Adam1115 said:
Megazone, I agree, and your site is actually usefull..
Thanks, I try.
It takes a lot of time to keep a blog running if you want to make it good - especially as a one-man show. I think that's why a lot of the sites fizzle - you have to put in a lot of time and it helps to be a bit crazy I think. A lot of people start these sites and then burn out on maintaining it. And it sure as hell isn't a get-rich-quick plan.
For me I think a blog has to bring something unique to the table - some value-add. There should be some level of interpretation and analysis, not just parroting tidbits from other sites. Now, spreading news items is part of it, and I wouldn't say not to do that. But if a blog is just dry regurgitation of news flashes - you can do that with a robot. A lot of factors go into running a blog and just finding the right balance is tricky. I try to avoid 'chasing the ratings' - looking at Google Analytics, FeedBurner, etc, and trying to boost my numbers. I do look at those things, but mainly out of curiosity and looking at the big picture as my readership slowly grows.
I'm just an opinionated geek and I like to shoot my mouth off anyway. I've been doing it since 1989 on newsgroups and mailing lists, and I just migrated to web forums and blogs as technology progressed.
I've been fortunate in that some people seem to enjoy reading what I write. But I never set out to start a blog - it has grown organically over time from just trying to help 'spruce up' a Live Journal community into its own site with a blog. I started the blog because I felt that I was putting too much non-TiVo stuff in the TiVo LJ community (Slingbox posts, etc) and I didn't want to stop writing about such things, so I needed a place to put it. I think that's helped, since it has progressed naturally and wasn't created by fiat.
I enjoy it most of the time.
