Comments on: Should you explain to your readers why you have not been blogging?

By: I-COM SEO

I-COM SEO — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:58:53 +0000

It is polite letting readers know that you’re not posting. But i don’t think that you should bend backwards and feel bad about it.

By: Alex Cristache

Alex Cristache — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:45:56 +0000

As Darren said, overdoing it is not good. It could show lack of ideas or signs of weakness. BUT, doing it when it’s really the right time and place shows more of the blogger’s human side. We all have personal lives besides our blogs. Experts or not in our niches, life goes on without asking us if we want it or not, so some things might take us by surprise. We’re humans and showing and I see no harm in showing that.

By: John Leschinski

John Leschinski — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:21:46 +0000

I still subscribe to blogs that are not updated anymore as well, but I’m not upset about it. Most people are not going to be upset, and won’t unsubscribe. Those same people are probably going to be fine when you start up again explanation or not.

If someone stops blogging it’s not a big loss for me, there are lots of other blogs. But some people might not be as casual about it.

By: Bryan Ogilvie

Bryan Ogilvie — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:07:53 +0000

Great post,

A subject I’ve been thinking about a lot recently, because my new blog is going through this exact issue.

I’m working on my first book, so generating daily content, researching and writing simultaneously wasn’t working out. I suppose it wasn’t even feasible to begin with, because the blog content I bring forth takes a time to develop.

Intuitively, I already knew that apologizing more than once gives off a weak vibe. My old girlfriend and another girl I’ve been spending time with told me I apologize too much – so it’s the same concept. Psychologically, it communicates self-doubt.

Also, I’m going to spend a few days creating back-up material for times like this – a resevoir for when things get hectic.

“A clever man solves a problem; a wise man avoids it.”

Peace,

By: Polina

Polina — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:29:54 +0000

I would say that may be you don’t need to apologize for being absent (by not writing you do nothing offensive to your readers, so you have nothing to apologize for), but you need to tell something about what made you stay away from your blog. As many readers of personal blogs are actually friends and they have been worried while there is no news from you… It is worth an explanation:)

By: Kevin Muldoon

Kevin Muldoon — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:59:26 +0000

Snoskred – Apologies

Darren – Fair point. I have come across a few blogs who have done this ie. explaining why they haven’t posted and saying they will post again and then they stop posting again so they go on to explain once more. I guess another factor I never really discussed in the post was how active the blog is in the first place. If you are updating the blog twice a day then it would make sense to let readers know but if the blog is only updated every other week the need to let readers know is less.

Luis – Thanks. Again, I think it depends on how personal your blog is too. Some bloggers rarely talk about their private life in their posts so they would be less likely to update readers about it.

By: Snoskred

Snoskred — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:28:17 +0000

@Darren – I do remember reading that post of yours, however it wasn’t one of the ones I was thinking of. I think “never apologise for not blogging” was a popular blog topic about a year ago back when I was reading a lot more blogging blogs – it was one of those things where every second post I read seemed to be on that topic for a couple of weeks.

I’ve since cut way back on the amount of blogs about blogging I read, both this one and Darren’s blog are on the list of ones I do read though, just so you know..

By: Luis

Luis — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:09:08 +0000

great post. I think you really should let your readers know unless you don’t care losing them. I just post a small note letting my readers know what’s going on in my life. I think you should too.

By: Darren

Darren — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:05:05 +0000

One of the posts that you might have read on the topic is mine on Excuse Posts. It’s interesting that some people thought I meant that you should never write an apology post or a post saying that you’re going to be away – however the post was really about doing it too often.

There’s nothing wrong with including information to let your readers know if you’re going to be away or to explain an absence – the problem occurs when that’s all you seem to post about.

By: Snoskred

Snoskred — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:16:54 +0000

Hey, just so you know, he’s a she no big deal, happens a lot.

I did search for posts to link to but frankly it was impossible to find any on the topic – other unrelated posts kept showing up but I could never spot the ones I remembered, and I couldn’t remember exactly where I had seen them..

Realistically it was all about launching the blog post generator which is a bit of fun, not meant to be taken hugely seriously or anything.