This is a comment I wrote in response to Jeff Bullas's post, What are the 10 Secret Benefits of Blogging? (http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/07/06/what-are-the-10-secret-benefits-of-blogging/)
Jeff, you're helping to promulgate two of the most popular prejudices of blogsnobbery.
One is that to be a "serious" blogger you have to own your own domain. That's nonsense. There is no "pay to play" requirement for blogging. It's like saying you're not a serious writer unless you're jotting down your thoughts in a Moleskine notebook. The true test of whether a blogger is "serious" or not is in the blogging. That's it. Anything else is bigotry and prejudice. Blogsnobbery.
The other tenet is, of course, that the Blogger/Blogspot platform is unworthy of being mentioned. That's been going on since at least Chris Pirillo's famous 2005 tantrum "Kill Blogspot Already!" It's also nonsense, as much now as it was then. Blogger/Blogspot is the easiest jumping-on point for new bloggers, and an excellent way to develop and customize blogs without a great deal of technical expertise. Perhaps this is the reason why there is so much contempt for this platform: it lets the unwashed masses (like me) into the party.
You do not mention one of the biggest benefits of blogging: community building. It's not just a matter of finding a "tribe." Once you establish a voice for yourself, you may locate other like-minded (or differently-minded) bloggers with whom you may find yourself exchanging comments, trading links, or exploring each other's blogrolls. Starting a blog can open up whole worlds that you never knew existed.
I've spent the past six-and-a-half years promoting and popularizing blogs and blogging throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania. I find the notion that you must own your own domain name to be considered a "serious" blogger, and the snobbish contempt for one of the most popular and accessible blogging platforms available, to be antithetical to my efforts to encourage people to explore established blogs, create blogs of their own, and build and strengthen the local community of bloggers.
http://nepablogs.blogspot.com/
http://anothermonkey.blogspot.com/
Posts
Daryl Sznyter
5 years ago
2 comments:
I'm again restating issue with this post for 2 reasons.
1) http://nepablogs.blogspot.com has a domain name associated with it. It is http://nepablogs.org. It is only a redirect, but it is still a domain none-the-less. A domain name has nothing to do with the platform that you are on. It is simply an easier path to locate you online and perhaps take your online project - whatever it is (blogging, selling widgets, etc) to the next level.
2) NEPA Blogs is a team effort. Or so I thought. I created a lot of the social media presence for it (Twitter, Facebook Group and Page, Pinterest and Google+) and revived it when it was near dead. I take offense to the fact that you did not make mention of Gort or I.
2 1/2) Maybe I'm not a professional blogger or a serious blogger. But I have my own domain name. I do not, however, think that I am a blogsnob.
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
Michelle, I have always given you credit for everything you have done. In this comment I was giving MY motivations for what I have done and am doing with NEPA Blogs. My motivation is to encourage and popularize blogging in NEPA. I think I'm allowed to say that. And my saying that is in no way meant to diminish any of the amazing things you have done for NEPA Blogs. Should I have spoken for you and Gort in this comment? I think that would have been presumptuous of me.
Post a Comment