Joys of Blogging

Just a few good things about blogging.

01 - Meet like-minded people — Not to say you couldn't do this without a blog but some of us are shy about talking to strangers in person. With a blog, it's easier. So yes, you might encounter unpleasant people but you also might encounter some of the kindest people in the world.

02 - Reach people from all over the world — Your blog can be read from different parts of the world and you can blog in any language. If you blog in another language, there are translation gadgets/apps/services that allow you to translate any blog in any language. I have only seen a couple of foreign language blogs but I'm sure there are plenty that I don't know about.

03 - Share as much or as little about yourself as you like — There's no rule about what you share on your blog. Sometimes I think people overshare but that's their preference.

Do you have something good to share about blogging?

Introductions & Identities

I have a first post but I also an about page (titled hello) and also a gadget (It starts with 'Hello!') at the bottom of the footer – they are all a sort of introduction to the blogger (to me that is). I think every blog should have at least one of these so that readers know who is behind the blog even if they know just a name. If I like a blog, I like to check out the about page or introduction post. Maybe your visit to a blog is just a few minutes but you might like to learn a fact or two about a blogger.
    I enjoyed some anonymity by not posting my full name or a photo of myself in these intros. It's not just to protect myself from internet trolls but it's also a preference. These days you cannot sign up for anything online without giving your info which includes your real name and a lot of things that shouldn't be on the web. Unless you're a celebrity or someone who is already in the spotlight or that you had to blog for work or something that is necessary to use real names, I think bloggers should not have to give out their real identity in order to blog. 

Do you like introduction/about pages? Do you blog with your real name?

Honest Blog Confessions

01 - Now and then I accidentally turn off or on some of the blogging features (for example, email comment notification) and then I forgot how to get it back so I have to search how to do it. It's dumb that this should happen even though I've been blogging for years but there's nothing I can do about it.

02 - Sometimes looking at a blogger's photo on their sidebar makes me uncomfortable. I find photos of real faces distracting while I'm browsing a blog. It's nice to see who is behind the blog but I wish they would place that photo in their about page or use an image that is an illustration or a symbol or an object. There are some very awkward photos on people's blog that I cannot unseen. (I'm not referring to Blogger's profile icons which are smaller.) 

03 - I can be a bit annoying by pointing out the mistakes in someone's blog but usually just spelling mistakes and link mistakes (like when a link didn't work) because those are the kind of mistakes I like people to point out on my blog. Sadly, no one had pointed out I had misspelled 'of course' instead of letting me get away using 'of cause' for many years on my blogs. Maybe I should have checked the dictionary instead of relying on my word app's spellcheck which do not correct such things because it sees it as two separate words.

What honest confessions do you have about blogging?