Tri-Monthly Blogging

I don’t know if I’m just irritable these past few days, or if Aunt Flo is coming for a visit, or if I’m just an irritable old bitch, but I have another little pet peeve from the internets that I can’t help but talk about. I. Must. Get. It. Out.

One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to personal websites is bloggers who blog once every two or three months, maybe. They open their website, type up an entry, and then let it sit there. When I come upon a personal website, browse the latest blog, and realize that the entry date was somewhere back in August of 2007? I’m not impressed. I probably won’t return either. I’ll maybe look at the content (and most of the time, there isn’t any available because it’s just a blog) and peace out. I’ll also wonder if you’re safe or dead. Certainly not the best first impression. You haven’t only wasted your time, but mine. And if they’re being hosted, that’s even worse. The host is graciously handing over some of their space, and for what? An incomplete website? I think that’s hardly fair.

What’s the point of working hard on a website and never updating it? Doesn’t it seem like a complete waste of time and effort? If you’d like to vent and unload every few months, get a livejournal. It’s free, it’s got good user interaction, and more importantly, it’s friends-only. We all win! If you’re just interested in visitor content, take out the blog, but don’t forget to update and let your visitors know that 1) you’re not dead and 2) you’re working on the website. The content was obviously created to cater to a future visitor, but now that same visitor won’t be returning because they fear you have died. Or worse, “gotten a life” (more on that one later). Pointless.

It all boils down to laziness and procrastination, in my opinion. If bloggers do suddenly get busy with offline things (it does happen) or just lose interest, why not put up a little notice for that visitor that is stumbling into your website for the first time? Something like, “Hey, I’m not actually dead”, “Offline life has taken its toll, bbl!”, or even “I’ve moved to Livejournal so I don’t waste your time.” It’s courteous and thoughtful. I’ve seen some bloggers put their site on hiatus, leaving a notice of a future date to check back on (usually they don’t stick to the date, but hey, at least they’re trying). I think this is better than just letting your website (or plain ol’ blog) to just sit there and rot.

I know it’s trivial, this little pet peeve of mine, but that’s why it’s a pet peeve. It felt good to let that out.


*is guilty* LOL

And you’re exactly right - it boils down to laziness and procrastination, but also a touch of OCD in my case ;)

Posted by Bubs on February 19, 2008

What bugs me more is when people have a giant gap between blog entries, and then blog about the fact that they haven’t blogged. That’s a point disproven right there! “OMG I haven’t blogged ‘cause I have nothing to write about!”

My solution to that:

1) You’re blogging now, aren’t you? :P

2) Stop blogging then!

If you’re going to have your own website, you’ve got to care about it and look after it. If you don’t care about it, why should your visitors care?

Posted by Rachael on February 19, 2008

It pisses me off too. I recently just cleared out some links from my site of people who’ve not been blogging to make space for those who do. The thing is, the moment I did at least 3 of them started blogging again. Fucfusdkcking!

I didn’t have any packing ideas btw. Although it may be worth noting that the last time I moved, I simply kept everything on the hangers and chucked it in the car like that. Probably not ideal though, if space is an issue. Meh, you’ll figure something out :D

Posted by Jem on February 19, 2008

I don’t know how people don’t have ONE SECOND, to update their blog. I mean, I can open wordpress, type a bit, and have an entry in 5 minutes. But then, maybe it’s best if some people don’t do that, because it’s probably not worth hearing their thoughts anyway.

Posted by Aisling on February 19, 2008

a huge turnoff for me is to visit a site that starts every single blog entry with “sorry for not blogging in so long”.
if I was a new visitor, the impression that’d cause would be a bad one, and I would probably not return. The typical “I have a life” excuse also Pisces ms off. We all have an offline life, some more than others, that however doesn’t mean that a person with a “life” can assume that everyone who finds time to blog frequently doesn’t have anything better to do.

Posted by lene on February 19, 2008

sorry for commenting twice but my ipod’s spell checker just replaced ‘pisses’ with Pisces, lolzors. Just pointing out that it was a retarded mispelling. Heh.

Posted by lene on February 19, 2008

Hii, i blog hopped here via Babblative.com and i completely agree with you.  If i see a “zomg i haven’t blogged in 2 months” kinda of message, odds of my stopping by again are pretty slim.

Posted by Christine on February 19, 2008

I also agree with this, although, interestingly, the possibility that the owner may have passed away or have had something terrible happen to them has never entered my head before - it will now!
Unless I’m extremely bored and blog-hopping, I only visit sites that my RSS shows as having been updated though.

Posted by Holly on February 19, 2008

Personally, I blog once very four days ago, which I think is fine.
But when I see sites like you described and look at the date, I don’t even bother reading the post. SOmetimes I might have a look round their resources or goodies section, but I’ll never comment.

Posted by Kristina on February 19, 2008

Okay, okay point taken I need to blog more. I get it, you’ve bitched about it enough in AIM (not that I really mind). It’s not that I don’t have the time to blog, it’s that I don’t have anything to blog about. Want to hear about how i went to the grocery store and bought a bag of fruit and some body wash? Probably not, my life is hella boring and lately my online life is no better.

I do agree with you completely, even if my own blog has been neglected as of late. I really dislike seeing a great blog and then realising that it’s from 2006 and hey the owner is probably never checking their site (and how is it getting renewed?).

Posted by Becky on February 19, 2008

I agree with your opinion, but I also consider what the person may have been going through last: did his/her mom pass away?  Things like that.  It can be really frustrating though when, without any kind of indication, they just disappear… kind of like reading a really great book and then being left at an indefinite cliffhanger.
Though I don’t think it’s just procrastination, laziness or getting a life.  Maybe the person is just frustrated… I know that’s how I get after spending hours trying to tweak something in my CSS and failing miserably.  Sometimes you just want a break.  I tend to do this then disappear for a couple of days… or weeks if I feel like I’m out of gas and need to pull over for a refill.
I have no idea what my point was… but that’s just my two cents.

Posted by Anna on February 19, 2008

Lately I’ve been slacking on updates because I’ve been busy working on back end stuff, but I do try to update at least once a week which I don’t think is too bad? I totally know what you mean though and you’re not the only one that has such a peeve. It. Is. Very. Annoying. I used to have hostees like that and I used to just up and delete their site and files without even bothering to contact them. Bitch of me? No, I don’t think so. It would only be after they hadn’t touched their site in about 2 months. I think that’s plenty fair. You squat, you get kicked out. Simple.

Posted by Jenna on February 19, 2008

although i am guilty of this (mostly because i maintain a design blog ergo it’s diff but still), i somehow agree, esp if there are barely enough entries to begin with, getting bored of blogging/taking a break is ok if the blogger’s site is like… a year old but if it just opened and they just leave it? idk, it’s too much

also, i know a blogger (well, ok .. LOTS) who refrain from blogging because they are waiting for the comments to pile up.. WTF??

Posted by lai on February 19, 2008

I know I know, I fail. I really want to start blogging again but I don’t know where to start. So much has happened since I stopped, people will probably be bored of my blog anyway. I was.

Posted by Bobbi-lee on February 19, 2008

i agree, sporadic updates are boo-worthy. but, i think consistency is more important than frequency. (ha, that sounds like i’m talking about bowel movements or something. anyway.) like, it’s okay to update once a month, as long as you do that consistently, as opposed to posting every day, and then nothing for six months. i used to post once every couple of days or even once a day, but then i got kinda busy with school and so i aim for once a week now (roughly). at the same time, if i don’t have anything of substance to say, i’d rather just let the site sit for awhile. (however, my latest entry was an attempt to combine a fart story and presidents day, so obv i use the word “substance” very loosely.)

Posted by Rachel on February 20, 2008

I love that loads of people admitted that this entry is so them. It might spur them into blogging more, damnit :D

Posted by Jem on February 20, 2008

I have the time to update but I just have anything to update you guys about. No one wants to hear about what I did that day but I blogged about it anyway. I need to buy that book with all the blogging ideas because I certainly don’t have any.

Posted by Jessica on February 20, 2008

I’m sort of guilty of that.  I have time, but nothing really exciting ever happens to me.  And I don’t ever have writing ideas, so I post nothing.

@ Jessica - I need that book too!  :D

Posted by Ashley on February 20, 2008

I don’t blog very often, but I won’t bother leaving my site open if I’m going to be gone for extended periods of time.

Posted by Sean on February 20, 2008

Yeah, when I find out a blogger hasn’t blogged in months, I fear they may have died or something. It gets me worried, because, well, death always makes me worry.

Posted by Vanesa on May 31, 2008