Blogs - Tamsin from the Telegraph would love to know your thoughts on them

[JustineMumsnet]

Tamsin from the Telegraph has mailed this eve (oblivious it seems to the pain we're going through after the evil Drogba stole our rightful spot in the final to end all finals) to ask us some questions about blogs and because we're very depressed and generally clueless, we wondered if we could pick your brains?

In short: If you read blogs, Why do you read them? (Is is purely for entertainment, or do you read them as an information source too?) Which type of blogs do you return to again and again, and why?
Is there anything that you find a real switch-off on a blog?
What do you get out of writing a blog?

If you'd like to talk to Tamsin directly then do give her a shout
Tamsin Kelly

020 7502 0732
07876 072328
[email protected]

Otherwise please post your thoughts here.

Cheers
MN Towers

ps this isn't just about MN blogs - it's about blogs in general...

Hah- I stopped reading blogs when I clicked on a link to mn!

odddly thom they would seem my sort of thing i asm toolazy to read any or amke one

i did once start one about hopuse building but it is adrift in the ether it would have been interwsting actually as it would have told the story of hopw a numpty could take three yearts to buid a house but

I love reading crime fiction blogs - www.eurocrime.co.uk, and others that mainly feature noir fiction and fiction in translation. It's a good way to get information and entertainment about an interest that others in RL don't share.

a Mnetter, TClanger, has a blog on speech delay/language impairment that I find very interesting for personal reasons -

sunshinetc.blogspot.com/

actually my first post is slightly disingenuous i think other peoples blogs must be boring but if i wrote one it would be really good

I can't get into them. For me they seem a little too introspective and self absorbed. Thats what I come onto MN for, if I did a blog as well I' have my head so far up my own arse it would pop back up on top of my neck again!

Well, I did try and set one up, courtesy of MN, but had nothing interesting to post.

Aren't they all about other people's dogs and when said dogs had their booster jabs?

Message withdrawn

I have a list of blogs on my favourites, and check them most days. Always a couple of political ones, to get background on the news, then several eco ones, which I read for green lifestyle suggestions.

There are several newspaper blogs in my list, as the quality is so good. I dont tend to read personal ones, as I got bored with them quickly.

If there were lots of ex boyfriends who were writing I might read them out of morbid curiosity (but mostly just to check that they weren't having a vastly more exciting time than me!)
I can't see the point really - if you read them you'll either think:
a. Blimey your life's seriously great, so why/how do you have the time to write a blog? or
b. Blimey your life's (or you are!) really boring - perhaps if you stopped trying to write a blog you might actually get one (a life that is!)

....in fact much the same as me - if I stopped posting on here I might actually get my ironing done. There's living on the edge for you.

I read loads of blogs - some with a specific niche (like photography blogs) some personal ones. I keep track of them all using an RSS reader so I don't have to visit sites that haven't been updated and also keep track of some news sites and cartoon feeds with it too.

I write a blog and it's a mix of links I found interesting, personal stuff, comments on the news, etc.

Now where it's really at though is podcasts (audio and video posts). (Blogs are soooo yesterday DAHLING! ) I subscribe to about 20 of those - ranging from tech news, to broadcast fiction, to ones that are simply recorded radio shows put out on the web.

Not really much of a surprise I hardly watch TV anymore

Oh, to answer the actual questions:

Why do I read them? For entertainment, to get glimpses into other people's lives, to become part of a community and to learn new things.

Which type of blogs do you return to again and again, and why? Ones which are well written. For special interest blogs, I return to the ones which are knowledgeable and have something to teach me. For personal blogs, I return to those I feel I have a connection with - either through dialogue between our blogs, or because they make me laugh, or have similar life experiences.

Is there anything that you find a real switch-off on a blog? Bad spelling, bad grammar, inability to use punctuation and capital letters.

What do you get out of writing a blog? It started out as a support (dh was working away a lot at the time). It's turned into good writing practice - as I have to write it regularly. It's also turned into a great community and I've met several people through it.

Read them for entertainment and to see what friends are up to

Don't write one

-Why do you read them?

-To keep in touch with family and friends and to have the kind of adult conversation I don't get because I hardly ever see friends without children present. My brothers both blog and I like to comment on their posts - they do the same for me.
My old PhD supervisor does a blog for the Times and it serves the same purpose for me. I love the democratic nature of this - she blogs for a national newspaper, my family and I blog in a totally amateur way with readers in single figures, but the function is the same.
I also read a few work-related blogs to keep abreast in my field.

-Which type do I return to again and again?

Ones I have a special connection with through work or friends. There are lots of great blogs out there which I discover, read through the whole archive, then forget about.

-What do I find a switch-off on a blog?

Bad spelling and grammar, especially if the posts are very long.
Self-importance.
People that purport to discuss something but just quote people out of context, insult them and then don't allow any negative comments.

-What do I get out of writing a blog?

I have been blogging for a few months at Yorkshire food which is, um, a blog about Yorkshire food. I do it because:

1. it's a chance to talk about what I want to without boring my long-suffering husband
2. I have something I want to say (usually 'try this meat producer, they're amazing!') and I feel like no-one else is saying it so I need to
3. it's really thrilling when people comment
4. since getting a sitemeter I am addicted to seeing how many people are on it and where in the world they are - the idea that people in Australia are reading what I write is amasing.
5. again, so family and friends can read it and see (vaguely) what I'm up to, but because it's on a particular subject it's not as navel-gazing as a diary (not that there is anything wrong with very personal blogs if that's what feels right to you).

I think the bottom line here for me is that it's all about community. I'm not so interested in the big blogs with 10000s of readers, more in ones where the same people comment over and over again and you can get to know them a bit.

am happy to talk more if you're interested Tamsin.

'amazing', not 'amasing' (having just moaned about bad spelling in long posts....)

I have 253 feeds on my bloglines subscription (a feed reader). I read blogs because I like to read other people's point of view, interesting and pertinent things to my job and life, to keep myself informed of comment as well as news, webcomics such as xkcd & OOTS and of course an element of nosiness! I've blogged in one format or another for 7 years now, partially as a forum to try out my html/css/javascript skills, also to be participating in a community, and lastly to keep updating various friends and relations without sending mass e-mails.
I get bored of blogs who never update/update too frequently(more than once a day), talk about minutia rather than interesting events, badly written or obviously biased. I prefer intelligent consideration to ill-informed rants, even if I agree with the poster's point of view.

i was writing my blog for purely selfish reasons lol. no, i wrote it as a way of release *(typos and swearing all included) and hoping maybe some people would find it useful. i did end up making contact with some LVAD patients and families from all over the world via the blog and yu tube video. Have also contacted other transplant patients as well.

havent updated it recently though as am saving big news for a couple more weeks.

its waitingforthecall.blogspot.com

Misdee, your blog also served the purpose that people on Mumsnet (like me!) who had followed your story but did not know you well enough to be in email contact, could go there and see how you were all doing and look at pictures of Peter when he became pink

lol the new pink peter was on this lot of entries

I had forgotten how funny your writing was too Misdee - pmsl @ heart being rejected meaning it being flung out in a moody strop, or the antisocial LVAD making farting noises!

I had forgotten how funny your writing was too Misdee - pmsl @ heart being rejected meaning it being flung out in a moody strop, or the antisocial LVAD making farting noises!

oh that VAC pump was a nasty noise making machine. i kept saying 'its not me' everytime it started sucking and farting.

oops
sorry, it was the VAC that was farting, not the LVAD.
right must stop hijacking and go and do some work....