Meta - Blog ?

Today I shall Meta-Blog. I should probably ask someone more learned than myself (like Mental Multivitamin) if that should be considered an actual term or if it is rather a terrible bastardization of the language to be avoided at all costs. Anyway I will talk a little more about the blog writing, reading and commenting.

First of all writers want an audience that's why a lot of us put up counters / meters / trackers. There is a desire to know not only that one has an audience but that said audience is coming back for more time and time again.

But that's not all. The meter gives one an idea of who the audience is but the writer needs to build or grow the audience (I really hate using the verb grow in that way it reminds me of a politician talking about growing the economy) so we start joining web rings and blog directories. And I talked about guerilla commenting the other day. Any way to get more exposure with less effort. The Ego must be served.

So I was browsing Diva Drips site the other day and noticed that she had added numerous new links to directories and such and I quickly moved in to pilfer as many as suited my needs, because I'm that kind of guy. One link however stood out as it was a flashing image with a trendy sort of name. It was Blog Explosion. I joined, of course, then spent the rest of the day browsing through blogs.

Oh my goodness gracious. What an endless parade of crap is out there. Sure I found a gem here and there but first you have to wade through Spiritual Blogs and Political Blogs and Fake blogs that are really advertisements for one pyramid scheme or another.

So I contacted the people at Blog Explosion and asked em, "Is there any way to filter some of this crap" (I know I usually don't express myself so crudely yet I think in this instance it is deserved). I was pleasantly surprised when not only did they respond to my complaint a couple hours later but then man who replied spent a lot of time and effort working on the response. It was easily a page in length and he addressed my issues one at a time. For the sake of brevity, I shall summarize: Give us a little time we are just getting started and once we get enough members you will probably be able to browse a category of blog rather than any blog at random to earn traffic back to your site. So I am hopeful. Then I thought about the Shy. What if the Shy wants to browse will she be able to earn credits for this site where she posts? So I asked another question and I'll let you know what they say. Hey the Shy is pretty busy and may not even want to look at Blog Explosion, but I figure there are a number of group blogs out there who could benefit. (Telling Deeds is the only one I can think of off hand that I visit regularly but I know group / team blogging isn't uncommon).

Another neat thing about Blog Explosion is that they have a banner exchange thingy. Not that I have a banner. But I've thought about it. I need to find someone to design one for me. But what would a "Shockingly Provincial" banner look like? I need some input.

Now I've talked a little about writing and a little about reading blogs so now I shall move on to further discuss commenting. As I told the author of Alligator Files in the comments to this post, it's not easy to get people to say something about your blog. I've noticed the more passionate (or weird) one gets the less likely people are of saying anything. In my own experience there are several reasons. Maybe you don't know how to respond to a strangers raw emotion. Maybe you want to express agreement or disagreement with the author but don't know em very well and are afraid as to how they will react. (Like a political thingy you read a blog and enjoy what they write but could really do without the political ranting) I have yet to see anyone be critical of a blog. People might call the author an idiot or a degenerate for having their strange views but we never say, "Wow you have absolutely no communincation skills. Your every word serves only to confuse or confound. Give it up."

So in summary join Blog Explosion and earn me credits. Stop reading do this now. There are a lot of crap blogs out there. What would a "Shockingly Provincial" banner look like.

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