How the hell did I get caught up in a debate about poetry? Just goes to show why, as I learned at the San Diego Blogger Event earlier today (or yesterday, by the calendar), this blog is not destined to go far, and as I think about it, why I don’t really want it to.

It was very enlightening to sit down with a bunch of bloggers in person and discuss how long we’ve been in the online connection thing in general, and blogging in particular. It was quite humbling to hear some of these people talk about their 1,000+ unique hits a day, and how to earn some money off of it, when I was feeling happy about my average of 38. The point that resounded was that, in order to be a successful blogger, you need to carve out a niche and stick to it. Those people who have done so commonly bemoaned how their readers complained about any off-topic posts. Well, I don’t have a topic, and don’t feel inclined to select one. Moreover, I don’t feel the need to worry about dealing with $200 a month bandwidth bills.

This blog, however enjoyable it is to write and monitor, is just an incidental effect of my desire to learn how to set up, administer, and as it turns out, learn how to optimize, a simple website. All along I’ve been far more interested in learning the nuts and bolts of the mechanics behind the scene than getting a referral in the mainstream media, Wired, or the gods forbid, slashdotted. I’m learning CSS by reading the manual, making small changes in my files, and checking the result. MySQL is the same, if more intimidating. Learning PHP is just plain fun - after all, it’s coding. Yes, I’ve been excited, and sometimes captivated, by my increases in PageRank, and some of the things I’ve posted have been with an eye to garner more traffic; or more explicitly, to see how high in the search engine results I can get with certain search terms. But it’s just learning how to manipulate the system, much as you manipulate a single computer by coding and compiling.

My theory (and fear) is that if you become a prominent blogger, you actually become a slave to a new master. Content is king, and if you submit yourself to fulfilling the demand to provide the content that drives the traffic that becomes so all-consuming (of the court of King Caracticus), it’s no longer your blog - it’s owned by your readers. Like you unknowingly launched an IPO and all of a sudden you have shareholders that you’re responsible to. I’d rather stick to my humble abode, posting stuff that keeps my family and friends and colleagues informed on what’s going on in my life, sharing some hard-learned lessons with fellow technophiles, or maybe spouting my opinions on local community items that will go no further than the local community. I don’t care if I’m just one of several millions doing the same - this way, it’s still my blog.

Posted by Greg in Posts About Me, My Website