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Author Topic: Blogs..... what do we say?  (Read 9846 times)

Offline Cacique Caribe

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1978
  • Gelatinous Legal Alien
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #90 on: September 26, 2022, 09:44:34 AM »
Years back I kept getting asked if I planned on setting up a blog.  I couldn’t back then, what with all the work travel and such.

But I did set up a Flickr account that has become a sporadic record of my sculpting and terrain projects.  Now, because of health reasons, I haven’t done much in either of those two fields of interest, the sculpting and terrain stuff, but I’m keeping my Flickr account up and running.  It helps keep me focused on a goal at least.

Dan

Online Captain Darling

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 904
    • Captain Darlings Miniatures Emporium
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #91 on: September 26, 2022, 11:37:56 AM »
I have two blogs, one I share that records the games my mates and I play fortnightly, we all access that and the other is for my own VSF musings but that’s been very quiet this year due to personal reasons but I will get back to it next year. I find they act as a diary of sorts, I’m not fussed about views and comments though I find comments a boost when I do get some! I say blog away!
"There's nothing cushy about life in the Women's Auxiliary Balloon Corps!"

http://captaindarlingsminiaturesemporium.blogspot.com.au
https://toysoldiersforoldgits.blogspot.com.au

Offline TWD

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1705
    • Tom's Toy Soldiers Blog
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #92 on: September 26, 2022, 01:10:49 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.

Norm the following may sound critical but isn't intended to be.
I think you're expecting the blog platform to work in a way that it isn't designed for and just doesn't behave.

You *seem* to be looking for a specific sort of engagement - replies/comments and the start of a dialogue. That isn't what blogs exist to do. It isn't what *most* online writing does. You have around 1% of your readers reacting in the way you want them to. I think that's actually pretty good.

Blogs are fundamentally a "transmit" platform - you broadcast your thoughts, opinions, pretty pictures and (in my case) lame jokes.
Readers take that in but they don't *expect* to reply or respond. Any more than they do when reading newspaper articles, or books or watching television. They are essentially expecting to be passive consumers of your thoughts.

Other social media platforms (FB/Twitter etc.) have added a simple feedback loop (the "like" button) that gives the creator a dopamine hit of positive feedback with very little effort on the part of the reader. Blogs don't do this.

The feedback on blogs is reader numbers. Volume tells you you're doing a good job as people keep coming back and reading. 300 views for a niche interest not heavily advertised blog post is, I'd say, pretty good going. Most of my posts (which are nowhere near as well thought out, well written or thoughtful as yours) get nowhere near that number. Though I do get about the same % number of replies - about 1 per 100.

So if it's replies and conversation you want then Blogger is not the platform. Nor, TBH is FB or Insta.
As this thread is demonstrating if you want that kind of interaction the best place is on forums like this one :) We're on page 7 now, so people are interested in the topic and are discussing.
IMO it's good to have the argument/review/discussion point held on a blog as forums are not great for long form.

So my suggestion would be it ain't broke, there's nothing to fix.
Your blog gets strong visitor numbers and the number of people who want to discuss your thoughts will do so right here.

Take pleasure from the reader and follower numbers on the blog and post links to your thoughts here (and on other forums) and reap the discussion rewards on those platforms.
« Last Edit: September 26, 2022, 07:34:52 PM by TWD »

Offline Norm

  • Supporting Adventurer
  • Mastermind
  • *
  • Posts: 1177
    • Blog for wargaming in small places
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #93 on: September 26, 2022, 02:24:20 PM »
Thanks, that is helpful.  ‘passive consumers’ is an excellent way to describe the blogging experience and is something that I have long attached negative connotations to, but your pragmatic view of the same does strike a chord. Cheers Norm.

Offline vexillia

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 527
    • Vexillia
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #94 on: September 26, 2022, 02:46:12 PM »
Blogging is much closer to journalism than it is to a debate.

Offline Cacique Caribe

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1978
  • Gelatinous Legal Alien
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #95 on: September 26, 2022, 02:51:36 PM »
Blogging is much closer to journalism than it is to a debate.

Closer to journalism than today’s “journalism”.  :)

Dan

Offline tikitang

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 604
  • A shadow out of time...
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #96 on: September 28, 2022, 11:22:49 PM »
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.

Despite this rather depressed-sounding post, I've started a new blog at https://the-infernal-crusade.blogspot.com/

Took me AGES to write the first post, though. I'd forgotten how much time I can pour into writing, and how much I obsess over every word and punctuation mark. I think I paint miniatures faster than this! Still, my motivation is pretty high right now, so I have hopes for this one.
https://a-descent-into-the-maelstrom.blogspot.com/


"The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything."

- Chuck Palahniuk

Offline Codsticker

  • Supporting Adventurer
  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • *
  • Posts: 3276
    • Kodsticklerburg: A Mordheim project
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #97 on: September 29, 2022, 02:12:53 AM »
I like the sounds of your project; you need to add a Follow button so we can keep up. :)

Offline vexillia

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 527
    • Vexillia
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #98 on: September 29, 2022, 07:50:59 AM »
Took me AGES to write the first post, though. I'd forgotten how much time I can pour into writing, and how much I obsess over every word and punctuation mark.

It's good to see a blogger put some in effort.  Slightly tongue-in-cheek (see what I'm doing here), can I add the hyphen to the things you obsess about:
  • above-ground
  • three-dimensional
  • board-gaming
  • two-dimensional
  • dungeon-crawling
  • single-chamber
  • micro-campaign
Whatever you do have fun.  ;)


Offline tikitang

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 604
  • A shadow out of time...
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #99 on: September 29, 2022, 08:33:45 AM »
Yeah, I'm pretty obsessed with parentheses, hyphens, and semicolons!

I'm also never quite sure if I'm using them correctly! 

I like the sounds of your project; you need to add a Follow button so we can keep up. :)

Thanks! I've added one!
« Last Edit: September 29, 2022, 08:44:52 AM by tikitang »

Offline fred

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4359
    • Miniature Gaming
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #100 on: September 29, 2022, 11:31:14 AM »
Interesting  project - and good to have something constrained in scope to allow it to come to completion!

I’d suggest trying a few interconnected rooms - to give a bit of tactical variation - otherwise it might start to feel more like a gladiator arena, rather than a dungeon. And given the name I’m hoping to see some Demons or Devils putting in an appearance before too long.

Offline vexillia

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 527
    • Vexillia
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #101 on: September 29, 2022, 11:37:40 AM »
Yeah, I'm pretty obsessed with parentheses, hyphens, and semicolons!  I'm also never quite sure if I'm using them correctly!

If it helps, there's only one in the list that is even remotely correct.  ;)

Offline tikitang

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 604
  • A shadow out of time...
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #102 on: September 29, 2022, 12:30:52 PM »
If it helps, there's only one in the list that is even remotely correct.  ;)

Bugger! Well, I never really understood the rules of English anyway.

I’d suggest trying a few interconnected rooms - to give a bit of tactical variation - otherwise it might start to feel more like a gladiator arena, rather than a dungeon.

That is actually the idea! Therefore a complete dungeon micro-campaign, perhaps involving three rooms, would be a series of three gladiatorial matches with variations of scenery and monsters, which would be connected with each other only by narrative, but not actually on the table.

And given the name I’m hoping to see some Demons or Devils putting in an appearance before too long.

Well, the word 'infernal' derives from the Latin inferus which simply means 'below' or 'under' (and where we get the word 'inferior', for example). It doesn't necessarily relate to 'Hell', as we have come to understand Hell via popular literature. Though, as my pal Hobgoblin wrote in his own blog (here and here), Hell and dungeons could really be the same place, and humanoid monsters (such as orcs or beastmen) could be regarded as minor demons.
« Last Edit: September 29, 2022, 12:42:26 PM by tikitang »

Offline Jack Jones

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 205
    • Sands of Soudan
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #103 on: October 16, 2022, 02:43:37 PM »
Hi All

I tend to think of my blog as a project note book, a record of my research for modelling projects, sources, inspiration. I have a handful of followers, but doubt these eight are responsible for nearly 8,000 page views.

It’s useful for keeping tabs on other blogs which I have found inspirational, although I find folk on Facebook more ‘interactive’, but then I don’t comment much.

Cheers
JJ

Offline The Bibliophile

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 329
    • Scrum in Miniature
Re: Blogs..... what do we say?
« Reply #104 on: October 20, 2022, 04:44:36 AM »
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.

Couldn’t agree more. I started my blog hoping to become part of a community of bloggers and readers, but I disappointingly get few comments. Like you, too, I tend to put a few hours into every post between the writing, photo selecting/editing/sequencing/captioning, and all of the links I try to include.

That said, I’m glad I do it (sporadic though it may be). I met one of my closest gaming mates by first becoming a big fan of his blog. Eventually I deduced we lived in the same metropolitan area, and if he hadn’t been blogging, I’d be much poorer for it.

I blog for pretty much all of the reasons already mentioned: sharing tutorials; random musings about my lifetime of gaming; sharing the great photos my wife takes of our games; capturing my group’s monthly games (Second Saturday Scrum Club); writing up con reports; tracking my progress on projects; sharing game material/aids I create for my club’s games; reviewing new rule sets we’ve tried out…pretty much the gamut. If I don’t feel like painting/crafting or can’t get a game organized with pals, my blog is another option for me to engage in my hobby. In that light, I try to share a bit about myself through talking about gaming; as a reader I appreciate it when I get a glimpse of the person behind the blog to see if they’re a kindred spirit besides just sharing a hobby.

An intense period at work and then catching Covid has kept me from posting much the past few weeks, but there’s five years worth of gaming good times up on my blog, if anybody is curious. You can find a link to SCRUM IN MINIATURE in the signature line below. Feel free to leave a comment if you see something there that interests you…I promise to respond!
« Last Edit: October 20, 2022, 05:15:54 AM by The Bibliophile »
Scrum in Miniature (my gaming blog): http://miniaturescrum.blogspot.com
Scrum Con (my miniatures+RPG convention in Wash, DC): https://sites.google.com/view/scrum-con/home
Above the Fray Miniatures (my minis company): https://sites.google.com/view/abovethefrayminiatures/home

 

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