For literally years, I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to do with my web space. At the moment it’s a dump for anything I’d like to keep online or be able to reference online such as my weird and wacky writings, my pleasant amateur art and various pieces of software or code I’ve done. And thats enough for me, I think.
However, I was interested in blogging software before the word “blogging” became hip. I didn’t blog, I just used the software from GreyMatter to MovableType and now WordPress (which now runs this site). So the question haunts me (only a little though)… why I don’t I really blog and who reads this anyway?
My posts are aggregated into Redbrick Planet (which means they get posted to Redbrick) and now they get cross-posted to my livejournal. However comments are few and often come from random web-surfers or those looking for support on my software. Occasionally comments can be found on the Redbrick boards (Redbrick Planet gets cross-posted to the boards) but not that often.
In my mind there is three (possible four) types that most blogs fit into. I’m not saying these are categories that all blogs can be fit into or are strict definitions. They are simply the way I think of blogs when I come across them.
There are the online diaries such as LiveJournal. Unless I know the person, I ignore theses. However I’ve posted several times about personal incidents good and bad. But I do this infrequently. I don’t want to share with the world my problems, I have family and friends to do that. I’m also not comfortable talking about things that might land me in trouble other people’s privacy or work-related stuff. More than one project I’ve done in work has been smothered in NDAs.
Then there are the journalistic type where articles about various topics are posted. If I’m interested in the topics, the writing is easy to read and the content is fairly frequent, great. I’ve written a few articles, mostly on roleplaying, but they are very infrequent and they are truely first drafts. They have the basic points but lack structure and decent prose. I just don’t have the time between family and work to really do proper essays and the research required for them. And like all ego-driven things, the response I get to what I have done is minimal if at all and this discourages me from really put more effort into it.
The last type is what I think of as the tracker or the journal. The blogger in question posts updates and news on various projects like this guy who has managed to swap his way from a paperclip to a house! I have various pet projects I’m working on such as two RPGs, writings and even my “astral projection” attempts. I could certainly write about those but then I’m taking time away from working on them. Also in part I’m rather private about them, I guess I’m little paranoid to be honest. I don’t wear my life choices on my sleeve and I don’t know who reads my blog. Guess that makes me seem a little boring. On top of that, my life-work balance sucks so updates would be even less frequent than they already are.
(There is another type, but is it really a blog? Software, art and other content put online via blog software, kinda like what I’ve done on my current webpage. I don’t really consider these blogs, though they may be part of a real blog. It just turns out that blog software are handy (if simplistic) content management systems too).
I guess a way to look at it is, if I trawl back through my archives, how much would I like to keep or promote on the site. And I’ve already decided that with my layout and categories. I guess I’ll still be haunted by the missing purpose of this space, but I won’t be loosing any sleep.
In an ironic way, this post is reflective of my blog’s current state. It has neither purpose or conclusion. I’ve even failed to really phrase the question.