Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Why do you blog?

Anonymous on MNM's blog asked this very question, I want you to choose from two answers and explain yourself.

Do you blog for yourself or for other people to read your blog?

My answer: I blog almost exclusively in the hopes that someone else is reading my blog - this is why I try to put a comment on so many posts out there, to let other people know I am reading theirs.

13 comments:

Mindy said...

I too blog in the hopes that someone is reading. I intended to write wonderful essays on life and poetry but it hasn't turned out that way. In some ways, I use it as a diary but I always write it as if someone is reading.

tmfrt said...

Hmm... it depends how you look at it... I always write knowing that someone is reading, that anybody could be reading. So nothing I write on my blog is deeply personal, per se... but it's far more open and, in a significant way, more honest than my regular, public demeanour... so yes, I write for other people, in the hopes that someone can make sense of - or relate to - my always incoherent and allocated thoughts. But at the same time, it's a release of personal things which I wouldn't put out there in real life, so it is certainly for me as well.

Mr K said...

I certainly like to be read, definitely. I like to entertain, but also, as moo says I like to get things out, to have a forum for me to vent some anger at the world too

Madamme said...

I blog for myself, 100%. It's nice that people read, but I would still blog if no one did.

It's that emotional release - The therapy of getting things out of my head and onto paper or a computer screen. If I had to keep everything in my head I'd surely go crazier.

Kiki said...

I like the idea of having something to document my retardation on a daily basis that I can go back to whenever. But I'm totally a comment whore.

Krista said...

I used to blog for myself, to vent, release, and occassionally write stuff I was proud of. But now I find I'm writing out to others as well. 'Specially now that I get comments. ;)

Snowbear said...

I BLOG for my own enjoyment; hoping others enjoy the ride...

Anonymous said...

Phil, you've inspired me to resume blogging.

Phil Plasma said...

Mindy - make one post out of every four or five something purely creative, rather than personal history.

moofrout - you do an excellent job of relating your incoherent thoughts, I am terribly sorry to say, though, that sometimes I don't understand your posts.

mr k - venting in a blog is so much healthier than venting on a SO, friend, family, car, wall, computer... I think more people should do it this way, even if no one was reading.

phoe - that's how writing was for me before blogging existed, I used to write for therapeutical reasons, now blogging is serving a similar purpose while at the same time, hopefully, causing others to think a little more.

kiki - that's just like me looking at usenet postings from 1993 and 1994, a look back, way back. I look forward to reading my own posts, like you must yours, a few years down the road.

phx - I enjoying reading your posts about what is going on in your life, both the good and the bad, I appreciate that you are willing to share.

wtf? - I didn't find my writing style or quality has changed at all, but maybe it is because I have been posting online for almost fifteen years.

falconmyst - thanks for visiting my blog, I'll check yours out shortly.

anonymous - I'm happy to have inspired. Just one post every day is all it takes, your post can be a single word, a single sentence, a trivial life story, or a prominent emotional event. It can be about current events, past events, future events, it can be about celebrities or about anonymous people just like yourself.

ManNMotion said...

It depends. Sometimes both. If it helps me fashion my own personal thoughts about something, great. At the same time, if someone can get something good out of one thing I write, or out of the bulk of what I've already written, then it's a good thing too.

Snowbear said...

***** I put a link back to your site...

Robbie said...

haha! nice explanation. Well... I normally only comment if required. I appreciate your being very frank about this.

Anonymous said...

I can rock with that. When I started blogging, I did it for me but then I realized that other people were reading and it kind of stifles the process. My best blogs, though, were those that I decided I didn't give a rip who read it or what they thought. Those have had real power.