Blogspot...

When I first started reading Blogsites, it was because the Reggae Festival thing had hit the fan and all of the people involved in the issue were at each others throats. My first reaction was one of shock, and my first question was; what the heck is happening? Then I got an E-mail from a friend telling me that Erik Kirk was putting all the pertinent information on his Blogsite. As a member of the community that was deeply involved in “the happening” of the Reggae festival, and had zero to do with the planning, or the implementation of the event, I became concerned. So I started reading Eric’s blog, and after a while I started trying to comment, with GREAT difficulty, but soon I was commenting with the pro’s. And, I found a few blogsite like 299 Opine that talked a lot about local history, and I became interested in those sites. (I put a list of the sites that I visit on a daily basis on the left-hand side of my blogsite.)

After a few a people started criticizing the way that Eric was deleting certain comments, probably because the comments were filled with slander or liable. He made the remark; “If you don’t like the way I run my blog, start your own. It takes about five minutes”. Being a person of curiosity, I did start my own. At first I left it private, and played around with the color scheme and font styles and sizes. Then I discovered that I could put the comments that I made in a blogsite on to my own blog, where I could save them for my own reference. I soon learned that I could post things on my blogsite from anywhere that there was a computer. I started putting things on my blog while I was at the shop, them finishing them at home without having to remember to download to a memory stick or e-mailing them to somewhere. The convenience of everything being accessible all the time was nice.

I was writing about a lot of family things, and some local stories and recipes. I e-mailed my family to let them know that they could check my blogsite for my stories, and I told them how to comment. To my disappointment, I’ve not received any comments from them, other than e-mail. So I put a site-counter on, to see how many people were looking at the site, and I was amazed at how many times my family and friends were checking on it, without leaving a comment.

When Eric announced that I had a blog, the meter went nuts for a few days, and has now settled down to a steady but impressive (to me) pace.

But, I’ve always liked being part of a discussion, not the one doing all the talking. So why do people check this blog-site? Is it the acorn muffin recipes, the local history? Is it the hope that I might say something interesting someday?

I have had people make great comments, then apologize for taking up so much space. But, I have had some awfully good comments, better than I expected, from people like Ben, Ekovox, Carol & Greg, Kym, Eric and many more. Some from out of the area, which surprised me that some of the subjects that I talk about would be of interest to them.

I always find the comments to be more interesting than what I post, even the simple ones. I like it when someone adds an opinion, or suggests a new subject.

I’m personally fond of local history, local characters, local recipes, local events. Or amusing stories. Or little known facts about anywhere. I’m not very good on world politics, and I feel that I can do very little to change them. I like to stay current on local politics, but I find that there are people out there that can eat me alive with the minutia that they can bring up, and it seems that they must spend a great deal more time on the details than I have the time for.

It seems that nowadays many people are living behind “walls” of their own making. But I have found that by using my own name on my blog, I have discovered that people are more willing to comment, and add opinions that we share in common. I have found long lost friends and relatives through posting with my own name. Conversations come up like we used to have in the good old days when society was more open and inviting.