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I’m going to try to resist the urge to blog for the next three days. I need some rest, relaxation and time away from this site, although I have a nagging feeling I’ll miss the next big blogging thing. But as you surfers know, there’s always the next wave.
I’m putting the final tweaks on my new blog design. It’s nothing radical. The colors are the same and the layout is similar. I’ve added three columns and space for a couple of ads, and I’m breaking down blogs into several categories. The roll is too long. I’m disabling comments for most entries, but I’ll enable them for some. I decided that getting rid of commenting altogether would be too radical.
In the meantime, as preliminary research for a project, I’m requesting the assistance of bloggers. Please answer the following questions either in the comments or via e-mail. Generously trackback to this post, if you’d like. HaloScan users, try Simpletracks if you get an error message. The Word Press upgrade should fix that.
1) How long have you been blogging?
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
Readers, feel free to comment as well. And please spread the word around the blogosphere about this post.
If I’m as strong as I think I am, I won’t see you until Monday. Thanks for your support. 
{ 44 trackbacks }
{ 87 comments }
…and determined not to miss the next wave. La Shawn Barber (hope I spelled that right) has questions for blogers while she takes a little trip from the computer (yea right, we all k…
1. I’ve been blogging 3 months, but lurking and commenting for over a year.
2.Ummm… I don’t know if I’m addicted, but I love it and I think about it away from the computer.
3. I did take a break over Christmas. It was easy.
4. I’ve not yet thought of giving up the blog. But I haven’t been at it that long….. I’ll link this post.
1. I have been blogging since January 1, 2005 (free4good.blogspot.com)
2.I don’t believe I am addicted YET, but this is so much fun the jury is still out on that one
3.No hiatus yet; I’m too new to this for it to get old
4.No thoughts of giving up, though I can see the need to take a break every so often
I’ll miss you, LaShawn, while you’re on sabbatical. Your blog is listed prominently in my “Favorites” and I appreciate the Biblical perspective you take on the events of the day.
1. Since January 6th, 2005
2. Yes. It allows me to vent on issues I think are important to me. Articles which I don’t think get alot of exposure on the MSM.
3. No. Hope not to. I try to publish 3 articles a day.
4. No. If I gave this up, I wouldn’t have alot to do.
Lashawn Barber over at Lashawn Barber’s Corner has some questions for us bloggers that she would like answered either by posting on her site or emailing her directly. I am going to post my answers here as well as forwarding them to her. You are more than welcome to answer here as well. The questions and my answers are below…
1)Today is my three year blogging aniversary
2) No. It’s something I love to do, but I love my email lists as much. Maybe I’m addicted to the internet, but not to blogging in particular.
3) Only when I’ve been on vacation. So I think the longest has been two weeks.
4) I’ve never considered giving up my blog.
I’ve been doing this about three months. I don’t know yet how I feel about it or how much time I want to devote to it but it’s a release of emotion sometimes.
1) I’ve been blogging since June of 2003.
2) I don’t know if I’m addicted to blogging or the release of thoughts and frustration it alots me. Either way, it’s a pretty well-established habit still.
3) I’ve never taken a serious hiatus of any real length.
4) Twice I have nearly given it up due to an uproar in my personal life it was causing. I refuse to censor myself on my blog since it’s my own release and some people didn’t like that. It’s also been used against me in day-to-day circumstances through either misinterpretation or direct twisting of my words.
1) How long have you been blogging? 8 months
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Yes. Mostly because of the sense of community it builds up. It is like visiting friends every day.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? Nope.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Nope. As long as I control the addiction and it doesn’t control me there isn’t a reason to quit.
1. Two years and five months.
2. No I am not addicted and the fact that my family and tried held a blogging interdiction last week does not mean anything. Seriously though blogging is seriously habit-forming and the level of addiction is hard to determine. As a Christian blogger trying to determine how much you are attached to something for reasons that are not a good is something that must be constantly looked at. To determine how much you write to have people soothe your ego compared to how much you write because of the love of writing and the pursuit of truth. As someone who had never intended to spend anytime writing I was surprised to find how much writing helped me to clarify my own thinking. Writing to an audience requires some self-dicipline since tenuous arguments will easily be exposed in your comment box or by another blogger. If circumstances require that I give up blogging either because of time constraints or it interfering with my faith life; I would probably have to keep writing in some format even if no one was to ever read my thoughts.
3. I took off one week from blogging to visit my mother just before she died of cancer. Since then there might only have been a couple of days where I did not post at all.
4.During that one week period of blog absence I considered giving up blogging and did initially. This was partly out of frustration with blogspot and partly out of worries for my prayer life. This did not last long as I started my current blog using Movable Type on my own server space. Since that time have not seriously thought about quitting. I worked to more fully implement prayer with blogging. That with all the reading required for punditry and parody there is really ample motives for prayer instead of just being upset at the latest scandal or continuance of the culture of death. For me blogging is a great humbling experience. Blogging has helped me to more fully understand just how much I don’t know. As a former atheist stretching his wings in the faith, blogging has helped to show me just how little I really know. Some who go through conversion experiences and become hungry for the faith will spend a period of a years devouring everything they can read on the subject. This massive input of knowledge can lead to a false view of equating pure knowledge with understanding or wisdom.
1) How long have you been blogging? Since May, 2002.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)
I’m addicted. Not as much as I once was, but still enough to know that I like having the outlet.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
I think my longest break was a week. Okay, maybe 5 days. No, actually, I think it was a week.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
I thought of it a couple of times – once after my ex found the site (way back in the early days – before sitemeter and blogrolling and the ecosystem and, yes….even before there was a “blogosphere”) – anyhow, the ex tried to use information that he read on my blog against me and it was almost as if he was stalking me. Another time I thought of giving it up was when another blogger took issue with my existence and unleashed the demons of Hell on me. I almost gave it up. Almost. But I figured I had two choices. I could either play the role of someone who bought into the silly politics that came with links and traffic and ads….or I could keep doing what I’d always done. My choice? I quit playing the other blogger’s game and kept on blogging.
1) How long have you been blogging? 6 months
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Unsure. I will admit that it provides a serious relief to tension. World events (especially the irritating actions of some in government) sometimes make me feel as though I’ll pop- Blogging is my outlet for some of the angst I feel when I read about the latest “smart move” by the ACLU, “Reverends” like Jessie Jackson, and other sometimes ridiculous entities.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? Yes. I felt as though I was spending too much time blogging. I was starting to develop a small readership, and that was good; but I had to ask myself, “at what cost?”
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? No. It’s become an important part of my self-expression; I like the freedom of being able to articulate the true beliefs of the real me, without being interrupted 60 times by a dissenter. (Although I don’t mind dissenting comments, I just like the opportunity to get my thoughts out as a whole before I’m flamed.)
I’ve been blogging on and off for a couple of years, but I’m not addicted to it and I guess I don’t take it too seriously because I don’t know if anyone reads it, so I don’t post much.
1) How long have you been blogging?
About 6 months now.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess.
Blogging is like chatting. It’s how you find out how people are feeling.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus?
Why, has a hiatus turned up missing? Are you accusing me? Is it because I’m Latino? Sorry, forgot- conservatives don’t have a Race Card.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
I wouldn’t give it up but I might take a break from it. I’m trying to remember the word for a long break from something. I stopped briefly when I wrestled with changing hosts. Otherwise, the chance to express opinions, feelings, and jokes – man, you can’t beat that.
I love your blog. You’re one of my daily reads.
1) How long have you been blogging? Since Nov. 30th, 2004
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? I don’t know that I’m addicted to blogging as much as I am to the feedback, my sitemeter stats and my progress through the ecosystem. Some posts I make because I’m really interested in the subject, some posts I make to feed the “number monsters.”
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long? I missed two days, everybody in the house was sick with the flu. Some days “real life” intrudes and I only get one post in, some days I’m “extra opinionated” and post 6 or more times.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not? Not yet, I really enjoy it. It’s really like being part of the community. Plus, it gives me an outlet for snarking and sniping about the general stupidity in American politics and the media.
1) How long have you been blogging?
Officially, about six months or so. However, I’ve been writing thoughts and putting them on webpages for years.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest.
Does an addict know when it’s addicted? I honestly don’t feel any undying URGE to read blogs and such, but I do enjoy them. I feel like I’m a moderate blogger.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
I took a hiatus after the election. I needed the break from politics. My guy won, I was feeling good.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
I’ve not thought of it before. I guess I have just enough readers to make me feel relevant. As long as I’m driving liberals nuts, I’m pretty happy.
(1) I put up my first Web site in 1996, but I don’t think it was technically a blog until updates were posted daily, a practice I began in 2000.
(2) I don’t think it’s a physical addiction; however, I can sense the wrath of the readers if I don’t give them something fresh once in a while, and I do have a strong self-preservation instinct.
(3) I think the longest I’ve gone without a new entry (since 2000, anyway) has been about thirty hours. (On vacation, I schlep a notebook and post from the field.)
(4) I enjoy having my Own Personal Soapbox™ too much to give it up.
1) How long have you been blogging?
A. 1 week shy of a year.
2) Do you believe you�re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)
A. No I`m not even close to being addicted. I post impulsively and sporadicly. My typing speed is a blazing 10-12 WPM with occasional gusts of 20, my spelling is bad and syntax worse. I don`t even try to keep up with the Jones`s because I simply don`t have the time.
The things that I`m sincerely interested in are of little interest to others so I don`t post them.
I do post things that are more or less, of common conservative interest.
Even at the height of it`s popularity when Cassandra was writing I didn`t take it too seriously, except for the no cussing policy.
It`s interesting, it can be fun, entertaining and educational but to be honest I`d rather be doing woodcrafting or playing video games.
One of my character traits is that, if I get interested in something I have to find out all there is to know about it. The problem is that once I`ve learned all I can learn and did all I can do, I lose interest. So if I were to take an intense interest in blogging it would only be a matter of time before I quit due to boredom. I`m going to stick around awhile and to do that I need to pace myself.
Besides, there`s always Sudden Strike.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
A. I wouldn`t call it a hiatus because that would imply that I made a conscious decision not to post, but I`ve gone weeks without posting.
When any given story or rumor breaks there are literally millions of blogs that cover it so I don`t bother saying what`s already been said. I do like searching for and researching those little jewels that are interesting but not common knowlege. I ahve to work on my presentation of them though because I could write about them more gooder if I tried.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog?
A. No. Not even a little. I like it and I like the people who come to read it (all 2 of them now that Cassandra has her own site)
Again this goes back to pacing it. As long as I don`t try to learn everything all ASAP I`ll have the site. There will always be something new to learn and that will keep my interest.
1) How long have you been blogging?
Just shy of two years, starting February 25, 2003. I had probably been reading blogs a year or more before that, even before I knew blogs is what they were. Eventually that snowballed, starting when I discovered Instapundit and good blogrolls.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)
Yes. I worry tremendously about it at times. I am in a struggle for supremacy between the desire to blog and read other blogs and a need to spend serious time making money.
There is little I like better than writing. It is my outlet, my hobby, my favored means of expression I might otherwise suppress. Which also makes it a distraction from the potential to write in other forms, again, for money. However, lately it is helping to form ideas in support of other writing, giving me encouragement, and being as much a good as a bad thing.
I’m also attempting to integrate elements of blogging into work, by experimenting with basing client web sites around blogging software, trying to get clients to blog, and experimenting with blogging in association with a business.
It’s a rush knowing people are reading, having the immediate, intimate feedback and connections to be found through blogging that might not be as evident in, say, authoring a book. It’s addicting to watch the flow and the increase over time in visitors. To the extent I don’t hold back, it’s fun to be able to say anything and talk about a vast range of topics as verbosely or succinctly as the words strike me at the time.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
I’ve done my best not to, though sometimes I’ve thought I should. Perhaps a few days, tops, when it’s been that inconvenient or I’ve been that busy. Consider: I blogged when I went to California to meet a fellow blogger I fell in love with long distance. Extensively, considering it involved an unfamiliar laptop, dialup connection, pre- and post-wedding honeymoons, and busily getting to know my bride in person. I blogged the trip across the country a few weeks later, keeping people, including family, updated on our progress.
The closest to a hiatus has been skipping a day or two – not sure I’ve ever skipped more – when away or distracted.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
Thought of it in a “yeah, right, like that’ll ever happen” way, certainly. It would take… I don’t know. Something incredible to make me give it up. A medical calamity. An enforced need to work intensively too many hours to blog. Threat of serious physical harm. That kind of thing.
In an alternate universe, there might be a doppelganger me whose wife was not a blogger, met via blogging. That me might get enough wifely pressure to eliminate blogging, but even so, I can’t imagine it.
Even to post some thoughts a few times per month on a blog few people stumble across because it’s near-inactive, that would still be a fix and ought to be possible in most any circumstances in the modern, developed world.
1) Almost five months.
2) Yes. Well, as I watch my readership grow, I’m afraid of missing the next big thing. Especially since the Virginia elections are rolling hot and heavy already, and I’m a Virginia politics blog…well, I’m just afraid to be away. I mean that in a good way….
3) No, not yet. I’m still enthused about the blog, and still enjoy the back and forth with my readers, both via comments and email. Maybe after this year’s elections.
4) Nope. I’m having too much fun. Of course, I’m probably the only current elected official that is blogging, so there will probably come a time when I have to give it up…unless I decide to give up my political career instead.
1. I’ve been blogging since August 2002.
2. If I’m completely honest, I have to say yes. Although I don’t get the shakes when I’m unable to post or read. I’ve gone a few days without blogging when it was necessary.
3. Not a true hiatus. I’ve been away from the blog because of travels or whatever, but never taken a planned break just because I need to step away from the computer.
4. On a couple of occasions. Most recently because of the battle with comment spammers – I was spending more time dealing with that than posting/reading. It wasn’t fun.
1) Two years this month.
2) Addicted? I always like recording my thoughts and cataloging interesting links and stories. Blogging makes it seem more like productivity than wasting time. I’d say no, I’m not addicted, but I’m not giving it up anytime soon.
3) A few times I have failed to post for two weeks or so. I’m moody, and have no wish to share my depression with the world (nobody likes a whiner). Other times I have been forced to abstain due to lack of connectivity, but that was for only a few days each time.
4) Nope. Maybe it will happen someday. But given the introvert that I am, blogging is one of the most social activities I engage in every day.
Thanks for the waterfall, La Shawn. Very soothing
Am I, in fact, addicted? The short answer: Yes. It has to do with the importance of being noticed, that dopamine rush at your first InstaLanche, of course.
I’ve been blogging for a year and a month (had been reading blogs for a couple of years before taking the plunge)
. . . am totally addicted in a productive way that helps clarify thoughts and develop writing skills, not to mention facilitating communication with interesting minds and providing a showcase for my photographic and other artwork.
. . . took a one-week hiatus due to non-access to the internet during a motor trip across country to attend my nephew’s wedding last spring but have so far never considered giving up blogging: I blog, therefore I am?
Then there’s the matter of influencing — in however small a way — the national debate. As I was just blogging this very morning in connection with the Rathergate report, I’d always looked askance at Big Media, but until the new technologies came along — first talk radio, then proliferating cable news options and now our own medium of choice, the internet — wasn’t able to do much about it beyond blowing off steam by yelling at the TV, scribbling impassioned notes in the margins of newspaper and magazine articles and firing off the occasional letter to the editor.
One more point: Besides media and political criticism and the occasional cultural essay, my blog features photographic and written “snapshots” of everyday life — including a generous helping of cat blogging. My father, husband, brother, sister and other relatives are regular readers, which helps keep the clan in touch between family gatherings. I was never much of a letter writer — not even much of a phone caller — so blogging has added a rich new dimension to extended family life.
I’ve blogged about it here, La Shawn (forgot to add the URL to previous comment):
http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2005/01/the_blogging_cu.html
1) How long have you been blogging? Two months– since mid November 2004. For a long time I resisted getting a blog myself, though I’ve been a regular commenter at Dean’s World for over two years.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? I don’t think so. Though I do find myself putting in more than the “10 or 15 minutes a day” I’d initially figured on.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long? I blogged very lightly between Christmas and the New Year, when I was on vacation visiting family. Apart from that, I sometimes don’t blog on weekends.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not? I’d say the jury is still out on whether I’m going to continue blogging. It’s been that way ever since I started: I acquired my blog completely by accident, and I’ve felt all along that I’m doing it more or less as a trial experiment. Yes, I enjoy blogging. Yes, I suppose I’ll continue. No, I’m not entirely certain about that.
1. Four months of writing my own blog, but I’ve been lurking and infrequently commenting on blogs for several years. For me, it all started with Slashdot and went downhill from there.
2. Yes, it is incredibly habit-forming. Even though I’ve had a website for years, I never really posted personal thoughts on it; it served more as a test bed for me to write code — testing web development stuff and the like, more educational in nature, not informative. I started my own blog as an outlet to write about current events/things I found interesting. Prior to the election, I would get worked up about stuff and vent to my wife. Some days she would strongly encourage me to avoid reading any blogs, but I found that I couldn’t go for long without reading some blogs. And now that I have my own blog it has only gotten worse. Offline, I find that I am constantly thinking about or planning something to write about for my blog, or even worse adding “features” to it. (What can I say? I’m a programmer, and the internet is my environment.) Plus, I must be addicted because writing is hard for me — if you want code, I’m your man — but creating meaningful prose is a struggle for me, so I do it to satisfy my own personal itch; it’s just an itch I can’t ever seem to scratch.
3. I’ve never intentionally decided to take a break from blogging; something usually comes up that takes me away for a while. I try to post something every day, unless I’m incapacitated (sick or away from the internet — which is a sickness to me) or traveling somewhere (probably falls under being away from the internet — only I love to travel, so that compensates for the lack of the internet). So occasionally, I’ll not post, but not for long; although when I moved my blog off of Blogger, I didn’t post much while I was preparing my new site.
4. Nope; I’m having too much fun.
1.) I’ve been blogging for a year and a half, more or less.
2.) I’m definitely not addicted to blogging.
3.) No formal hiatus, but I’ve taken a day or three off now and then when I didn’t have anything to write about (or when I was busy with other stuff).
4.) While I’m not addicted to blogging, I don’t think I could give up my blog. I blog with the hopes that someone might read and comment, but the main reasons I blog are more personal. Writing my thoughts, particularly when I realize they’ll be made public, forces me to organize them better, and it also gives me an outlet for saying things that tend to just cause strife in normal conversation.
La Shawn, hopefully the trackback will work. If not, check my latest post, please.
1. I’ve been blogging since just after September 11th. That makes it three years and a few months. Looking at the comments above mine, I guess I’m becoming an old-timer in the blogosphere – it’s surprising to see all these new bloggers.
2. No, I don’t think I’m addicted to blogging. Occassionally I have to force myself to blog even when I don’t feel like it.
3. I’ve taken a few hiatii, when traveling. Once I let my friends “blogsit” for me while I was gone, and they transformed my conservative (in look and content) blog into a garish monstrosity. Think gay pride meets Comic Sans.
4. I’ve often thought of giving up my blog. I can never seem to get over the hump in terms of traffic; LaShawn is the first high-traffic blogger to link to me, and that’s a new development. I’ve become a bit jaded with political bloggers; they often seem to fall unapologetically into one camp, and defend it like a party spokesperson. My recent posts, however, include ones complimenting left-wing bloggers for following good ethics practices and criticizing the Iraq war. Standing up for the right means rather than the right ends seems to make mine less than desirable reading for many blogreaders.
1) How long have you been blogging?–For a little over a year now.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)–Well…I really don’t think I’m addicted. I know how it feels to be addicted to an internet forum, and this definitely isn’t the same. If I lost blogging, I would miss it, but it wouldn’t be like going cold turkey on a vital substance. (I did go cold-turkey on the forum I was addicted to, and it was actually wrenchingly painful.)
Blogging is not as interactive or as dependent on feedback, for me at least. (Although, don’t get me wrong, I love comments and feedback.)
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?–I don’t blog on weekends and/or holidays, and I take a hiatus every time I go on vacation. Sometimes I’ll skip a day here or there just because I’m busy or just don’t feel like it. I only want to blog if I have something to say, not if I have to gin up something to say.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?–No. There’s no reason to, at this point. I enjoy it, it takes up very little time, and it’s the kind of creative outlet I’ve come to realize that I have to have in some form in my life.
Egad! I just realized you have trackback. Will link my post at once!
1) How long have you been blogging?
Since March or May 2003
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)
No. Civ II is my addiction. I might have 3-4 blogs but the only one I update daily is the one that has the most eyeballs. And even then I might let it go on the weekends.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
Yes. Laziness. For a long weekend.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
Yeah. One day I’ll marry this fantastic guy and he’ll take me away to his castle in Spain and no more Shaw for me….. ha! No really, if I leave the Shaw neighborhood or I’m reduced to riviting tales of what’s going on in the compost bin, then I’ll quit.
i have been blogging only since November (really new at it) but have been writing columns and papers and articles (as well as poetry and short stories) for publications since i was in the 9th grade (a long time ago since my 25th HS reunion is this year) …. adicted to writing definitely as that is also my paying job as a technical writer for a medical device company … it is what i do and also what i LOVe to do …. adicted to blogging also most definitely hopefully what i write will not so much influence someone to change but perhaps just give them a different perspective to look at things from.
1. Started a blog in February of 2003, but didn’t become a daily blogger until February of 2004 on Kerry Haters.
2. Yes, I spend far too much time blogging and reading other blogs and commenting and checking my site meter to see who’s referred to me in the last hour.
3. Immediately after the election I found it very difficult to even comment about politics, as I’d almost instantly get a headache. That’s over, but I kept blogging through it, although I mostly blogged about sports for a couple weeks.
4. I particularly planned to have Kerry Haters die immediately after election day, although that did not happen (I felt guilty that so many people were still coming there and asking for more posts).
1) How long have you been blogging? Since mid Oct. 04
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. Somewhat…I feel very strongly that we don’t get the full story from the MSM. I wanted to try and help get the conservative message out.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long? Maybe a week??
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not? No…I enjoy it. My full-time job was nothing to do with politics or media…so I enjoy the change of pace.
1> Off and on since 2000, but seriously since early 2002.
2> Yes, I most likely am. I can’t keep my fool mouth shut, so I end up posting on my blog, other blogs and on message boards. It’s an outgrowth of my participation on old style bulletin boards and conferencing systems (dating back to my days on The Source in the 80s).
3> Hiatus? Huh? What’s that? A realistic one, nope. Although when real life intrudes (vacations, events in and around the house), then my frequency may dry up for awhile.
4> Giving it up? Not to any serious degree. If anything, I’d might take an extended break down the line a piece, if for nothing else but to step away and clear my head (and to keep She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed from feeling completely left out of the loop), but I’ve never considered giving it up by any circumstance.
Baklava, your comment was off-topic. I moved it to the Open Thread.
No problem. I meant to put it there. Thanks. I had 2 windows open at the same time.
In response to your query:
1. I have been blogging at my own site since December 2004;
2. I am addicted. I started off in comment land but kept thinking of interesting things I could say, or should have said and finally decided to start my own blog;
3. I try to keep the posts to one a day or so, so as not to get worn out and not to need a hiatus;
4. I just started so I am not giving up yet, but I get writers block. I think of all these things I want to blog while I am driving to work and then, it never makes it to my site;
Oh, and by the way, LaShawn, you and I share an alma mater. I graduated from Temple Law as well!
1. I started blogging Nov. 5, so I’ve been at it a little over 2 full months. I emailed Glenn Reynolds with my very first post and to my astonishment he posted it. I was immediately hooked as a result of the ensuing Instalanche.
2. I am not addicted, but I do enjoy it immensely.
3 .I haven’t taken more than a day or two at a time, but then, I haven’t been doing it very long. I wouldn’t have much of a problem doing so, though.
4. No, but I can see why someone would quit. The hatemail Michelle Malkin recently discussed would take the pleasure out of blogging for most people. If bloggers don’t have a thick skin, it could get exasperating pretty quick.
1. I’ve been blogging for about 3 months now. I have been reading blogs and posting comments for about 6 months.
2.
2. No hiatus. I peruse my favorite blogs (yours has become one of my favorites)every day for about an hour. The same time I used to take to read the paper. I now only scan the major internet news networks to get a feel for the issues and stories, turn to the blogs to catch commentary and then edit my blog http://www.christianhills.blogspot.com if I find a story of interest to the readers of my blog
3.
My apologies I hit the post button by accident.
2. It is not addicting but a healthy habit that has actually freed up time for me because I no longer read the paper
4. I’ve thought about abandoning my blog, but slowly but surely people are finding it and I get great pleasure and insight from the comments generated.
Go LaShawn!
1) 7 months. I’d been reading blogs and commenting before I started my own though. I started my own blog because I realized that I was commenting many different places and was basically throwing my “wisdom” to the winds.
2) Not I’m not an addict. I blog when I’m bored at work or at home or when I just have something to say. I must admit that I have occassionally had something interesting happen in my life and thought “Wow! I really have to blog this!” I suppose I should take it as a compliment when my friends suggest I blog about something as well.
3) I have never deliberately taken a blogging hiatus. But if I go on vacation or my girlfriend comes to visit, blogging goes on the back burner because I’m busy with other things.
4) I must admit that sometimes I see how much work I do put into it and how few people read my blog and get a little saddened. But it’s not like I’m burning myself out blogging. It’s something to do to kill time.
1) How long have you been blogging?
Since January 2003. Blue Goldfish | Surface was once the Blue Goldfish Cafe.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging?
Yes. In fact, I feel uneasy if I do not blog at least once a day. It is for me somewhat like going to a water-cooler and talking about topics of the day or from the heart with like-minded people. I want to participate in this grand and wonderful global-village conversation – almost every day.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus?
Yes, when I met the woman who would become my wife and we fell in love. I started to blog again – with her and her daughter as co-authors – a few months later. Today, I blog far more than they do, though my wife appreciates and tolerates my blogging-time. Perhaps she knows this reduces the volume and frequency of my “opinion-giving” with her. Blogging is a good exercise. I find myself becoming “pithier”.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog?
Yes. When, right after the November elections. As I considered that there were likely 4.5 million other blogs and many were singing the same tune, it gave me pause. Yet, it is fun to sing in a choir – in harmony. And I want to sing sometimes solo – to find and sing my own voice. I hope that I am doing both. I think I am. Blogging is now a wonderful part of my life. Just as is interpersonal, small-group, large-group and mass-communication.
1) How long have you been blogging?
1 week 2 days 5 hours 34 seconds, no 35… 36
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)
It takes me at least a good two weeks to get a good addiction going, however it does seem to be habit forming. I have a personal goal to at least try to post once a day (except weekends).
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
I confess last Sunday I did not blog.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
Seeing all the wonderful blogs out there is intimidating because I would like to find a niche and an audience but so many are so great…it’d be hard to fault someone who chose to read them instead. I would like a bigger audience though. (HINT!HINT!)
1. I’ve been blogging just over 2 years.
2. No, not really. I like to put stuff up there, whether deep or shallow (and I admit it’s mostly shallow), but I usually don’t.
3. Unofficially, I’ve taken many. A few days here for finals, a few weeks there for moving, and about a month when my son was born.
4. I’ve thought about ditching it a couple times. It was a way I could communicate with my friends back in CA (I live in TX, now), but I wouldn’t always get communication back. It got a bit much, and thought I’d give it up. But I haven’t. Probably won’t, either.
This is my first comment on your site! I’ve been reading it for some time, though.
I’ve been blogging since April ‘04.
I’m not addicted to blogging, but I can’t stop reading and writing
I slowed down some over the Christmas holidays.
I only think of giving up my blog when I think not enough people read it, but, I have too much fun writing it.
1. Since September 2004.
~
2. Addicted, yes! But not in a strung out heroin detox kind of way…
3. Yes, a few days for my father’s funeral.
4. No, I have not even considered it. I am a mother of three small children, a wife and an artist. It is a great creative outlet for me and as nerdy as it sounds, I love my blog friends as much as my real-life friends. Heeeelp me..I’ve become an online geek!!!
~L.
1) reading since late ‘02 (lileks), writing since june ‘04
2) not addicted, but i like it more than expected – since i loathe old style journal-keeping and letter-writing
3) just for the holidays
4) not yet. i could easily stop writing if i didn’t have anything to say, but i doubt i’d stop reading them altogether – especially lileks and scrappleface
1) How long have you been blogging?
Well, I have only been a blogger for a few months (November of 2004), have been a bloggee for quite a bit longer than that. My site is really not about quantity so much as it is not about quality.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)
Wait a minute, this is one of those ‘interventions’, right? Because I can walk away from blogging any time I want to, no matter what my wife told you. True, I blog constantly, and yes, I suppose I have let myself go a bit, and I know the house could use some work and the car needs servicing, but it’s just a hobby. An all-consuming hobby that may someday cause me to destroy everything I hold dear and drive me to the brink of ruin, but, really, is that what you’d call an addiction?
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
Yes. I didn’t really do any posting for a while between Christmas (can I say that?) and New Year because:
I: I was wicked sick
II: Even though I was wicked sick, I still had a lot of “holiday” stuff going on. So what do you want from me – blood? Can’t I take a few days off just for myself? What do you want, a note from the doctor?
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
Why, are you interested in buying it? Oh, sorry, I misunderstood the question: No, I haven’t.
Why? Well, I’m a newbie, so I suppose I haven’t been doing this long enough to be transformed into a bitter and twisted shell of a man who views his blog with a level of disdain he never thought possible, but hey, I’m looking forward to it.
Why not? I don’t mean to nit-pick, but that question doesn’t really apply, because I already said no.
1) How long have you been blogging? June, 2004 — I started to honor Ronald Reagan and to express my grief at his death. It also became a way to “talk politics” without angering my wife, whose politics are at least 175 degrees opposite of mine.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. Maybe — I was certainly willing to conceal it for the longest time lest my wife find out I had my blog. And I find myself thinking about my blog and drawn to work on it at odd times. I’d have to say though, the fact that I am “in control” is what makes it sort of intoxicating to me.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long? Yeah, about three or four days worth. I was on a break from school and decided to spend more time with my wife. I was also having a medical problem that limited the amount of time I was up and around.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not? Yeah, because of my wife. She didn’t like what/how I was blogging, and it caused a strain on the relationship. I’ll take her over my very small public any day, even if I disagree with her politics.
Everyone: What a generous response to my query! I appreciate your time and your readership. Rest easy this weekend.
John from WuzzaDem – That was funny. I really needed that laugh, too. Thanks.
1) How long have you been blogging?
Early 2000 although I have actually run websites on the net since 98.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)
No.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
I’ve taken a week-off for vacation, but that’s it.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
No.
1) How long have you been blogging?
–Started 11/27/04, so 7 weeks exactly today (1/14/05).
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest.
–In those short 7 weeks, I’ve put up 90 posts; that’s 1.8 posts per day. I’ve added a Get Firefox button, a Blogroll via BlogRolling, Sean Gleeson’s Autorantic Virtual Moonbat, a Site Meter, TTLB’s Ecosystem profile, Google Site Search and Google Ads. I post from work, I post after midnight. I’ve learned a bit of HTML so I could add all those extras and tweak the Blogger template. And, I’ve become a voracious blog reader (to supplement my Fox News watching). I’m not sure that really qualifies as an addiction in the true clinical sense, but it has very quickly become an important and large part of my life–and time expenditure.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
–No; the longest period of not posting was 2 full days (Jan. 1, 2).
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
–Not yet, I just got started!!!
1) How long blogging?
Started my blog on Oct. 29, 2003.
2) Addicted?
No. I can quit any time. Really. “God– Give me the serenity accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and a blog to post about what really drives me nuts.”
3) Hiatus?
I tried to take one for Holy Week last year, and the Islamofascists hit the streets in Kosovo. I tried to take a week off last September, and Dan Rather imploded. Otherwise, I’ll skip a day or two if my computer crashes or my life turns frantic, but mostly I average a post a day.
4) Thought of giving it up?
Sometimes, about as seriously as I think about getting into my car at work and driving to Mexico instead of home.
Posted on my site, but you said comment or email…
1) How long have you been blogging?
Officially, it will be three years on February 26th. That’s just for Overtaken by Events. I started several times earlier (pre-September 11) with, amongst other titles, MattBlog, The Whine Spectator and Blah. So, technically a bit more than three years, but let’s not muddy the waters.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)
Addiction is such a harsh word. I like to call it “specially abled”. It’s fun, readers or no readers. Plus, it does wonders for the typing and grammatical skills.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
I’ve not posted here and there. I almost quit after I started and didn’t post during the summer of ‘02, but my wife finally started her blog and I had to keep up. Competition is everything. Since then I’ve been pretty regular.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
Only during times of massive self-pity. When that happens, I realize how smart I am and that all of you must be stupid for not reading my genius. I eventually get over it and chug along. Plus, we host several bloggers and I couldn’t really just dump the whole thing.
Been reading blogs for years, the first was Mrs. du Toit, and went from there. I found most of the blogs that I now visit daily through her site (including this one), and from the sites of others that she has linked.
I started my own in Oct. 2004. I enjoy it, it is somewhat addicting, and my friends and family often tell me, “You should write about this on your blog…” I do sometimes stay up late into the night losing out on sleep to blog and/or read blogs. I think it’s pretty safe to say I need a 12 step program, but I’m not ready to quit, things are just getting good.
Never taken a hiatus from blogging, or blog reading, however, most of the time, real life comes before blogging.
I have thought about giving up my blog, because at times I really don’t think I have anything of use to say at all. There are so many people who say it all so much better, I figure what is the point? So, I have resigned myself to doing it for entertainment, my own mostly. I do consider blogging an outlet, and I have noticed I’m much less prone to start pontificating over everything in person now, I just write it on my blog instead and save everyone from having to listen to yet another one of my rants about commie liberals.
One thing I would note is some blogger cliques can be quite intimidating, and I think sometimes the desire for traffic supercedes the desire to just put it out there. Wanting traffic is not a bad thing, everyone blogs for different reasons. I try to avoid worrying about traffic, I sometimes feel better just thinking no one is reading my stuff anyway, but I know some are and that’s really inspiring as well.
ok, I am not sure if the whatcha ma doogle thingy criter track back works for me, so I am going to leave a link back to my responses (yea you said no linking, but I can’t read) http://kabasue.com/blog/index.php?p=47
1. I have been blogging, in one form or another for more than five years. (In cyber years that makes me older than dirt.)
2. I am not addicted to blogging. Like any honest addict I can say, without fear of being struck of lightning, I can give it up any time I want to. Really. Honest (Eyeing the darkening sky.) I can. I CAN. Really. I can. . . just. . . walk away. . . FROM. . . it. I. Can. So.
3. Because of the way I do my blog I can’t answer the question. Because blogging, for me, is a form of writing, and because I am in the writing game for the long haul, I pace myself with my blogging.
4. I have never given any thought of giving up blogging because I started with two conditions in mind: I am going to do it as long as I want to do it and as long as it is fun for me. When either or both conditions are no longer valid I will review my activities.
Personally, I think I need to take a break myself and I’m looking at the possibility of a two week drop of the blog very soon.
Not that my stuff compares. Obviously, I don’t have the comments, therefore not the readership, but the blog is a harsh mistress, and I think I need a vacation.
Enjoy yours.
1) How long have you been blogging?
A little over a month. However, I have been active in Usenet on an almost daily basis from 1991-1993 and then from 1997 to present. My main interests were refuting Holocaust denial and applying science to alternative medicine claims. Since I started my blog, my activity in Usenet has decreased greatly. Usenet, particularly where I used to post so much, has become so full of trolls, flamewars, etc., that it’s no longer as stimulating or as much fun as it used to be. Blogging is more fun.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)
A bit. I have a very hard time skipping a day posting, which sometimes leads to me either taking more time to write something than I should or to quickly posting something that I later regret.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
One week, to go to visit my family over Christmas. Even then, I still managed to get one post up from my dad’s computer…
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
No. However, I’ve only been at it for a little over a month. If I ever become tired of it, I will certainly consider giving it up. If it ever starts to eat too much into my work or personal time, I will also consider giving it up or trying to restrain myself so that I don’t post every single day. I doubt I will give it up, though. It’s certainly no more time-consuming than my Usenet habit was, and I kept that up for over 7 years.
1) 2 years and 3 months
2) Probably, but also many times I post only to avoid the wrath of my readers.
3) I took a Hiatus for a month when I started college. Well it was supposed to be a month. I think it last 2 weeks. Maybe I am addicted.
4) Never. It’s the one place I can talk without being interrupted.
1) I’ve been blogging since November 2003
2) I don’t think I’m addicted to blogging, but I have to admit to an addiction to the Internet. I also admit that I need it to feed my ego so maybe I am addicted to my blogging afterall. In fact, I posted on that just today.
3) My longest hiatus was in November when my father-in-law very generously took my husband and me on a seven day cruise. I didn’t have Internet access for 9 days.
4) I haven’t considered giving up the blog because it’s not to a point where it consumes me, but should that point come, or when I just have nothing to say, I’ll consider giving it up.
I answered here: http://awideawake.blogspot.com/2005/01/four-questions-about-blogging.html
1) Since May, 2004
2) I wouldn’t say I am addicted, but I do enjoy the opportunity to put my own, unfiltered take on issues and life in general. It’s also a way to pass along information to like minded people without sending out an e-mail like some folks do…I would feel like a spammer…ugh!
3) I may have skipped a day or two, but not any longer than that.
4) Give this up? Oh, no!
1) I’ve had versions of online journals for a couple years, but I’ve been on blogger since August.
2) I think of it as a daily habit; I’m not certain about the addition side of things, if anything, I would expand that thought out to include being online in general. It’s so much a part of my daily routine that it be difficult to unplug. I get all of my news and a lot of other reading online, and of course there’s email… blogging has become part of my daily routine.
3) Not yet. Haven’t been at it long enough to take a break. I’m considering it for this coming Lent, however.
4) No. I think it’s a great thought exchange; the comments make it interesting, and I have been able to formulate certain opinions and thoughts through writing that I might not have otherwise. Getting feedback from peers is important; I’ve met a ton of wonderful Catholic bloggers online that have really helped me on my path to conversion. That’s been such a benefit, and I really enjoy being part of that community – both in my daily life and online.
1) How long have you been blogging?
Since April of 2004 (about 9 months)
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)
In a sense, yes, however I don’t think it is any different from any other form of expression. As a musician, I could say I’m addicted to composing as well.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
I took 1 hiatus during the release of the videogame Half Life 2 so that I could spend my spare time on that. It lasted about 1 week.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
I’ve thought about it; post election there was a drop in attention and in topics to write on, and it was becoming hard to come up with material
I am so glad you’re taking a break from blogging. Phew! I am so behind on reading your blog, it will take me until Easter to get caught up.
Just kidding! I do hope you have an enjoyable extended weekend vacation from blogging. I can’t answer the questions for you, as I don’t have my own blog. But, I am seriously addicted to reading certain ones, and I just feel uneducated and left out of the loop when I don’t read them…Lol.
1. About 9 months (since last May)
2. I don’t think of it as addiction, I think of it as responsibility. It is habit forming in the sense that I feel the need to give my readers new content every day.
3. No, if I have access to the Internet, I do new material. Seeing as how I was able to maintain the site during my Iraq stint, there really is little excuse not to.
4. I know I’ve said “f*** this” in a fit of anger a couple of times, but I’ve never seriously thought about killing The Hole Card. The secret is to just focus on your writing and your readers, and say to hell with the rest of the blogosphere.
1) How long have you been blogging? Seven months
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? . It is habit-forming. I spend a fair amount of time reading my favorite blogs and leaving comments. I think I am able to limit my time when other priorities arise. As a retired widow, it gives me an opportunity for conversation about current events that my closest friends are totally uninterested in. I am in awe of the knowledge of many bloggers. I am turned off by the negative name calling when people disagree. I wish people were more respectful when responding to blogs. I read Iraqi blogs and admire the courage of the writers and then some troll comes along and writes such negative and hateful things.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long? Not really, although if I have company or go out of town, I will neglect the blog.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not? No. The occasional comment, the opportunity to share my opinions and the fact that many reinforce my views or challenge my thoughts is very seductive.
1) How long have you been blogging?
I started on Dec. 4, 2004 so it’s been 1 month and 12 days
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)
I don’t think I would say I’m addicted, but like anything new that provides a sense of self satisfaction and validation, I am a little obsessive about it.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
Does the weekend of Christmas count? No, not a hiatus, but I do tend to write more some days than others.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
I would give it up in a heartbeat for the opportunity to write for a living, but, I’ve spent more time thinking of starting a second blog than of stopping.
1) How long have you been blogging? Since early 1998.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? No. In all candor, I regard it as an obligation to others whose opinions and tastes resemble mine and who need to hear them expressed with clarity and eloquence.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long? Every year, around Christmastime. Also, whenever work or family obligations require it.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not? Yes. But the sense of obligation has been too strong…so far.
1. About two years now, starting with a now-defunct group blog. I began my own in April, 2003.
2. I can quit any time I want to — Seriously, not really. Aside from the music, I actually post relatively little, and I don’t feel any compulsion to put something online every single day.
3. Not formally, though there are occasionally weeks in which there’s nothing but the tunes of the day.
4. Not seriously. Although transcribing and arranging the MIDI tunes can be a nuisance when offline life is frantic, maintaining the weblog is not particularly onerous, and it’s a handy place to put interesting links. A more important reason: I think of the bloggers with whom I exchange links and comments as friends and I enjoy their virtual company.
1) How long have you been blogging?
Since 2000, when I started my personal website.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)
Not really. I tend to write often, whether it’s in my blog or on paper. Been writing since I was a kid.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
I wasn’t all that serious about having a blog until maybe two years ago, so I would write very sporadically.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
Only once, and not for long. Sometimes, as in real life, you meet people who scare the holy bejeezus out of you, and closing my blog would be like moving away to avoid the local streetcorner psycho. Yeah, I thought about it…but I’m not going to do it. He went away about a year ago — bored, I guess.
1) I’ve been blogging about two years, over a few different media (Blogger, Blogged-up, Xanga, Mo’time). Looking for free movable type; didn’t quite find it. Before that active in some public forums, especially Ornery American (Orson Scott Card).
2) Yes I’m somewhat “addicted” to blogs. Not busy enough with another project.
3) No hiatus in the last year.
4) I’m ready to give it up, if I get a think tank job. I’m addicted to the intellectual stimulation. Willing to replace blogs with other stuff/ research/ activities. If paid.
01) How long have you been blogging?
Since December 2002.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging?
No, I just like blogging about important things and I can easily go a day or two without blogging. My blog is more news/military related so unless something big happens, I’m not posting about it. All my other posts are about trival things.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
Yep. Last month, it was for about two weeks. Also last January for about a month. One was because I didn’t have the internet at the time and second was because I was moving to a new web host.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
Yes because I realize that my blog will never be as famous as several big name blogs plus I also find that when I say some things that are politically or military charged, people come out in droves and it makes me wnat to quit, it’s not worth having negative things said about you.
I’ve been doing this on and off for about three years now, though my current site is new and has only been “live” a short while.
Addicted? Not really. I enjoy it, but if I had to take a break I could (and would, without hesitation). Indeed, I have taken self-enforced breaks in the past.
Hiatus-yes, see above. I took a several month break last summer, and forsee another break in the coming months.
As for giving it up…well, I have considered this. Why? Because it’s not like I’m adding anything to the conversation (just go look at my blog and you’ll see what I’m talking about). I’m just a fat white guy who has nothing better to do than gripe about things and how much it sucks to live in LA.
On the other hand, I DO enjoy writing (even if I’m not especially good at it) and I like being able to publish my opinion for all and sundry, however unlikely it is anyone outside my small cadre of friends will read it.
I doubt I’ll ever quite give it up entirely. I might slow to an occasional post, but as long as I have a computer with ready access to the Internet and my site’s publishing interface, I’ll be be there, babbling away.
1. I’ve been blogging for about 4 months.
2. Yes, I’m addicted — both to reading blogs and posting on my blog. I’m always thinking of things to blog about.
3. I haven’t taken a hiatus yet, except for a long weekend when I was away from my computer.
4. Not planning to give up my blog. As I said, I’m addicted! It’s a way to express myself, even if very few people read it. And I’ve “met” some cool people!
I enjoy your blog! Keep it coming!
~Anne
1) Since early January 2004 as Davros, I have had an LJ since 2002, and before the Dalek Weblog did political commentary there.
2) Somewhat. I take breaks, enforced by a weird job and occational bouts of writers block (and slow news weeks), but never for long.
3) Never an intentional one.
4) No. For some reason, the idea that people are interested in what I have to say is facinating to me. As long as people read, I suspect I will be involved in one way or another.
Sent you an e-mail, Miss Barber.
1) I’ve been blogging since mid-October 2004.
2) If I said ‘no’, I would be described as ‘in denial’. So, yes. I like to write. I like to communicate. I like to read the intelligent, thoughtful, coherent, articulate blogs that are available! Such a difference from the MSM! Reading blogs & blogging has been like an oasis to a thirsty desert traveler.
3) No hiatus yet. Short breaks when I’ve had to travel; the occasional day off when the day’s other needs & activities did not allow for a good posting. Would rather not do a poor post.
4) I guess I’ve been doing such a short time, that no, I’ve not started to think I would want to stop. We will see over time. I have a specific interest in the world of fine art (ie painting, sculpture) & find little in the way of articles or blogging in that area as yet. So I hope to fill that niche & encourage others in that area.
1) One year next month as “IrishLaw” (before that I debated on message boards for a few years). I also just signed on to a group blog.
2) I don’t think I’m addicted to blogging because I don’t write about everything I want to, and sometimes I take breaks when I’m on vacation (when I’m visiting my boyfriend, he won’t let me on the computer
. But it’s definitely a compulsion in some ways.
3) No official hiatuses yet. Sometimes I’ll wait awhile to respond to others’ posts when I’m really trying to formulate a good response, and other times I have to break for a little while because of finals or something. But I’m not tired of writing yet!
4) No. I have to consider what I’ll do when I leave law school, since a lot of my audience is other law students. But maybe I’ll just graduate to the ranks of regular legal (and religious) blogs. And I might keep it just because I still need an outlet for political rants
. But so far things are still going strong.
Thanks for posting your survey and giving all of us a chance to respond!
1) How long have you been blogging?
Less than a year. Didn´t do much until more recently, because in the beginning I actually didn´t know much of what you could do with a blog or how you interacted with other people´s blogs. And I still find it takes hours to search and find interesting blogs (downside). Blogs feel quite different than email lists, which I only do a couple.
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest.
Yes, but it depends in part on what else you have going on in your life. If anyone wants to pay me to do my blog editing/authoring, specially in the 100k range… plus given that my blog has nothing formally professional about it… I´ll take it immediately. As others have mentioned, you start discovering and forming endless communities, you visit with friends, you laugh, you get to make countless enemies you´ve never met in person.. a joy…
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
If I am busy with other things, travel, activities, etc.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
I´ve just started, so, no thought of that now. Even though I have not written great volumes in my blog, I have seen already that my writing has improved, to my happiness. And I have just begun to get to know what´s out there in the blog world. Discovering others is as important to me as writing my own blog.
1) I’m approaching two years of blogging.
2) I might be addicted, because though I usually don’t post often, I think about what to write all the time. I am definitely addicted to traffic and comments. High traffic can make me giddy.
3) I have not taken an official hiatus, but I have been away for holidays and vacations.
4) Yes, because I’m plagued with doubt. Why should I persist at lit-blogging when I know so little and can read and write so slowly? But I still enjoy blogging. I would blog more if I had more time to give to it. As it is, I would rather read more literature, not news. I don’t read enough as it is.
1) How long have you been blogging?
Three months. T
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging?
Yes. I want to run out and say my opinions. But I’ve sublimated that into running out and putting (witty) comments on other people’s blogs, with links back to mine, which lets me hear myself speak and also helps generate traffic.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
Nope. I used to not blog weekends, but now that i have more readers I do weekends too.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
Yes, I did completely change the format from a news commentary blog to a humour blog, when I realized I was much better at that and it would be more unique. Sometimes I think “what am I doing? I have nothing original to say, it’s all been said and done before” but then I think there is not a lot of humor for conservatives out there, and that keeps me going.
The witty comment was sarcastic, I am not that full of myslef.
Well ok maybe.
Greetings LaShawn – hope my reply isn’t too late to be of any use to you.
1) How long have you been blogging?
A little over a year
2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)
Yep, I’m definitely addicted to blogging, although the addiction is waning a bit. When I first discovered the internet I was on all the time enjoying the new toy, but later I cooled down. Same with blogging – when I started blogging last year I was completely addicted – I was one of those who viewed all of life as something to be blogged. I still love blogging but I think I am thinking more clearly now.
3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?
Only for vacations.
4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?
Nope – I’m having too much fun, making too many friends and learning to much to consider giving it up.
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