I started this blog four years ago. I often find it difficult to explain why I started writing here in the first place and why I continue to write given my hectic schedule. I think John sums up my personal experience with blogging perfectly. (via Dennis).
My personal arc (over 5 years of blogging) is as follows:
- reluctantly started blogging.
- found I enjoyed it.
- was ranked for a bit of time in the top 100 blogs. This was nice. It was also nice to have a high Google rank. That partly faded because a) I didn't care about it and b) the level of competition rose quickly.
- found something more useful. An open online identity (my name is on the blog) yielded work, contacts, and recognition that anonymity doesn't provide. That benefit doesn't require a high ranking to accomplish.
- found that the blog is as much for me as anyone else.
- enjoy the response that other people have to my thinking. As long as there a few fellow travelers out there with me, that is reason enough to write.
I may have skipped parts of #3 (you know, the whole "top 100 blogs" part), but I'm definitely at - and enjoying - #4, 5, and 6.
As I said last year, most of the motivation for writing here is the feedback loop. "I've grown up and expanded my horizons over the past 3 years, and this weblog has both contributed to and (I hope) reflected that growth." This has proven to be a valuable experience for me, and I hope I've contributed something back in the process.
I want to once again thank all of my readers - you have collectively made this a worthwhile and rewarding way to spend my lack of free time.
On a related note - if anyone else wants a place to express their opinions, we'd love to have you at Slashstar. Drop me a line. And, of course, if you want to recommend this to others, I'd appreciate it. There are links at the bottom of each post to submit to Digg, Netscape, and Delicious.