Blogs..... what do we say?

[duc de limbourg]

I blog simply to keep track of things we do. Sometimes we get feedback but mostly not.
I also put some info at the blog I find about the Dutch army of the French revolution.
In fact I don't like Facebook etc.

[War Monkey]

I have posted earlier. I agree with everyone about a blog as a record of our work and they make for great references too. I have posted old blog post photos for ideas and inspiration. I also post a lot of photos of my current projects on here, sure I provide a link to my, blog but for the most part most of the if not all of my blog photos are posted in my post on here.

[MaleGriffin]

WoW! Great blogs! I need to see about setting up my own!

[Charlie_]

I've recently started a blog, and it's focused on just one project (a late 15th century one).

http://fullharness.blogspot.com

The reason I wanted to do this is to have a one-stop place to showcase my project in its entirity, which means showcasing my finished units, work in progress things with info on conversions etc, and all my historical research on the subject. So if someone asks "where can I see your stuff?" I can point them to the blog and say "It's all there".

With this in mind I've put quite a lot of effort to make the blog itself look good and be easy to navigate, with a nifty dropdown menu.... I've twisted the blog format a bit to get just what I want.

It's very nice to know people read it and follow my progress. I've just had it up for a few months now so only have a small number of subscribers, and it would be nice for that number to grow, hopefully it will over time. Comments are always gratefully received, it's nice to know when people are enjoying what you're doing!

I use facebook simply as a way to post the pics of the latest finished unit and hopefully direct people to the blog.
The facebook format does annoy me in many ways, but it is admittedly handy when you post something to get an instant continuous update of how many people 'like' it. Even when you get barely any comments, knowing that "153 people liked this post" or whatever is nice - getting feedback or acknowledgement on forums does rely solely on people putting the effort in to reply to your thread.

[tikitang]

I have attempted several blogs, but sooner or later all my ideas disintegrate and my projects collapse, then I feel this compulsive need to delete the blog and pretend it never existed.

After the fourth time this happened, I decided to give up blogging for good.

[eilif]

3 more thoughts.

1. Another use for Blogs is as a clearinghouse for selling things on forums.   I've been maintaining a sale page for Wargames and one for Model trains on my Model Train blog for a while now.   A picture hostings service is good, but a blog page is such an easy place to post pics and prices and then modify add or remove them as necessary.  Especially when one posts things for sale across multiple forums.

2. I may have said this earlier, but just recently I again found myself enjoying diving into the old pages of my wargame club's blog and revisiting old battles and projects.  It's like a virtual scrap/photobook, and I probably go back and dig into it a few times a year.

3. I was at TMX 2 weekends ago and I had someone come up to our mech attack table and comment on how he'd seen the buildings I was using years ago on my blog.  So I guess I made an impression on someone!

[Borderguy190]

I still blog, though not as frequently as I would like. Mine is a cornucopia of articles. From hobby thoughts to narrative gaming, a log of our DnD campaign in narrative form, how-tos, and a record of what i am up to, I write about whatever is on my mind. I have a couple "blog buddies" that I've met over the years and its the main way we interact, following and commenting on each other's projects and random thoughts.

[mikedemana]

My Lead Legionaries blog has been going for a number of years, now. It took over from a classic web page when I reached my storage limit. I like how blogger has the topics sidebars so that folks who want to follow my French & Indian War stuff can just click on that and not have to wade through my more recent Saga or Sunday night wargaming posts.

Of course, I am a frustrated writer with a Journalism degree so you'd expect me to want to write, I suppose... 

Feel free to have a look (link in signature)!

Mike Demana

[ced1106]

My own favorite are the Chicago Skirmish Wargamers, mostly because they have game sessions of games I'm thinking of playing.

I end up on blogs when looking for painting tutorials and photo-heavy battle reports of the livelier miniature skirmish games, such as Song of Blades and Heroes.

Static display photos are fine, but I paint to play, and it's interesting seeing different manufacturer's miniatures and terrain side-by-side.

Myself, I'm lazy so just post on forums, such as Reaper's. Currently posting some Song of Blade and Hero playtests of Juegorama's miniatures.

[eilif]

My own favorite are the Chicago Skirmish Wargamers, mostly because they have game sessions of games I'm thinking of playing.

Thanks so much, that's high praise and it's great to hear folks enjoy our posts.

[tomrommel1]

As you can see here: https://wargamesgazette.com/ , my blog is still active alas not as frequently updated as it used to be.

[6milPhil]

I think you're right in saying how much FB has taken over from other web based mediums. The problem with FB is posts just disappear faster than yesterday's newspapers. So if you want a reasonable archive of everything you post, you've either got to have a website, or a blog. You can then use FB, Insta, Twitter, etc to share a blog link, and the traffic it should generate might make up for how soon the link post disappears off the page.

I considered going back to blogging, 6milphil.wordpress.com, but the time involved has become untenable when compared to making, painting, or playing something. I still use it as an archive, largely for photos, typically in social media when I have a blog post or picture which would usefully answer someone's question.

I wrote a post about linking to blogs which might prove interesting, it applies to all social media even though it was written for here; https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=46055.0

[Norm]

After a brief spell of being disenchanted with blogging, due to the hours I put in, the high volume of visit, but the low number of readers who actually interacted / commented, I have bounced back somewhat.

A couple of days ago, I put up a post that was just shy of 5000 words, so a fair bit of work, but I accept not many people want to wade through a post of that length. My return to blogging has though, caused me to switch my comment section off.

It feels a bit unnatural to do that, as it undermines the principles of ‘community’ that blogging is meant to reflect, but for me, it does make the issue of general non-participation invisible, which helps this blogger.

As an aside, the recent post was big, even for me! and the hours taken has somewhat calmed my enthusiasm to do another in depth article …. for now. As mentioned above, time can be better spent gaming.

I don’t mind people not reading or liking blogs, but when a blog is read or followed, it just strikes me as a bit of internet courtesy to every now and then, just add a comment of appreciation to the blog - it does help oil the wheels.

[mellis1644]

Martin, I like your blog and think it has some useful as well as impressively painted stuff on it.

Personally I do my blog for myself. I started 10+ years ago I i and have been posting roughly weekly since then. It covers my reasonable skilled efforts of painting (compared with some at least - I'm a decent table top painter) with the occasional game report/review. I'm honored that I have a small but reasonable number of followers.

But I do it as much for myself as for others. It contains a great record of my work etc. I also do not comment too many other blogs - I don't follow a few but more check out things when surfing the web etc.

So for me my blog is much for me as for comments of others.

[Golgotha]

I got to my hundredth post for this year - so very pleased with blogs, I would otherwise forget things...

https://frictionbmcminiatures.blogspot.com/2022/