I Won't Bite...Much
If you hadn't already guessed, I am fascinated with the sitemeter. It's a dream for an analytical person. Where What When How Long and even what browser and ISP are there for the viewing. What it doesn't give me is the Why? or Who? Why they stayed (or left). Whether what I said blew chunks in their opinion or inspired them.
When I started, there were a handful of readers and I got verbal feedback. If you go back to the first year and a half of my blathering on and on, there is the sporadic comment. I would hear it live and in person or via IM. That was cool.
Then the thing that writers crave came along: more readers. Not only did new readers come along, they tended to come back again and again. Then I'd wonder "Who's reading from Phoenix?" I soon discovered that this was Donna's employer's home server. Eastern shore of Virginia? That was Jeff's. Oregon? Well, you get the picture.
I've made friends out here, and I know their ISPs, and the map dots that showed me where they were. The vagabond in me wants to point the car and connect all the map dots someday.
However, there are still some mysteries. Map dots that I look at and wonder "Who are you? Do you like what I'm writing? Are you scared to comment?" Others that I look at and know who it is and a possible idea of why they're here-but ask myself what's keeping him or her from commenting. Sometimes, I want to be like Lloyd Lindsay Young and say "Hallooooooooooooo Harrisburg! Hallooooooooooo Louisiana!" because I'm curious, especially since the mystery readers tend to come in from the same page, meaning they've bookmarked me. (and if I know the person, I have to resist the shout out that I see their employer listed in the sitemeter, lol.)
In the blogosphere, the currency that is valued nearly as much as an audience is those comments. A few words tell us that what we said meant something, that we're touched in the head or the best of all that it resonated enough to want to share it with even more people. (That's my jackpot, folks.)
I made a personal challenge this year to comment on at least three blogs per day for the whole year. It's important for several reasons but the prime motivator? I know how tickled I am to get them on my blog. Sometimes, it's to say I liked something so much that I have to say "Borrowing, Thanks!" or to give support where needed, and in one case, to say how much I like the artwork. So far, so good-though I probably could do better at commenting on the blogs I visit for the first time.
The first blog I got hooked on, I was afraid to comment. I read Polly's blog for probably a year and it was only at the very end that I would timidly comment. She's not blogging any more and I regret that I didn't take the time to say what I should have-that her words had an impact on me.
So, I ask you to do the same. If not for me, for the others you read. I'm happy to say that one of my friends who doesn't have a blog is spreading that comment love. Its funnier still is that she mentions the blogs she reads that I don't! Even an LOL when it fits is appreciated.
Heck, if you comment, I *do* take requests on topics to cover! :) I won't bite, promise.
When I started, there were a handful of readers and I got verbal feedback. If you go back to the first year and a half of my blathering on and on, there is the sporadic comment. I would hear it live and in person or via IM. That was cool.
Then the thing that writers crave came along: more readers. Not only did new readers come along, they tended to come back again and again. Then I'd wonder "Who's reading from Phoenix?" I soon discovered that this was Donna's employer's home server. Eastern shore of Virginia? That was Jeff's. Oregon? Well, you get the picture.
I've made friends out here, and I know their ISPs, and the map dots that showed me where they were. The vagabond in me wants to point the car and connect all the map dots someday.
However, there are still some mysteries. Map dots that I look at and wonder "Who are you? Do you like what I'm writing? Are you scared to comment?" Others that I look at and know who it is and a possible idea of why they're here-but ask myself what's keeping him or her from commenting. Sometimes, I want to be like Lloyd Lindsay Young and say "Hallooooooooooooo Harrisburg! Hallooooooooooo Louisiana!" because I'm curious, especially since the mystery readers tend to come in from the same page, meaning they've bookmarked me. (and if I know the person, I have to resist the shout out that I see their employer listed in the sitemeter, lol.)
In the blogosphere, the currency that is valued nearly as much as an audience is those comments. A few words tell us that what we said meant something, that we're touched in the head or the best of all that it resonated enough to want to share it with even more people. (That's my jackpot, folks.)
I made a personal challenge this year to comment on at least three blogs per day for the whole year. It's important for several reasons but the prime motivator? I know how tickled I am to get them on my blog. Sometimes, it's to say I liked something so much that I have to say "Borrowing, Thanks!" or to give support where needed, and in one case, to say how much I like the artwork. So far, so good-though I probably could do better at commenting on the blogs I visit for the first time.
The first blog I got hooked on, I was afraid to comment. I read Polly's blog for probably a year and it was only at the very end that I would timidly comment. She's not blogging any more and I regret that I didn't take the time to say what I should have-that her words had an impact on me.
So, I ask you to do the same. If not for me, for the others you read. I'm happy to say that one of my friends who doesn't have a blog is spreading that comment love. Its funnier still is that she mentions the blogs she reads that I don't! Even an LOL when it fits is appreciated.
Heck, if you comment, I *do* take requests on topics to cover! :) I won't bite, promise.
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