Brendan Tompkins [MVP]

Blog First. Ask Questions Later.

Blogging Guilt

Grant shares with us a conversation he and I had and his feelings on blogging. I'd actually characterize it as “Blogging Guilt“ ... Felling bad about not enough posting content, all the while holding back on content because it's not .NET related, thus not appropriate for DNJ. He's said he's got some skunk-works project that will help him alleviate this, wonder what it'll be?

I've been thinking more about our conversation about blogging too. I, on the other hand, have no blogging guilt. I never thought twice about posting whatever crud came to mind, just because my blog happens to be on DNJ. Here's how I've always understood it:

Content is good for the folks at DNJ. Now, this is not to say they don't have a certain reputation to improve/maintain, but in general, they're in the content business, the more the better.
Off-topic postings should be noted as so, so that they can be ignored, but are not necessarily out of place.
Most readers find posts through Google searches and aggregators. The main feed is too cluttered to be of much use. So, if someone gets sick of off-topic stuff, they can remove your feed. Hopefully they'll keep reading, but if not, cest la vie.
The folks that find you through Google won't see your off-topic stuff, unless of course they're looking for it.

Much stuff that's outside the scope of the .NET Framework, runtime and languages is certainly .NET related. Take XML for example, nothing about it is inherently .NET but if you don't have a handle on it, you're lost. For this reason, I post about practically anything that I end up doing at work. Now, I probably wouldn't post about how to work with PalmOS, but I have a hard time thinking of too many other examples of technical things I wouldn't post about...

I do understand why some folks will have separate “Political“ or “Religious“ blogs, this is an obvious reason to separate blogs - these topics are not really polite to bring up with strangers, as some will tell you. This is the way I've been approaching it. Personally, I'm not a fan of people having different blogs for different things. I feel like I'm missing out if I don't know to aggregate all their blogs.

Anyone care to weigh in?

Published Jun 28 2004, 01:49 PM by Brendan Tompkins

Comments

Grant said:

Guilt might not be how I'd express it (not being a Catholic?), but you're on the right track. It's just that I've got a bigger idea than just text based self-expression, so it's not like I'm just opening up another blog to handle some other topics. It's something I can't accomplish via DNJ and I might as well include all the other non-.Net stuff to boot!

There are two types of blogs I follow, the first type being people who've got good tech content that I find useful or professionally enriching. The second type MIGHT contain elements from the first type, but I also read because I'm friends with them, know them better, or am just curious (Rory's Neopolean.com site).

I'm guessing it's the same with most folks, so I'm thinking people who know me or I'm friends with may opt to follow this new project (the Grant Killian Experiment, if you will), while .Net techies only have to wade through the .Net stuff.

Who knows, I may not like the experience and revert to DNJ only. Either way, the new project will support RSS of course!

# June 28, 2004 10:20 AM

Brendan Tompkins said:

Cool! Definitely looking forward to it. Didn't mean guilt in any pejorative sense, mind you, just didn't know what else to call it. Also, I DID grow up catholic... he he

# June 28, 2004 10:24 AM

Dave Donaldson said:

I experience this also from time to time. I feel bad if I go more than a day or two without posting something useful. Which in my mind, is really the key. I could post a bunch of random thoughts, but who cares about that other than me? Of course, it's not like I "know" my readers (all 25 of them), so how do I know what their expectations are? And will they remove me from their aggregator if I stop posting as frequently or if my posts suck? Blogging is a strange thing sometimes.

# June 28, 2004 4:28 PM

Darrell said:

Blogging is indeed strange, and every person has their unique reasons for doing it. Mine was to get some more practice writing before I started writing articles (still waiting to hear back on the first one, grrr). It's become a nice little hobby, but blogging is definitely not in the majority yet.

# June 29, 2004 1:46 AM

DonXML Demsak said:

If you want to blog about a wide range of topics, I'd suggest creating your own web site using .Text as your content management system (like I did). An account at Webhosting4life is only $10/month, and includes SQL Server and unlimited bandwidth.

You can always do like I do and syndicate your .Net blogs on an agg site (like DNJ, or weblogs.asp.net). This way you get the best of both worlds, the opportunity to say what you want, but also the readership through an agg site.

# June 29, 2004 2:19 AM

Grant said:

That's exactly what I plan to do DonXML!

# June 29, 2004 6:53 AM

Jason Haley said:

I have been feeling a little guilty myself. I am thinking I need better and more focused content than the recent stuff I have posted about my honeymoon, etc.

At the Boston .Net Blogger Dinner Sam mentioned that maybe I should have some sort of topic that I focus on specifically...so I have been thinking about that. Problem with me right now is there is SO MUCH that is interesting about .Net I feel like I need some Redilen or something to get a focus on a specific aspect of it.

This was as great post and timely for me...I might do what DonXML has suggested too.

# July 3, 2004 2:59 AM

Brendan Tompkins said:

Good to hear about .NET user groups in Boston. I worked there for 5 years in the late 90's, and always felt a little out numbered in the developer community up there as a MS person... Speaking of Boston? Ever go to Mary Chungs? See post here:

http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/bsblog/archive/2003/12/29/5000.aspx

# July 3, 2004 3:47 AM

Jason Haley said:

Blog reading status: current

# July 5, 2004 3:01 AM

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About Brendan Tompkins

Brendan has been programming with .NET since the first public beta and is owner and operator of Port Technology Services, a consultancy company providing .NET application development services to the Maritime industry. In July, 2007, he was awarded the Microsoft MVP award for ASP.NET. He's also a proud co-founder of failed .COM startup Intrinsigo, and has had a hand in the failure of numerous other businesses. He currently runs CodeBetter.Com and Devlicio.us, and lives in Norfolk, Virgina with his wife Tiara and son Ian.