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Author Topic: Blogs..... what do we say?  (Read 9851 times)

Offline mikedemana

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #75 on: August 19, 2022, 02:22:37 AM »
But seriously. I submitted mine as well.

 lol lol

Now we sit around and wait and see how long it takes to make the cut!

Mike Demana

Offline Pijlie

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #76 on: August 22, 2022, 09:15:40 AM »
lol lol

Now we sit around and wait and see how long it takes to make the cut!

Mike Demana

5 days and counting.... ;)
I wish I were a glowworm
'cause glowworms 're never glum
How can you be grumpy
When the sun shines out yer bum?

http://pijlieblog.blogspot.nl/

Offline Unlucky General

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #77 on: August 29, 2022, 01:18:43 AM »
I've been blogging for years now and will give it up when Google no longer supports it I suppose.

The advantage for me is that it's my domain (effectively) so I get to shape my pages how I like. I'm not sure if there are any rules but I haven't been limited yet by arbitrary decisions over content. Not that I'm looking to peddle any particular abhorrent philosophy or anything but I'm free to include images like a properly marked up German aircraft of WW2 - if you get my meaning. You can also make a contribution on your own blog without fear of contradiction or criticism which is also nice. The flip side is that you can't get into a discussion so much but that's what forums are for.

I follow many other blogs and check in daily. I think blogs give quality and quantity which all other mediums lack. I can also refer back to my own older postings and those of the other bloggers - and I do. I know YouTube videos are becoming increasingly popular but frankly, they are over-used and often for wargaming content which doesn't require footage and would be better off as written content with photography.

There was a time I was too interested in building followers and counting hits - I don't care about that now. I'm of a generation who could care less about followers or influencing - let the peddlers of Twitter and YouTube content worry about such things.

Sometimes I'll post on this forum and less often on Facebook if I think there might be a wider interest in something I've discovered or learned through one of my builds. I do catalogue most of my output on my blog but it's not always something I feel the need to share more widely.

As I personally loath commercialism, I don't advertise on my blog - it's a hobby, not my job. I admit to despising the Patreon obsession which has crept through the ranks of YouTubers which is all but universal now - not to mention endorsements and sponsorships which I suppose I just did. The bloggosphere is largely free of all that.

I note that some of us have allowed blogs to go dormant - at least for a time. I run four but only one or two are ever particularly active over any span of time. Yet the content is still there - I think of it as an evolving electronic book or magazine. I suggest this is better than the rubbish content that 'professionalised' and full-time YouTubers now clearly feel oblige to pump out. Some of them have bottomed out from what I can see in their chosen field but their funding model doesn't appear to allow them to stop -so quality and content is in serious decline.

I think I've written enough.

Offline TWD

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #78 on: August 29, 2022, 07:23:53 AM »
I know YouTube videos are becoming increasingly popular but frankly, they are over-used and often for wargaming content which doesn't require footage and would be better off as written content with photography.

This is so true.
99% of YouTube wargames content I see I think - "this video would have made an excellent blog post" - usually as I turn it off one minute into it's twenty minute run time.

Offline Pijlie

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #79 on: August 29, 2022, 09:41:47 AM »
lol lol

Now we sit around and wait and see how long it takes to make the cut!

Mike Demana

Guess I didn't. Nearly two weeks in and no sign of life. Well, we can't all rise to greatness  lol

Offline mikedemana

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #80 on: September 02, 2022, 02:10:11 AM »
^^^ Yeah, so I guess it is not being actively updated. Probably has automatic systems in place to label and sort everything.

Unlucky General - I echo your comments 100%! I agree with what you said. I currently have one miniature wargaming blog and one travel blog. I update the travel one several times a year, and the wargaming one 3-4 times a month. I enjoy reading blog posts because many writers do a great job of injecting their personality into their writing. I honestly feel like I'm talking modeling with them over a beer - or sitting in a living room shooting the breeze. I guess it's because I have always enjoyed reading. Blogs are where my wargaming/modeling hobby meet my love of reading.

Mike Demana

Offline Codsticker

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #81 on: September 25, 2022, 04:56:07 PM »
Here's an interesting thing...

Over the last few months the most popular post on my blog for views, by far, has been my entry entitled An Imaginations Game: Wars of Stagonian Aggression(link). 73 views in the last 24 hours from Russia. Oddly enough, also may views from Indonesia. My guess is that Russian bots are crawling the intrawebs targeting anything using the words "war", "aggression" or possibly the phrase "war of aggression".

Offline eilif

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #82 on: September 25, 2022, 05:09:19 PM »
Was looking back at my earlier comments and how things have come in the past couple months as I've been back to blogging a bit more often.   As long as I'm blogging on things that I'm interested in and actively doing I seem to find the blogs extremely useful reference in discussions I have on my online discussions which primarily happen on this site, Dakka, and the OPR and Bedroom Battlefields discord chat.

Not having to reinvent the wheel when a topic you're interested in is quite useful, especially when you can post a little bit and direct folks to the blog for more info and having easily-linkable pictures on a given topic permanently available on the blog.   

Still thinking on it, but blogs may have a particular usefullnes when interacting on the more temporary "conversation" outlets like Discord where what you post is part of a discussion, but essentially disappears from view after a day or two.   Referrending a blog is extremely useful for a discussion where you want to share complete information but don't want to write a full discourse for a post that no one will read after that week.

Lastly, maybe I'm just obsessed with my hobby and my club, but I still find myself frequently -often after pulling up the blog to link something to a discussion- falling down the rabbit hole of clicking on one of the "related" links to another of our posts, and another, and another...   Maybe it's a good thing in that it builds a kind of thankfulness for the group and the experiences we've had.  I probably wouldn't be able to find all this stuff scattered across a decade on various forums, but I can always find it on our blog.

Offline Norm

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #83 on: September 25, 2022, 05:38:13 PM »
 Agree that bots boost viewing figures  :)

I had a home brew set of rules that had a title that when mentioned seemed to promote such interest, to the point that I changed their name and went back into previous posts to make sure the changes were wide spread enough to reduce the issue.

General participation with my blog continues to disappoint though. I have just posted up a 5,000 word article and a day later have had 242 views here ….. yet just 3 responses and those 3 responses are from kindly folk who regularly do that. To me, there seems a huge imbalance between effort in versus lack of recognition by an audience that is consuming the content. I would not expect or want to be overrun with response, but a ratio of 3 in 242 is disheartening in anyone’s books. If thoughtful blog content is not going to be visibly appreciated, we are going to be left with a blogosphere of ‘look what I painted last week’ type posts and blogging will have lost its diversity and pulse, we may as well surrender ourselves to bite sized FaceBook entries that are born, fade and die within 24 hours.

Offline vexillia

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #84 on: September 25, 2022, 06:10:43 PM »
Two things Norm:

[1] Don't conflate hits with readers (3 of 242 etc).  A 5k article may well suffer from tldr for many. I know I was one of your visitors who left early. You also seem to have had more comments since you posted here.

[2] If you like long articles then a structure with a summary, contents section, headings and conclusion will aid your readers but only if combined with internal hyperlinks (contents to secions etc).  This will mean learning a bit of html but it's not that hard.

I'd be interested to read what you expected readers to say about your post on the Perry rules.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2022, 06:14:55 PM by vexillia »

Offline Norm

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #85 on: September 25, 2022, 07:01:06 PM »
Hi, thanks for feedback.

I felt that the Perry rules were quite a hot new thing and that my own enthusiasm to give them a try might be matched by others being keen to want to know more early doors.

I not particularly want sweeties thrown at me, my blog loved or for my ego to be tickled, so I am not looking for thank you’s, but a bigger buzz was my expectation.

I will take the point that perhaps this was the wrong post / too long for a greater part of the audience, but my effort in (5000 word article) and enthusiasm, left me expecting more and that obviously is my mistake, but from my blogger perspective, my time might have been better spent by playing the game a second time for my own enjoyment and perhaps painting another regiment.

It is however helpful to get a dose of reality now and then, even though it means that I am likely to throttle back on future articles ….. perhaps a good thing.

Offline ithoriel

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #86 on: September 25, 2022, 08:06:27 PM »
Life is brief, blogs are many and, even in retirement, time is short.

Time spent composing and posting a reply is time not spent reading other blogs.

By and large, I would only post something if I felt I had something pertinent to say that hadn't already been said.

"Blessed is the man with nothing to say who cannot be persuaded to say it!"  :)
Of course, it's not just blogs. There are also Youtube, Twitch and forums such as this, TWW and Pendraken (to name but a few).
There are 100 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data.

Offline vexillia

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #87 on: September 25, 2022, 09:24:11 PM »
I felt that the Perry rules were quite a hot new thing and that my own enthusiasm to give them a try might be matched by others being keen to want to know more early doors.

That's a reasonable expectation.  With hindsight, perhaps a shorter overview and first impressions would have been better. It would test whether your reaction was shared by others.  If so you had the material for a follow up post or two.

Offline Hummster

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #88 on: September 25, 2022, 09:32:26 PM »
With all the channels like Faceache, Instagram, forums, Twitch, etc as well as blogs it is hard to attract an audience to blogs.

Norm - I would argue to include your blog(s) links in your profile as it is likely to get more interested people visiting.

Offline Norm

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Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #89 on: September 25, 2022, 10:07:50 PM »
Thanks, done. Cheers

 

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