December 24, 2006
I think it's a cool idea, and I've had his little javascript thingy in my left sidebar (just below the quotes section) for some time.
The trouble is, unless you opt in by signing up, your blog won't be listed, and no one will know it's your blogiversary without you dropping some hints (like posting "it's my blogiversary tomorrow!", which makes you look like a gift-grubbing, attention-seeking little gold-digger... not that there's anything wrong with that).
To encourage participation (and hopefully hit his goal of 200 participants by year's end), he's holding a little contest which will include drawings for prizes from the pool of entrants.
Three ways to enter:
Enter your info into the Blogiversary Database: Win a free one week blogad.
Display the Blogiversary Database code on your blog: Win a free two week blogad.
Write a post pimping the Blogiversary Database: Win a free one month blogad.
Obviously, I decided to enter all three.
Anyway, all the pertinent details can be found here.
I strongly encourage Bad Example Family and Clan members to sign up, since I tend to only make it through my blogroll once a week, and this will help me to congratulate you in a timely manner on your big day.
Posted by: Harvey at
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December 06, 2006
You know... those people who read your blog that you didn't KNOW read your blog?
She's seeking definitions, and I'm not really sure what to tell her. But I'll take a stab at it.
I'd define "lurking" as reading someone's blog without leaving a comment.
I'd define a "lurker" as someone who habitually reads your blog without leaving a comment.
For example, I'm inclined to leave comments whenever I visit a blog, but once in a while, I simply have nothing to say regarding any entries posted since my last visit. So then I'm "lurking".
But since I leave enough comments that the blog's author knows that I visit regularly, I'm not a "lurker", except in a narrow, time-period delineated sense of the word.
Then there's the WHY of lurking.
Various reasons:
Technical difficulties, laziness, or being short on time. Sure, you WANT to say something, but some blogs have VERY annoying spam-prevention hoops to jump through, like registration or "type in the unreadable letters". Sometimes even having to type in your name is too big of a burden when all you wanted to leave was a simple "LOL".
The aforementioned lack of inspiration. Some folks - especially non-blogging lurkers - have an incredibly high inspiration threshhold. You'd have to mention something QUITE near and dear to their hearts to get them to comment.
Shyness. I had this bad before I started blogging. I *had* responses to posts, but I felt like it'd be impertinent, intrusive, or even downright RUDE to type my thoughts onto someone else's web page. Like painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa. It took me a while to understand that ANY comment is welcome by ANY blogger.
Being an outsider. Somewhat similar, but not exactly. In this case it's not through fear of the host, but fear of the other commenters. A lot of popular blogs (and even the smaller ones) have a group of regular commenters, who obviously have a warm relationship with the blogger and each other, and leave comments full of personal references and inside jokes, often not even related to the actual topic of the post. Leaving a comment in such a situation feels like crashing a stranger's family reunion.
Distracted Thread Syndrome. So maybe the post inspired a comment, and you're not shy and you're not worried about what other people think. But then you read the comments, and 90% of them are discussing an off-topic remark left by the first commenter. It's like the subject has entirely changed. Leaving an on-topic, post-related remark at this point just seems awkward. Time to sneak away quietly.
Cold-Shouldered. You're inspired, brave, know all the in-jokes and you're the first commenter. And the last. And it happens again and again. Every time you drop something in the comments, you're roundly ignored. No acknowledgement whatsoever. You feel shut out. But the blogger still writes amazing stuff, so you keep going back. Except now you're just a lurker. And you always will be.
With those items in mind, I have advice.
For lurkers: Anyone who has comments enabled WANTS comments, regardless of quality. Nobody expects you to leave some sort of Shakespearian sonnet (although that would be TOTALLY cool!), bloggers are just looking for a little attention for their writing. Believe me, some days all it takes is one little :-) to make a blogger's day.
A good place to start is any post with zero comments. Bloggers HATE those. If you can acknowledge that post's existence I guarantee* you will earn enough good karma to get out of a speeding ticket the next time you get pulled over.
*(not a guarantee)
For bloggers: When someone new leaves a comment for the first time, try to acknowledge it in some way. Leave a follow-up comment, or reply directly if the comment is e-mailed to you, or just click on the URL to vist the commenter's page - maybe you'll find something there to leave a comment on and make THAT blogger's day. At the very least, you'll show up in their referer logs.
Personally, I don't always have time to do that, since I'm frequently distracted by shiny objects, but I'd like to state for the record that I read EVERY comment I get. So DO know that I appreciate every one of them, even when I don't say so at the time.
Now having said that I feel that I have to mention the one good reason to stay a lurker and never leave a comment:
Fear of being made into my next blogchild. A real and terrible danger. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
I'm sure my blogkids can back me up on that one.
Or they would, if they weren't afraid to comment.
Posted by: Harvey at
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