Friday, May 11, 2012

Shouting into the Void?


It's time for some self pity. I know, self pity is so rare on my blog, right? ;-)

So my last four posts have had minimal hits and no comments. I've been more active than usual due to my attempt at doing the A to Z Challenge for the first time. I know, I'm still doing the challenge and it's May (technically you have to do it all in one month, April), but does that really make a difference? Are you all mad at me for bleeding over into May?!

Last July, I was in a posting slump and lamented my inability to post due to heavy pressure from adult responsibility. I considered myself a "voice from the void." Over the last month I've been on what I would consider, for me, a posting "binge." I wanted to test myself and got into the A to Z Challenge for the first time.

But despite my recent increased effort to post more often, my hits have gone down. And before you start telling me that "you need to read and comment on other blogs and join other blogs to get more readers," I've been doing a lot of that lately.

In the last couple days I've even added two more followers, bringing my total to 90. So I'm scratching my head here.

I know the blogosphere is a fickle b*tch, but come on!

Ok, I know I sound like a whiner, but I miss hearing from people, both the long-time followers and the new people who just pop in and out sometimes.

I guess we're all just busy at the moment. Or, the sad-sack part of me wonders, is it something more? Is it perhaps people are just not into my blog anymore? If so, that's my fault, for not putting up substantive posts. At least, that's a possibility.

So here I am, shouting into the void. Is there anybody out there? I believe many others have felt this way. Did ChicagoWiz feel this before he left the community? Tim over at The Other Side blog has posted about the demise of some of our fellows.

Sorry for the melodrama. I don't mean to seem like I'm begging for attention. It just gets lonely out here sometimes!

21 comments:

  1. I think part of it might be G+. People link to their blog posts there, then get more comments on G+ and others pile on, rather than posting in the original blog.

    I know I've been personally commenting less on other blogs just due to having less time to read other blogs lately.

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  2. "I'm here", he says, waving from the other side of the world. :-)

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  3. Dude, the blogosphere is a harsh mistress. I've mostly been hanging out on G+ and talking with a very certain subsection of the overall internet RPG community (like 3 people). If I ever get my Vomorhin campaign together, I'm just going to start posting stuff.

    You may have more fun on G+ and potentially up the traffic on the ol' Breach

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  4. My overall hits are down as well.
    Comments are even more affected.

    I was reading a bit about Samantha Fox the other day and wondering if the Other Side needs something like a "Page 3" girl each week. ;)

    I think we all need something new to inject a bit more life into our posts.

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  5. As a daily reader of many of the OSR blogs I confess that I never click through a blogroll to read an "A-Z" post. If there is anything typical about me, then undertaking that challenge is bound to reduce your page hits for a month.

    Forestalling questions... I'm only interested in bloggers own native thoughts expressed as their circumstances permit... dancing with their blog, as it were. I taste an artificiality in A-Z posts.

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  6. Hey, thanks all for commenting! You know, Blogger has its issues, so I was sort of wondering if my blog was being plagued by the old "comments don't work" thing. Anyway, Gwydion, I know that lots of people are using Google+ but I haven't gotten my old a$$ to move over to that yet! Why do things have to change ;-)??

    To Dave, glad to hear from you my antipodean friend ;-)

    Jamie, glad to hear from you, and yes indeed about the blogosphere, she's a dominatrix alright! How's the job going?

    To Tim, yes, perhaps a recurring gimmick is in order...

    To rainswept, I can see where you are coming from with an aversion to the A-Z thing...I didn't read as many of those on other blogs myself, to be honest as well. I read a few blogs that were doing it, but not as many as I could have...

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  7. Hey Drance, no going any where or I'll post more mansauge pictures for you.

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    1. Oh, and wait...was that you that posted the pic of someone massaging A-Rod's chest?! *shudder*

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  8. @Tim Shorts: ok, you got me with that one, I wouldn't dare invoke the wrath of manmeat (I assume you meant to write "mansausage"). Oh, and when I first read your comment, I thought you wrote "I'll post more mansauge pictures OF you" That was scary for a moment.

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  9. Funny thing about A to Z - my followers increased by half, and my page views dropped by a fifth.

    I follow close to three hundered, and I watch all of the posts that scroll through the reading list, but I only click on the ones that pique my curiosity.

    As noted, G+ is cutting in on the blogosphere. Blogging isn't where it's at for the cool kids anymore.

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    1. yeah man I am just not interested in diving into G+ for whatever reason. i guess to me it's just another thing to learn, and this old brain ain't cutting it no more. hell, I get laughed at because I still insist on owning VCRs. gotta watch my old episodes of the x-files somehow, right? But seriously, I must be getting old, cause I just can seem to muster up the interest to learn G+...at least for the moment...maybe when I get some more spare time (BWAHAHAHA!)

      I AM on G+, though...I just haven't tried to explore it/use it yet. Oh well...there's always tomorrow...

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  10. Well, you're luckier than me. I have seven followers (one of which is my wife) and despite having an average of 12+ pageviews a day, a get almost zero comments.

    Perhaps I should start blogging in English.

    Rick (one of your two new followers)

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  11. Make that 8 followers Ricardo. :-)

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    1. Thanks, David! :-)

      Do you speak Portuguese?

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    2. No, but online translators make it easy to read non-English websites. Plus I am very interested in the Brazilian old school scene and the game "Old Dragon".

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  12. I have been in a slump I guess, but I have big post I'm working on and it takes a bit to gather my thoughts, naw that's BS i'm just lazy. I did grab up a new follower!

    ERIC!

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  13. I'm pretty new, been in a slump, have few(ish) followers, etc... I think that the OSR might have hit a bit of a saturation slump. But you are not alone. I follow your blog, and not just because I collect blogs. Keep up the good work.

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  14. I'm still here. I've missed a lot of posts lately, on all the blogs I read. Life outside the blogosphere has just been too demanding, these past several weeks.

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  15. I'm still here too! Pam and I check your blog almost daily. We're having a great time in your Labyrinth Lord campaign! In fact, we were just talking about it last night.

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  16. Hey, thanks all for commenting! I really appreciate it. Again, I didn't want to seem like I was trolling for pity or anything. I guess we all get bouts of doubt, you know? But it's good to be reminded that there's a good group of people out there in the community. Thanks again!

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