Dear readers, one of you just kindly pointed out that my favorite Lutheran radio show, Issues, Etc., named this blog as its “blog of the week” on July 16th. As always, its an honor to be mentioned in the company of so many great Lutheran blogs out there. You can listen Rev. Wilken and Mr. Jeff Schwarz talk about the blogs of the week here.
I recently had an unpleasant experience with a Lutheran pastor who blogs anonymously. He felt a need, apparently, to vent his spleen in a particularly spectacularly nasty way about something. When it was pointed out to him how thoroughly inappropriate and way over-the-top his comments were, and how egregiously sinful and slanderous his accusations were, all he could do was issue a revised form of a post, along with a lot of self-defensiveness and excuse making, and of course, playing the, “I’m allowed to act like a wild boar, because I’m such a confessional Lutheran and I’m defending the truth” card.
I could not help but once again be reminded of why anonymous blogging is such a bad idea. I refuse to believe that this pastor would have said the things he said, in the way he said them, in the degree to which he said them, if he were blogging openly, using his real name.
Pastors: there is no excuse for anonymous blogging. If you run a blog site, put your name to it.
Consider this: (A) The chances are very high you will not actually remain anonymous, as in this case; (B) Anonymous blog posting is the coward’s way. If you are unwilling, hesitant, or otherwise concerned about putting your name on what you blog about, that should be a strong warning to you that you are heading down a wrong path.
PS – In the spirit of this blog post, if you wish to offer a comment, sign your full name, and location to your remark. I’m trying to encourage the perpetually anonymous-inclined folks here to step out into the light.
Kindle owners can subscribe to Cyberbrethren and have it delivered wirelessly.
A month or so ago, Justin Taylor mentioned that Rainsong Media does a nice job making iPhone Apps out of a blog, so I asked them to do an iPhone App for my blog, and they did. It’s now available on iTunes. I’m sure it is worth every penny you have to pay for it. Which is to say, it’s free. Check it out. If you don’t have an iPhone you can’t use it on an iPhone. Just wanted to point that out. Here’s a screen shot of the iTunes App Store page for Cyberbrethren:
Pastor Weedon routinely notes the visit count to his blog site and then asks his readers to say who they are, and where they are from. It’s a fun thing to do. So, in the past six months Cyberbrethren has had 250,000 unique visitors. Only a very tiny fraction of you post a comment, so, here’s your chance to tell us who you are, and where you are from. Thanks for reading. Please introduce yourself.
Why do blogs fail? I’ve been blogging for, well, honestly I can’t remember how long its been. Ten or twelve years? More? I’m not sure. And I’ve been reading blogs for a long time too. Sometimes blogs begin with great fanfare and flourish and then, a year or so later, sometimes sooner, they simply stop. I’ve started a few myself, only to find myself losing interest in posting to them. Why?
Why do some blogs keep going and others fail? Here are seven reasons why I think blogs fail:
(1) They offer little more than constant axe-grinding and carping on a particular subject. This is one of the more spectacular ways blogs qualify for “epic fails.” I’ve seen it over and over again. If a blog site is nothing but a litany of rants, whines and complaints, particularly about one given topic, they generally dwindle away after the temper-tantrum is over and the emotional zeal wears thin. Now, this is not to say a blog devoted to a broad social concern is not going to work, and it may often be offering critiques. What I have in mind here are blogs that come off as whining. I’ve not seen many of these blogs stay around for long.
(2) They lack focus and purpose. Blogs that do not pick up and run with a main theme or interest tend to die a slow death. An initial enthusiasm for blogging, with frequent posts, slowly fades as the person struggles to know what to say. A sure symptom of impending demise are the posts that begin, “Well, I have not posted anything for a while…” or “Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted something.” If a blog does not have a unifying “meta narrative” or does not understand what its niche is, it will fizzle.
(3) They indulge too much in playing to the crowd. When a blog site does little other than post things that are obvious efforts to pander to a particular type of reader, I notice often they run out of steam. This is not to say a blog shouldn’t provide posts that are aimed at readers that may share the blogger’s particular set of interests or have an affinity for the same things the blogger does, but when a blogger writes posts that are obviously not really from his heart, but more to create buzz, these blogs don’t last long, or, frankly bore me so quickly, that I soon stop reading.
(4) They do not serve the niche they are trying to reach. This may sound like a contradiction of point three, so let me explain. Pandering to your intended audience is one thing, but the other side of the coin is blogging in such a manner that you do not appeal to the readers who will most likely find your blog interesting and worth reading. And, a blogger who does not know what he wants his blog to be about, and generally aims the posts on his blog in this direction, will himself become bored and disinterested in blogging and give it up.
(5) They are not comfortable in “their own skin.” Bloggers who post things that they think they are supposed to say, or write, or make a point about, reveal that they are not self-assured and certain about what they want to be posting. This is an awkward and uncomfortable situation. You know it when you see it. A person is posting things because it is trendy to be posting things about the subject. When this is the constant “diet” a blogger puts himself on, he will run out of steam. Finally, you have to have a deep sustaining interest, no, make that passion, about what you are saying and have just enough self-confidence to be comfortable posting about what you find interesting.
(6) They are insincere or desperate cries for attention. I find that insincerity or desperate “notice me please!” blogs tend to fade away, or are blogs that I ignore. Blog readers can see through faux-emotion. A blogger who is constantly playing to the emotion of the reader, or indulging in on-line narcissism, in my view, doesn’t have a blog worth reading. I’m convinced one reason people choose Twitter rather than more substantial writing and posting to their blogs is because Twitter is the perfect platform for the “notice me!” personality.
(7) They don’t have a plan for regular posting. And this is probably the most important reason why blogs fail: they simply have no plan for regular posting Posts appear sporadically or not at all, for weeks at a time, or months. If you don’t have a regular posting schedule, then you probably won’t get around to posting. I have a blog site that I have the best of intentions for, but because I do not force myself to post to it regularly, not much is happening on it. With this, my main blog, I try to schedule posts two weeks out, or more, at a time. I create a post to go up on an every-other-day schedule. Don’t think you have to post something every single day to have a successful blog. It doesn’t hurt though. I schedule every-other day posts, and then, if something comes up I can drop it in on the unscheduled days. Consider doing the bulk of your writing at a certain time. For me, it is the weekend, early in the morning, when I do most of my blog writing, then I just use the scheduling features of WordPress to drop them in place. In other words, if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.
What have you noticed about blogs that fail or lose your interest?
It came to my attention yesterday, and thanks to those of you who alerted me to this, that my blog site had been hacked. The hack resulted in some people seeing up a pop-up advertisement for some, let us say, unsavory web sites. Those whose browsers have functioning pop-up blockers were prevented from seeing them, others were not so fortunate. Apparently there was some kind of an exploit hack causing my main page to load the pop up. Thanks to Ryan Markel, the problem has been fixed. I apologize to anyone who had to see this, and I hope it won’t happen again. Thanks for your understanding and patience. Kudos to my hosting service, BlueHost.com for a very fast response to my problem and helping me put up a temporary “under construction” notice yesterday.
Interesting post from Paul Steinbruck at OurChurch.com. The Alva Review-Courier, based in the megalopolis of Alva, OK (pop 4,848) published an article today entitled Social Networking Sites Benefit Pastors, Congregations in Many Ways. The author if the piece, Kathleen Lourde, interviewed several pastors in Alva as well as some guy with the same name as me. 
The article explains many of the benefits to pastors using social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Twitter. Those benefits include:
Any other benefits you can think of? I’d say the article makes a pretty compelling case for pastors to use social networking tools. What do you think?
I really enjoyed this post over at the Read, Write, Web blog site. As one who has been blogging and moderating blogs for well over ten years now, I can surely identify with the wish to have proper “flags” by which to mark comments. Here then is a “wish list” for little symbols moderators would love to have at the ready to mark incoming comments. Kudos to RobCottingham for this.
More of the latest stats on who is where and using what on the Interwebbernet.dot.whatevers.worldwide
This blog site is not “open season” when it comes to comments. All comments are moderated and subject to editing or not being posted at all. Therefore, just by way of reminder, if you feel a need to indulge in passive-aggressive rudeness, you can find plenty of places to do that. This is not one of those places. Thank you, and now back to our regular programming.
Source: Gary’s Social Media Counter
A couple of tweeks to my blog site, one which you won’t see, one which you will. I added a plug called “Better Comments Manager” that will make it easier for me to review and reply to your comments and added “Subscribe to Comments” which will allow you to subscribe to and follow any comment thread you want to keep an eye on. I also tweaked the sidebar with a new graphic element. There you go.
The past week has seen a 34% increase in visitors to Cyberbrethren, probably because of the extensive coverage of the ELCA’s Churchwide Assembly decisions and posting of various reactions and statements. If you have a moment, feel free to add a comment and let us know who you, and where you are from. Thanks for reading.
When people blog anonymously, it comes back to haunt them, when they are found out. And they always are, eventually. It is embarassing for them. So, if you are going to blog, do so under your real name. To blog anonymously demonstrates a lack of integrity. A word to the wise is sufficient….
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