simply more right than left
Sagenz has done an interesting analysis of DPF's monthly blog stats for November, which the originator himself has also blogged on.
It seems to me that there are simply more committed bloggers on the right than the left.
Although there has been a spurt of lefties joining the blogosphere in recent months, the long-termers are almost all rightwingers - us socialists (and social democrats) have been a bit slow off the mark with the blog-phenomenon, with the notable exception of Just Left.
It takes time to build up a blog - time to start posting regularly and get into the habit of it. I posted all of about seven times the first six weeks I had a blog, but now I am well up in the Heavy Bloggers category (doing my diet no good, no doubt).
Maybe blogs are like small businesses - most fail in the first few months. Of the ones that make it a few soar into the stratosphere but the majority just plod along, making small incremental improvements (much like the Labour-led Government).
In terms of the comments issue - I do find blogs without comments irritating. While it does encourage other bloggers to reply through posts on their own blogs, I am too lazy, so you have all missed out on those witty little replies that I would have forgotten by the time my dial-up brings up the new post page (trust me, they were gems, gems I tell you!).
So to those without comments, please consider letting us into your conversations - dialogue is much more surprising when you aren't just talking to yourself.
Update: Joe Hendren has expanded on his comment here.
10 comments:
Well those on the right often emphasise quantifiable increases in production, often at the expense of quality.
I would guess only a right winger would attempt to judge the value of a blog based on posting frequency. (But its an interesting aside)
I am not about to work in a blogging sweatshop where the arguments will fall to pieces like a cheap pair of shoes :)
thanks span. It is difficult to keep up the activity I would agree.
Actually Joe if blogs were judged on the quality and logic of their posts then the right would be much further ahead. I was being generous.
If you look at hits then silent running/nzp and dpf will eat hard news/nrt/just left
Ok Spannergrrl - you got your wish. Comments allowed on my site.
Smiling Jack Apathy says:
I've been part of the 'blogosphere' (what a god-awaful term; final proof that we shouldn't let the netnerds name their own social phenomenons) since 2000 when I first started one (which I gave up on and restarted a bunch of times because in the day Blogger was about as user friendly as a feeding shark - in the end I just did it properly and set up November9).
So, with all that experience, I wouldn't say that blogs are like small businesses, but more like puppies you get for Christmas. You're all keen and excited and "I promise I'll take him for walks everyday I love you Mom and Dad" for a few weeks, then it becomes an inconvenience, and finally a burden, before being ignored totally until your parents put it in a sack and throw it over the side of the local spca.
People are suckered into getting blogs because they think "Hey, I have a lot to say, and I'm bloody interesting" and this lasts about a fornight before they realise that neither is true. (Go to blogger and click on some of the random 'next blog' type links you find - You'll find a lot of blogs with four posts on them, the last one saying "Right, now I'm really geared up, and you'll see great things here soon" dated sometine in 2000...)
As for the comments issue - I understand why people have comments, but I don't understand why they think it's such a big deal that others don't. I mean, hell, your enabling of comments has meant that you have to wade through me posting War and Peace in the name of procratination...
I think the biggest area where people fall down is summed up here "dialogue is much more surprising when you aren't just talking to yourself". That's the mistake a lot of bloggers make: They assume it's a dialogue. Just to clear things up (and at the risk of speaking for others) Dog Biting Men (for example, because that's the one I'm au fait with) is a monologue. There's no big secret as to why they, I, and sundry others don't have comments, it's just that we're not massively interestied in the opinions of the proletariat... Not that we don't love the odd piece of fan/hate mail that we all get, but you know, people are kind of stupid, so the less opportunities they get to speak the better.
I actually think NRT is NZ's uber political blogger. He's being doing it for a long time and the volume and quality of his posts is quite remarkable. I don't agree with everything he says but I do find him informative and thought provoking. I would have to be being paid to blog to do anything like the amount of research and thought that he obviously puts into some of his posts. Just Left is a close second but he hasn't been going as long. I don't bother much with right wing blogs admittedly but from my very occasional cursory survey they come across as more intellectually muddled and less well written.
I'm not a political blogger but I had my first blog in about 2001- in fact I've had various homepages and online journal type things since 1998. I've never really done it in order to generate dialogue. It's more about self expression and procrastination. I'm not really interested in interacting with angry, stupid people on the internet but comments from friendly witty types like your good self are welcome :)Its meant to be fun so I try not to ever let it feel like an obligation or chore and if that means abandoning it for months when I've got other stuff going on then so be it.
I've been blogging since late 2002, although my political blogging only started in March this year, and I only "joined" the NZ blogging community in October when I started Left & Lefter.
I like the christmas puppy metaphor, I think it's quite accurate.
As for comments, in general, I agree, but it does depend on the tone of the blog. NRT, with a more "news-like" feel rather than most blogs opinion-based feel, can work well without comments.
thanks mtnw for pointing out that I had omitted, quite wrongly, NRT from the equation. I really enjoy Idiot/Savant's blog, although I am a lazy reader, so tend to read most of the short posts and a few of the long ones. I just find it frustrating that I can't comment on his stuff! But each to their own I guess.
Thinking back after reading your comments, I realised I have had an online journal thing going on since I started using the internet regularly, about 1997. It was on a site called h2g2, started up by the late great Douglas Noel Adams, and it was very like a basic blog. (And it had comments of a sort.) And it was just like the Xmas puppy. Or maybe more like the new exercise equipment...
I guess people blog for different reasons - for me the dialogue is a big part of it, which is why I so frequently comment on the blogs of others; to have a conversation.
As for comments on my own blog, it's probably linked into my deep lack of self-esteem and no doubt my own Gwyneth Paltrow moment is fast approaching ;-)
And lovely to have you around Mr Jack btw, I assume you will have your "I'm sane again" gleam back in your eyes this week and for two months to come!
The blogs that mix the political with the personal are usually more interesting to read and comment on than the ones that just regurgitate overseas (usually red state) commentariat. Those get swiftly followed by assenting nodded comments from the local Bushites. There is hardly compelling dialogue to read on most NZ rightwing blogs (DPF excepted)
Ah, sitting around in the Day watching you cruise h2g2.
I don't forget.
And I'm worse in the holidays than in school time, just in a different way...
Hey Span, I just noticed your SFWU link and I actually smiled when I saw it... Are you into the union thing much? I know I would really enjoy having you onboard for strikewatch.blogspot.com if you wanted to... Let me know
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