Do you have blog envy? Are you a blogger who secretly wishes that your blog was more like another. Do you wish that you had more comments or that your commenters were cooler and more clever.
Do you ever wish that your posts were smarter and wittier. Have you ever been disappointed because your favorite blogger never comments on your blog?
Are you upset because your own blog is not patrolled and assaulted by wackos, moonbats and nutjobs.
Do you question why you blog and wonder if you are wasting your time.
Do you ever wonder how many roads a man must walk before he becomes a man. Have you ever ridden through the desert on a horse with no name.
Well, have you?
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Of course I suffer from blog envy. More due to people’s writing talent than to their traffic, but I do suffer from it.
If I was really doing this “just for myself,” I wouldn’t be doing it online. I want the attention. I will own my greed.
Hi Alan,
I would guess that it probably is a combination of the two. Some people probably don’t know what if anything they should say.
Dear Jack,
This one really hit home with me …
My site meter tells me that I enjoy a substantial number of hits though I do wish more folks would drop a comment or two!
I suppose the lack of reader feedback is and/or may be due to the fact that I don’t ask any questions of my “readers”-unlike many who do rather successfuly survey their readership.
It may be due … on the other hand … to some readers’ unease with the subject of my blog i.e., the passing of my son, but I’ll take this opportunity to declare that this`bereft parent welcomes any and all feedback. I am …
Sincerely yours,
Alan D. Busch
Oh man, have you got me pegged.
Yes, yes and yes.
Which is why I’m now blogging from the plane on my way home.
Yes!
No !
Holy s**t! I AM “dancing with a devil in the pale moonlight!”
“Are you upset because your own blog is not patrolled and assaulted by wackos, moonbats and nutjobs.”
I got that going on, some bat fluttering around. I’m being stalked.
But I appreciate the attention (I think…). If it wasn’t for him, I’d be howling at just the moon (sans the bat).
CB,
I know what you mean.
Prag,
I have those same thoughts.
JB,
Batman rocks.
Geezer,
I never had anything close to 14k, pretty cool.
Shelli,
That makes sense to me. School makes a lasting impression upon us.
it’s all about those odd ball feeligns from 5th grade – feelign left out, etc.
I wish I had as many hits as Dooce – but I’m happy with the trollops and two bit wits that visit me on a regualr basis…
Cheers,
Shelli
I used to obsess about my sitemeter. One day I got over 14,000 visits. It was all downhill from there 😉
I don’t think I have blog envy, certainly not about the ecosystem. I realize how it can be ‘gamed’.
I am more of a Linker than a Writer, but I know blogging has improved my speling and gramer.
I’m coming up on 50,000 visits, probably this week. Stop by and maybe win a t-shirt.
RG
Did you ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight? Just wondering…
Sometimes I wish I could express myself as well as some bloggers can, and of course wouldn’t mind more visitors who comment, I love reading comments on my posts. I blog because I have some free time to do it and it’s more constructive than watching reruns!
Good questions! I may have pondered some of these in the early days, but I have come to appreciate quality over quantity. Although at slow times I question if particular posts aren’t that popular or if it is generally quiet in blogdom.
Yep.
Jack – sadly, that’s true. I think the most interesting posts are often the ones on places like GH, when the commenters have serious discussion without a single personal attack.
I think we all learn more when there’s good discussion. That’s one of the things that drew me to the ‘sphere in the first place… It’s like the contrast in my Blogosphere article: Some people describe it as a coffee shop, where there are great discussions going on everywhere; others feel it’s more like a rowdy bar, with people getting smashed upside the head.
We’d all prefer the former, but there will always be some of the latter going on.
Adam,
It is not where you start or how you finish but what you learn on the way. I read that on a poster somewhere. 😉
I wish I could have started at the beginning and been on the cutting edge rather than having to work my way up from the bottom.
Tamara,
I hear you loud and clear.
I don’t worry if I am wasting my time blogging. I KNOW I am wasting my time blogging. But that doesn’t stop me from doing it.
The baffling thing for me…my superficial, less cerebral posts are the ones that get more comments and hits. GO FIGURE!!
Hi Judith,
Gaining traffic is kind of an odd thing, there is often no rhyme or reason to it. As for being blogrolled sometimes I have asked and been ignored and other times my request has been answered. No rhyme or reason to that either.
MC,
It is great for creative writing as for riding through the desert I would argue that you never grow to old to enjoy that opportunity.
TP,
Somehow I knew that about you. 😉 You are write, or should I say right. It is often about the impression you make but more often it is about what blogging means to you.
As to your question I always want to be better. I always want to be more interesting and more insightful and at times I have held myself back from turning arial with envy.
Ric,
I have always liked your blog. Yours are among the earliest I discovered and I am glad that we still read each other. I can’t explain the volume I produce, it just rolls off of me. But there are times it is hard to do.
Robbie,
Maybe you are and you haven’t realized it.
Rav Fleischmann,
Honesty is a quality found in far too few people these days.
Irina,
You do well for yourself.
Ezzie,
The fighting can be interesting but to me it loses something when the comments are weak and filled with nothing but personal attacks. The best fights are those in which truth is being fought over.
GI,
Agreed. If you never envy another you are a better and more confident person. There is much to be gained
by being comfortable with what you have.
Stacey,
You’re something else. I’l let you figure out what. 😉
Jaime,
Sounds reasonable to me. Thanks for stopping by.
Funny. I blog just because. It’s fun for me to write down my memories in a humorous fashion.
Thanks for visiting. I’ll be back!
I know exactly why I blog — it is a journal of my life, the events in it and my feelings about those events.
I do not have blog envy. I am actually very grateful for the readers I do have. I love them. They have become my friends and if I never have another new person post on my blog, I wouldn’t care. My cup runneth over.
That being said – I enjoy blogging – It’s just fun and I learn a lot reading other peoples blogs. It’s a revelation every day. I think blogging will change things for the better, in ways we cannot really anticipate right now. So will the Googling of all the world’s books.
Mostly, I like to blog as a catalyst for non-blogging thoughts. It’s like a brain storm sheet, that you can use to try out ideas and see how they sound.
Incidentally – I just noticed Irina’s blog up above – I’m don’t envy her blog, but I definately admire it, especially it’s range of thought for someone so young. She’ll probably be a serious writer someday. Don’t you think so , Jack?
Fleeting envy – I just checked the value of my blog on technorati, then checked a friend’s blog. Mine was worth much less – But then I thought, so what? Then I checked the value of some else’s blog that I admire much more than mine, and it was worth less than mine – Then I envied the pauperish integrity of the superior, if poorer blog. But the only real envy is the envy of those who never envy anything ever.
I’m not so sure I’m jealous per se… I enjoy blogging, no matter how many people read it. OTOH, sure, I’d love to have more readers/commenters – they help keep me in line, and they give other viewpoints I may not otherwise see.
I understand why certain other blogs get more hits/comments than mine, so I’m not bothered by why specific blogs get so many. (Exmaple:) Generally, the comments will get you more hits – if there’s a good fight going on there (I’d say discussion, but fights usually get more), your hits will jump a nice amount.
Absolutely – I love blogging; I’m a very confident blogger; but I always question why my blog isn’t AS successful as it potentially can be.
Yes.
I just want to be loved.
I only wish I could post with your anything near your per day volume. Sometimes you post so many entries it’s hard to keep up. The little summaries have been helpful though.
Have you ever ridden through the desert on a horse with no name?
Yeah…and it felt good to be out of the rain.
It’s not about how many words you type in your blog, how many links you name, it’s about the essence of your words, the impressions — lasting or momentary — that you make on people.
And there are many bloggers out there who are their own nutjobs — they don’t need to leave remarks on other blogs.
I’m not blog jealous, but I am blog envious, and my last post happened to deal with just those concepts of jealous and envy.
Hey, Jack, you threw out the question. Are YOU suffering blog envy?
I feel good about blogging. I use it mainly as a jump-start for other creative writing. I love the interaction having comments provides. I have been considering getting my own blog stalker/nutjob, but wanted to see how that has worked for others first…
I have wished to ride through a desert on a horse with no name. Hope I have not lost my chance…
I just wish my blog got as much traffic as those which started months after mine did. If they had any pity they would at least link me.