Friday, June 10, 2005

Getting To Know Your Bloggers

With the demise of my giveaway, I was going to grumble about how no one in the world reads anymore, but I still can't bring myself to buy that argument. So, here's what I think the problem is: No one wants to risk giving away their shipping address to a random internet guy. I mean, sure, maybe I seem like a normal guy, but I could just as easily whip out a gun and ask you to hand over your wallet.


Lucky for you, I'm Canadian, so that'll probably never happen (see, if I wanted to rob you, I could just go into the government and charge you ridiculously high taxes and, if you complain, I've got the perfect response - "Well, you want free health care, don't you?" And if you're American, well, no one here wants to risk being associated with Americans - mostly because we're all rather averse to President Bush - so I just wouldn't bother).

Anyway, the point this brings me to is; how well do you get to know the bloggers you read everyday? And, perhaps more interestingly, how does your respect for a blogger as a person actually affect your blog-reading? My two favourite blogs, Scalzi's Whatever and Dave's Blogography, have managed to ascend to that position not just by the quality of their content, but by the fact that I feel like their both pretty good guys I wouldn't mind hanging out with. In fact, it always seems to be the quasi-personal blogs that I read the most - and by that I mean not the people who rail on at length about their personal lives (ie. relationships, kids, etc.) but the people who always have something interesting to say and, in saying it, have some side of their personality presented in a relatively obvious way.

It seems to me that, to make reading a blog worthwhile, you either have to really like the personality that comes through in the posts, or really hate it (because reading stuff from the opposite side of the spectrum is interesting, not because you're masochistic). So, Scalzi and Dave, congrats for coming off as such cool guys. We'll do lunch sometime. In a public place. A beach BBQ, maybe. You can't hide a gun in swim trunks.

And, for those of you who like memes, this might be an interesting one. Think a bit about how important the personality of the blogger is to your reading and make a post. Or, make a mention of bloggers you wouldn't mind hanging out with.

6 Comments:

Dave2 said...

Uhhh... thanks? I think. It's somewhat ambiguous as to whether you enjoy my blog because you really like my personality... or really hate it. Probably because you hate me, you really hate me!! Sob! :-)

This is an excellent idea for a meme. Once I've robbed a mini-mart so I can have my daily hit of cocaine, I'll be joining in.

Ha ha ha... just kidding! Or am I? Are you sure you would want to hang out with me? How do you know my blog isn't an elaborate ruse to lure unsuspecting Canadians across the border for devious and evil purposes? Mwah ha ha haaaah!

Eh. Who am I kidding. I don't even pack a gun in my swim trunks, and that's LEGAL here. About the most evil thing I would come up with would be serving tofu hamburgers at your BBQ and telling you that it was authentic dead cow. Sob! Now I really hate me too!

8:53 AM  
Ali Al Saeed said...

another reason could be that - like me - people would rather not burden you with ridicolous amounts of postage to ship your giveaways to the half-ass end of the world! ;)

6:58 PM  
Dave2 said...

But... but... Bahrain has a Hard Rock Cafe!!

How half-assed could it possibly be when it has a Hard Rock Cafe? :-)

8:25 PM  
Cavan said...

HA! Your tofu threats are meaningless to me - my girlfriend is a vegetarian, so I've had a tofu burger before.

2:48 PM  
chryscat said...

Cavan: I'm American, and I'M averse to Bush. Don't get me started.

I would hang out with fellow writers. The "Writeminded" gals. Suzanne. Jill. Olga. Michelle. Kacey. Tori. All my fellow romance chickies. And hey! You can be the pool boy. What do you say? *grinning* Is that a gun in your trunks, or are you just happy to see us?
Teasing hon. Just teasing. *wink*
Grins*

8:33 PM  
Cavan said...

Oh man...I totally set myself up for that one...

:)

9:04 PM  

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