I am now blogging full time so expect about a ten fold increase in posts per day.
I’m only kidding about the ten fold increase. In fact, you should expect a decrease in quantity because I’ve got two simultaneous writing projects and that will be taking up more of my time. Also, once the offspring is born, that will be a bit of time as well. Over the next few weeks I’ll be refining, focusing, and reorienting the blog a bit. I’m looking at what people actually read and what people seem to mostly ignore, so that I can stop bothering with that which is ignored. If you have comments, suggestions, warnings, or requests regarding the future direction of this blog, now is a good time to email them to me or post them below.
Announcement: I am no longer employed at the University of Minnesota
Posted by Greg Laden on September 1, 2009
(13)
Comments
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You do realize that with a rugrat in the house the accompanying sleep deprivation will have an effect on coherency.
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No problem. I’ve mastered the art of sleeping on demand. Babies sleep a lot. I will sleep a lot.
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The trick is getting the baby to sleep a lot on a regular schedule. Having to wake up every three hours can be a problem.
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“Babies sleep a lot. I will sleep a lot.”
Let me just say Bwahaha! to that.
Your extended experiences in Africa, on the other hand (crocks, hippos, lack of beer) might have prepared you somewhat. -
GL – “I’m looking at what people actually read and what people seem to mostly ignore, so that I can stop bothering with that which is ignored.”
Don’t be too quick to cater to the audience. I have found that, like some niche TV shows, it takes time for an audience to find you and for an understanding and appreciation to grow. Star Trek was canceled after its first year.
Also you have to ask what motivates a posting. If it is something you think about a lot then it probably deserves to be on your blog even if only a few people read it. A blog is a celebration of personality and ideas. Truth and the value of ideas can’t be measured by the numbers who read them.
Just because few people read a post doesn’t mean that might not change in the future. I sometimes make posts to forums that I pretty well know will not be widely read. Sometimes things just need to be said or put on the record. Often months, or even years later, I get an e-mail about a post or I see my idea, often the exact words, show up. While the view is often that forum input and blogs are ephemeral the exact opposite may be true. With sites like the Way-Back Machine and search engines crawling sites from twenty years ago it is pretty common to have stuff you thought would disappear into the void reemerge. If you don’t have an audience now, you might at some time in the future. Nobody knows where it will end up, who might read it, and what effect it might have on them.
IMO one of the biggest reason the majority of the mainstream media is so shallow and vapid is because they cater to the audience. Instead of putting out a quality product and letting the audience find them and allowing a community to form they want acclaim and a strong response now. So they sink into sensationalism and stroking the audience by confirming their bias. FOX news is a good example. Useless as a news source they stroke and cater to a particular narrow point of view and to thrill junkies who mistake empty and useless diatribe for content.
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“Also, once the offspring is born, that will be a bit of time as well.”
Oh my FSM, that’s the funniest thing I’ve read all day!
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Inexperience? No. Amnesia? Maybe. Greg has a teenaged daughter as well. Of course, I’m sure she never gave either of her parents the tiniest bit of trouble.
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I suggest dramatically increasing the number of posts that are on the “front page” then, since you frequently fill it in a day as it is.
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Stacy: Yup, that’s one of them.
Art, you are right of course. The Congo Memoirs are a case in point . Nobody was reading them in the beginning. Then I started threatening people and bludgeoning them and stuff and they ended up being more read.
Susannah and others: This is number two for me you know!
Stephanie: Actually, Julia never cried or fussed much, but she also never slept much, now that I recall.
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The Congo memoirs are among my favorite of your blog posts.
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, which is now available for the 
