Saturday, 5 May 2018

To Blog or not to Blog...

Hoi,

It will not have escaped your attention that this blog has been silent for some time. This is mainly due to the fact that I have both been very busy:

- I had heaps of tests to mark
- there were meetings about pupils at work, takes up a lot of time
- my youngest son got ill (he's fine by now now worries)
- I went away to the UK with school (more on that later)
- we rebuilt our garden shed and started building a playground-thingy in the garden of mega-enormous size.

and the fact I have been thinking about stopping to blog at all.

While the blog has a steadfast group of followers that actually reply to my posts, for which I am grateful so thanks heaps chaps,  I also get to speak to most of them elsewhere like on FB and the like. Therefore it is sometimes hard to know for whom I actually write this blog. Now this may seem harsh but compare making a blog post to doing a FB post: for a blogpost you have to at least try to take decent pictures with an actual camera, you then have to adapt those pictures (in size etcetera) and write a half decent post to go along, add labels and so on. Now a FB post is going to FB click on the photo icon of your phone take a picture upload it and write: look what I painted / bought/ am doing. See that takes up no time at all!
Replies are instantaneous as well on FB oh and can be massive! Just a few days ago I posted a picture of some stuff I got for Bloodbowl and it got 132 plus likes !!! That's insane...isn't it?

So am I after the satisfaction provided by that horror that is Social Media Gratification measured in likes? Well no, but the fact that on the many FB groups I frequent I can get an almost immediate response to questions and posts and thus feedback, is just really great.

So why haven't I closed the blog down? Well I might still do that, photobucket has summoned me to resubscribe and if I don't most of the pictures here will disappear soon. But I mainly refrained from doing so because the blog has brought me so many good hobby friends as well like Michael, Iannick, Ray, Millsy and not to be forgotten the Snowlord himself. 
So I will stick with it some longer and re-think all this blogging shenanigans a bit better.

Next up will either be a post on my schooltrip to the UK or something Blood Bowl related, I haven't decided yet so bear with me.

Cheers Sander

12 comments:

Ray Rousell said...

I think most bloggers are slowing down. I know I am.
I started my blog to show my stuff off and for a personal record of what I've been up to.
Carry on with both Sander, yes it's more hassle, but well worth the hassle.

BigLee said...

As a long standing blogger of nearly ten years I can fully understand the pressure and inertia that comes with trying to keep a blog alive when life gets in the way. If you feel social media is the way forward giving up blogging isn't a loss, you will have just found your audience. Best of luck whatever you choose to do and until you decide I'll continue to lurk in the shadows... :)

Sander said...

Thanks Ray, I will try to persevere!

Sander said...

Hoi Lee: thanks for that, wasn't Fran called the (Angry) Lurker ;-) Anyway: yeah I am not too pleased with Social Media either if I am honest. I am more of an old fashioned ring me if you want to talk kinda person but hey that's sooooo 1999... Oh well we'll see how this turns out. Thanks for giving me a reply and do feel free to lurk around!

Millsy said...

Hi Sander! Good to hear your son is OK, that's the single most important thing in the whole post.

Like Lee and yourself obvsiouly I've been blogging for a long time and I have periods where I struggle to find the impetus to keep it up. Whatever you decide the people who really matter to you will be there in some way. I don't use FB (really dislike it actually) but there is email, Google+ and more. Do what feels right for you.

Please don't close the blog down though, just put it on hold indefinitely. There's plenty of good stuff here that's worth keeping alive even if you are not adding to it and you may come back to it one day.

Michael Awdry said...

These are sentiments I can wholeheartedly understand and sympathise with. As you know, I shut my blog down for a couple of months and nothing untoward came of it, perhaps give it a go? I keep going back to my blog just as Ray does to document my progress, but if Facebook does that for you then go for it, I am only an email away if you need me. :)

Pijlie said...

Keep blogging! There are always reasons (family) or excuses (work) to blog less. Think of it as seasonal influences. They come and go.

The peaceful read of a blog cannot compare to the chaos and ruckuss of a Facebook timeline (and don't get me started on Snaptweetchat). There is no production target. Write as you please, but write please :)

Tomsche69 said...

Istill enjoy blogging more though then 'just post on FB'. On a blog, you try to create something semi-decent to write and picture, then can (as I do) share the links in relevant groups.

In 'fast media' however, your FB post can be pushed to the bottom in no time if there is a posting frenzy, let alone the at time irregular showing of notifications especially on mobile devices, to go unread all the time. As such, I tend to think / use FB more as an 'advert' to the whatevs I wrote off from myself on my little corner of the internet.

And the fact that we 'hobby wargamers' are indeed mostly doing it for ourselves and like happy when someone comments or just views the posts you make, as we aren't reallythat big of, how they call them for marketing, "influencers" I believe that can shake up the hobbyscene anyways.

So keep on typing!

Willie Anderson said...

Hope you keep at it Sander like Ray said a lot of bloggers slowing down me included but always good to see new posts!

Best wishes
Willie

Simon Quinton said...

It happens mate. Just carry on and post when you can :)

Tony said...

As another long-term Blogger, I agree with the comments about keeping the Blog updated, however I think of it as therapeutic and actually find it difficult to stop - "am I addicted to Blogging?"

What ever you decide the right decision will be the right decision for you. It after all a hobby.

Tony

Sander said...

Dear gents, your support is heart-warming and I thank you for it! All your comments are equally valid and it seems I will keep at it for some time after all ;-)

As soon as I get some pictures off my camera I will get some posts up, I promise.

Cheers Sander