BLOGGS................fantastic!

[Biciclista]

thanks SlASh and Hebe and TsPoet

[bluebug32]

Bluebug, yours was one of the blogs that actually inspired me to start blogging. I love your title and the Jersey post in particular. I do apologise for not commenting to say so, it took me a while to get round to setting up IDs and so on. I don't worry too much about the numbers, whilst it's brilliant to see the numbers going up, and wonderful to receive encouraging comments, I do it mainly so that I have a record of these years at home without a job, and to keep my mind organised and active.

And thank you Clock!

Thanks! You made my day

[kjay]

I believe it was this thread that led me to Jill Homer's blog. She is one awesome athlete, and I'm so happy to have found her. I read her book and enjoyed it thoroughly. I can't even imagine in my wildest dreams how anyone actually chooses to exercise as much as she does. :-)

[Crankin]

You know, I really don't get why people feel the need to blog. This is not a disparaging comment toward those here who also have a blog... I understand if you are selling things, maybe. But, I am pretty sure no one is interested my daily life, my rides, or anything else I do. Since I was a writing teacher, I *do* get the many reasons why people write. But blogs just seem to be one more symptom of our society where everyone just feels the need to know everything about everyone else. I kept a journal that I wrote in when my students were writing, but it definitely was not meant for anyone else to read.
I know the answer to this post will be "so don't read them, if you don't want to," which is of course, what I do. But, I do see this phenomena as a symptom of our phrenetic need to be public with everything.

[Veronica]

You know, I really don't get why people feel the need to blog.

We refuse to do Facebook. We're 3,000 miles from our families and good friends. We keep them up to date with our blog.

Thom's parents have a digital picture frame with a wireless link to the internet which they use to display our photos.

Comments are not enabled on our website. We don't really care what others think of our writing or photos.

I like the process of debriefing and reflecting that writing gives me.

Veronica

[Crankin]

I am not a huge fan of Facebook, either, although I am on it. I have to admit I recently reconnected with a number of my childhood friends/acquaintances, including my first serious boyfriend (I actually saw him about 15 years ago, though, so it's not like I had no knowledge of his whereabouts). One of the things that was hard about moving in the middle of high school is that I basically have had no connection with any part of my childhood, despite the fact that I now live about 20 miles from my hometown. I've had 2-3 discrete parts of my life and Facebook has helped bring them together. But, I don't use it to keep up with my family; I actually... gasp... call my dad and brother, who are in San Diego. I have to tell my almost 86 year old dad to check his email if I send a link with pictures.

[shootingstar]

You know, I really don't get why people feel the need to blog. This is not a disparaging comment toward those here who also have a blog... I understand if you are selling things, maybe. But, I am pretty sure no one is interested my daily life, my rides, or anything else I do. Since I was a writing teacher, I *do* get the many reasons why people write. But blogs just seem to be one more symptom of our society where everyone just feels the need to know everything about everyone else. I kept a journal that I wrote in when my students were writing, but it definitely was not meant for anyone else to read.
I know the answer to this post will be "so don't read them, if you don't want to," which is of course, what I do. But, I do see this phenomena as a symptom of our phrenetic need to be public with everything.

If it isn't blogging, then it's participating in an Internet forum where one occasionally reveals bits of personal detail to many strangers here.

Blogging touches upon 2 lifelong interests for myself : writing to tell a story and selecting relevant, maybe interesting photos. And most of the pics aren't about me in the photo. I do love words and pics. So how those 2 intersect makes it an enjoyable interest for myself.

I don't write about my daily rides even though I have cycling oriented blogs. I just pluck a possibly interesting subject and write on it.

After all, a PAID writer chooses similar subjects.

I don't have enough creative energy nor time to blog several times per wk. Maybe it's better to see it as writing selectively and illustrating it.

I know Crankin, most likely you didn't answer any of my blog polls. It's ok. It's a hit and miss thing.

[hebe]

I think people blog for many different reasons, not all of them to do with being read or having the need to share publicly. For example, I have a couple of friends who use their private blogs to keep track of job applications and career planning - they find it gives a flexible platform for writing and storing information that can be easily accessed wherever they are. Another uses hers to store recipes. I'm toying with the idea of organising some of my favourite internet pages as private links on mine, so that they're readily available when I'm on a different pc, or my phone.

I did toy with keeping my blog entirely private, but have settled on sharing the address here and on my facebook profile, nowhere else at the moment.

[lph]

I don't blog, but I do use my Facebook page a bit like a blog, I publish photos, random thoughts, status updates I find amusing or interesting, and don't necessarily expect much feedback. I do consider that other people will be reading it, though, so it's not a private diary, and if I never received any feedback at all I'd probably stop.

But I really don't see any big difference between blogging, Facebook and writing here on TE. Many threads here are people posting about their day or personal experiences, big or small, either to commiserate with someone else but often just to share an experience. And that's to what many people would consider "total strangers". By comparison Facebook or blogging to a handful of known friends is an intimate chat.