agree with you on the background (and some magazines do this) and the reverse dates.

I don't follow any blogs but I often enjoy reading them after they are finished. The problem is the jumping around to put entries in the order they were written, not the latest entry first. Simply put, I want to read it like an account of a journey, much as a book would be written.

Of course, it's important that the blog be written at a high school level or above and that the spelling and grammar be mostly correct.

I started writing about our trips on a whim - On our first day, a Facebook friend posted "Where are the Widmans?" so I wrote a couple paragraphs describing that day's adventures and included a couple photos. The reaction from our friends was encouraging so I continued every day. At the end of the trip I compiled everything, added pictures and published it. So now I do it for all our cruises.

We're not travelling around the world, just up and down the US east coast so our cruises aren't much compared to what many members here do but they impress our land bound friends and relatives.


edit: Our activities are not posted to the general public until we're back home for security reasons. Only friends and those who need to know are aware that we are gone.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by rwidman

edit: Our activities are not posted to the general public until we're back home for security reasons. Only friends and those who need to know are aware that we are gone.

Very smart.