02 - Is it wrong for bloggers to just delete their blogs without notice? — I have seen a few bloggers who just deleted their blog without any type of notice. When you go to their blog, you get a 'the site is no longer available' or some notice saying the blog no longer existed. This kind of disappearance acts just irks me. I know there must be some good reason for the disappearance such as being deceased (which I am loathed to think because I prefer no one dies), lost in a witness protection safe house, or even lost their minds but one must be polite about it and leave some notice before completely disappearing. Not that I blamed these people for leaving but it irks me a bit especially for those bloggers I have followed a long time.
03 - Blogging is not what it was ten years ago and yet, it's exactly the same — Or perhaps I'm exactly the same and blogging has changed. Most people flock toward social medias rather than blogs even though blogs are a type of social media except no one is saying that except me. Blogging will always be my social media because I mostly hate social media or maybe not hate, more like, stupefied by the way they change so fast. Wasn't twitter used to be 140 characters but now people not only can they exceed that limit, they can also post photos and videos and basically use it like a blog. I guess the only difference between social media and blogs is the way people use them? I think social media is for short, quick burst of thoughts and ideas and I suppose it's why I prefer a blog because I'm not one to be brief or fast.
04 - Over ten dollars for an ebook? — I'm not being cheap (well, a little bit) but I just don't want to pay anything above ten dollars for an ebook. I don't think ebooks offers the same benefits as printed books. I certainly could not resell an ebook like printed books since it's more about transferring of ownership. We are to think of ebooks being in the same class as printed books but are they?
I've noticed some printed books are cheaper than the ebook version which makes no sense to me. Isn't printing a book more expensive than creating an electronic file? So yes, artwork is probably expensive but since most books comes in several formats (printed in hardcover and paperback, various types of ebooks, audio), I assumed the artwork is being paid to be used on all these formats so clearly, they can lower the price of ebooks or match the printed version's price, right?
05 - Book rants — Apparently I watch way too many youtube videos and most of them are on books. Somehow those Best books of the year, Favorite books or Books I love lists almost always have books I hate on them so I don't watch many of those. It's often more interesting to watch book rants such as Worst books of the year lists and find out why people hate certain books rather than why they love them. I have very few words for the books I love but books I hate, I have tons of words for them.
06 - Make a fuss about representation? — I'm never going to read books based on representation. When I hear people say they they pick up this book/read this book because it has this/that representation, I just want to roll my eyes. Can't a character just have this and that characteristic or be this and that way without people pointing out this character represent this group and that group? I don't want to read a book because it's diverse, I want to read a book because it has a good story and that characters are just characters. In the real world, we don't go about searching for diverse people to be friends with so why make an issue where there's none?
07 - They should know better — Margot Kinberg at her blog wrote about characters doing things they should know better but they do it anyway otherwise there wouldn't be a story. (Read the post here.) Making mistakes and making bad decisions is human and yet, readers can't help but berate these characters as these bad decisions arise emotions. Sometimes these characters can go too far and we have to question whether it would have been better if these characters have never made the decisions that they did. Certainly if a character makes the same mistake more than once, than there is a definite reason to berate that character, right? What do you think? Does it bother you a lot when a character makes a bad decision?
Got anything on your mind? Do share them.
I agree that blogging is a form of social media, but it is not "the hot spot" to be and hasn't been for many, many years. Every 2-3 years, the cool kids all flock to whatever the new hot platform is (mixed metaphor, I know) and, as I recall, it happened in this order -- Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok. So blogs are essentially the backwater of the social media scene these days, but some of us (largely Boomers) still enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteDebra She Who Seeks: There seems to be more and more social media and soon, there will be something else after tiktok. I see all these social media logos after people's names and I just wonder how many places a person can be at and wonder where they get the time or energy to update at so many places.
DeleteI agreed with you, blogging is not the 'hot spot' as you said. I still enjoy blogging and probably will for a long while.
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I suppose you can delete your blog without notice but it is considerate to let people know.
ReplyDeleteChristine: It's just nice to give notice but I guess it's easier to just delete.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
02 - Some people pay for their blog, and if not - all the reasons you list up and quite a few more - then the blog is taken down. What bothers me more is blogs, where it just ends and if you follow the IG or FB links you find them alive and kicking over there. A two-liner like "Bye, I'm not into blogging any more, but I am still alive and posting at IG/FB (insert media here)" would be just so nice. The worst one I ever saw in a blog roll: Hunting for Mushrooms - 4 years ago ... whatever happened on or after that mushroom hunt?
ReplyDelete07 - Of course the story would get nowhere without people making stupid decisions. But the one where people enter that dark hole which already swallowed up their dog or friends without even getting new batteries for their flashlight first. That's just toe-curling stupidity.
Charlotte: 02 - I do found those bloggers who deleted their blog are at social media places but they don't tell you. Hunting for mushrooms? I haven't heard of that blog but I suppose it would be nice to end with some sort of update or something.
Delete07 - I suppose some characters have to do dumb things or else us readers wouldn't have anything to complain about. But there is stupidity that's really hard to believe.
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I've also disliked when blogs I follow disappear, there was one that I enjoyed a while ago that I wish hadn't vanished because there some cool posts the blogger had made. I also prefer too, whenever the blogger gives a warning for when they vanish, one blogger I looked at the blog of briefly linked her instagram which was nice which then allowed me to find her new(er) blog. (Since she made the blog long after announcing she stopped blogging on the other one, though it would have been nice too, to make a post on that old blog about the new blog so that those who don't have instagram could find it).
ReplyDeleteBook rants are fun, while I don't watch a lot of them, but I have enjoyed talks about certain books. I have mostly been watching Reads with Rachel, among others. Not a book rant, but I love listening to video essays about different things. :)
-Quinley
Quinley: I think leaving some notice is just polite although whenever I see notice of a blogger moving onto social media, I get a bit disappointed.
DeleteI have seen some of Reads with Rachel videos and enjoyed them. She's funny. Video essays? Is that what they are called? I suppose they are. I also enjoy rants about other things too aside from books.
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I don't like it when blogs just disappear overnight. It's so jarring. I know people can do whatever they want to with their blogs, but I appreciate the bloggers who give a good-bye notice before quitting the scene.
ReplyDeleteLark: I whole-heartedly agree with you. But it's true, people's blog belonged to them so they can do what they wanted.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
#2: I have asked my daughter to leave a message on my blog if I die suddenly, or have to give up blogging for any other reason and can't leave my own message.
ReplyDeleteGood thought. I once had a notice put up for publishing if I did not stop it - I gave that up after I once forgot to stop it and had to disclaim my being dead. Not so smart.
DeleteRiver: That's very nice of you. It's strange, a little morbid, to think about these things but that's life.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
I can relate to #1. My posting has been down so much I've lately been wondering- -what DO I want my blog to be? And I VASTLY prefer blogging to other forms of social media, even twitter which I used to like. My blog is just... a comfort zone?
ReplyDeleteNope to expensive ebooks. My peeve lately is when a novella or short story is like over $12...
Same re: characters making bad decisions. I realize we need a story but... I want to read about characters that do smart things. Mostly. I mean I get lapses in judgment andmaking a kistake, but if something dumb seems to happen just to move the plot...
Greg: A comfort zone? - that sounds good to me. I think of my little blog as a haven.
DeleteOh yes, novellas costing the same as a novel - I hate that too. And I think it's worst when those novellas are part of a series - they should put those novellas into the other books which can easily be done.
Character can make bad decisions but yes, I too want them to do smart things but to do that dumb thing to move the story along is just dumb.
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Some great thoughts there, Lissa. I've been blogging for more than ten years and it has changed from just describing the books I read for our former book club members to a sort of social media site where I share some parts from my life and have met many great people.
ReplyDeleteSame as many, I think we all dislike it when a site disappears altogether, without notice. Some bloggers I followed have at least announced that they will not be continuing to blog for several understandable reasons but they left the blog up so we can all still go back. I really appreciate that. And yes, a link to a new site is always very much appreciated.
I don't read e-books because I just don't take them in as well (I'm probably too old to get used to the new stuff) but I understand your feeling, they definitely should not be as expensive as printed one since they don't need the printing. Our local newspaper asks the same subscription price for the printed copy as well as the online one - even if you have the printed copy. I think that's outrageous.
Did you come up with these topics or is there a certain format that you follow? I suppose it's the latter. I still might copy your idea, if I may.
Marianne: I do like it when a blogger give notice and also leave a link to where they are going to be even if some of us can't follow.
DeleteIt's a bit hard to price digital media but I suppose even newspaper people have to make money somehow. I did notice going digital means less jobs for some people so perhaps the newspaper is making up for it with the pricing.
I'm too moody to have any kind of formats. It's more like, I write up my thoughts (which I do constantly) and then decide which ones are worth putting on my blog. I have been doing my seven things lists for years as a way of posting little things that I didn't want to make individual posts for. You may use my idea although it's not much of an idea.
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Thanks, Lissa.
DeleteI love the idea to list several thoughts together. I sometimes have a thought which is not big enough for a whole post, at least in my opinion, so I might take you up on this format.
I do understand that newspaper people have to make money but I already pay them for their printed pages which means I already paid for their journalistic and editorial work. So, why not give it to me, if not for free, then at least at a highly reduced cost, online, as well?
Have a lovey day, as well.
"Sometimes I see my blog as another unfinished on-going project where I try to do better but in the end, I just fall back to the same old routine and I don't think it's a terrible thing."
ReplyDeleteIt isn't...especially if you aren't into forging relationships with authors or publishers. Anyhow, I do that on mine, but it's not like I actively work towards a blogging goal, like getting more followers. "Work" being the keyword here...I mean, I do "work" on my reviews because I want them to be the closest to perfection they can be, but that's because I'm finicky - not because I think it can win me more followers...
"Is it wrong for bloggers to just delete their blogs without notice?"
I'd rather they said goodbye...the worst thing is when the blog is still there, but no one updates it anymore - you never know if the person died or something terrible happened in their life or they just got bored...
"I've noticed some printed books are cheaper than the ebook version which makes no sense to me."
Same...unless it's because most people prefer ebooks to paper books these days (because they're more portable or take up less space), so publishers are cashing on that...or are trying to get people to buy more printed books...
"I don't want to read a book because it's diverse, I want to read a book because it has a good story"
OK, so...I have to admit I do that too...but I understand the need to talk about representation and the drive to read out of your comfort zone, so to speak...there's a whole world of people we don't know anything (or we only know a bit) about because books used to be so white and straight until recently, so it would probably be a good idea to educate ourselves by reading diverse stories (which of course are important for the people they represent anyway).
Roberta R.: I think all bloggers does work on their blog in some ways even if they are not necessarily working toward some blogging goal. I'm finicky too.
DeleteI do see a lot of un-updated blogs but I kind of try to ignore them. Some bloggers choose not to continue blogging and I can respect that but it's nice to have some sort of update or some farewell.
You'll never how they (publishers) price books but like you said, perhaps since people are more into ebooks, they are upping the price.
I admit, I ignore authors and even character traits when picking out a book to read. But I'm all for diverse books, I just don't want to make a big deal of it.
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I feel much the same way about bloggers just disappearing, and how blogging has changed. There are so many blogs that used to be favorites of mine, I read them regularly, we even exchanged comments- and then one day I noticed they'd just stopped writing. Or deleting their blog. Some of them I still check back once in a while to see if they've begun writing again, or wonder what happened. Did they simply loose interest? become ill? have some family tragedy? leave to write elsewhere? I just wish I knew.... . . . and I don't care much for social media either- it all changes so quickly and as soon as I get used to one platform, everyone's jumping ship to use a different one, I can't keep up with that. I prefer my blog where I write when and when I want to, and organize it my own way.
ReplyDeleteJeane: I also check old blogs to see if anyone come back which is very unlikely but it does happen. Social media is just too quick, like you, I prefer to stay at my blog even if I do sort of move to new url once in a while though I try not to do that too often.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.