A Blog Non-Rant
You know, with all the conversations about the pros and cons of blogs going on IN blogs and on various messageboards and lists, I started thinking about the reasons *I* have blog. There are a lot of reasons, really, but the one that struck me as the most important surprised me. For me, having a blog is about…home.
Home?
Yes. See, author websites are personal. You feel safe there. It's YOURS. You can do what you want with it. The design, the pages, the colors…everything about it reflects who you are.
A blog, whether connected to your site or not, is also YOURS. It's like your house. You decorate it, you make the rules. You invite guests in by allowing comments, and you can control who comes into your house. People who come in are usually your friends, or at least people who like you. If you get a nasty idiot every once in while, you can take care of it. You can delete them from existence, you can get the last word, you can block them from ever coming back.
I feel comfortable in my blog. It's my little warm place to talk to my friends. And I can go to other blogs, which are other people's homes. I feel comfortable at my friends' blogs. I enjoy visiting with them and their friends.
With message boards and listserves, it's a different feeling. Going to a message board (not an author message board–they feel more like blogs in regards to their comfort level,) is like going to a party at a big mansion. It can be fun, but it's also very uncomfortable for me because at heart I'm NOT a social person unless I'm in my comfort zone.
You walk in, and over there in one corner are the ever-present snooty people gossiping. Over by the fire, there are the people who are more than happy to give their two cents on everything but won't listen to anyone else. And there by the staircase, the "nice" people, the people who don't seem to have an opinion of their own. Chowing down at the buffet table are the people you recognize but don't know. And sprinkled throughout, people you like and trust, but they seem to be few and far between.
Overseeing it all is the owner, keeping an eye out to make sure everyone is happy and everything runs smoothly, and that the food doesn't run out. She might be a very nice lady, participating often. Or she might be standing at the top of the staircase, watching with a sharp, critical eye to make sure no one insults her favorites. And her moderators, the bouncers of the party, are ready to enforce her rules and come to her rescue should SHE be spoken out against.
For me, this kind of environment is NOT comfortable. I have to leave the comfort and safety of my house to go to a party where people are usually polite, but at the mention of a sensitive topic, suddenly the atmosphere turns ugly, degenerating into a brawl.
I'm not saying that can't happen in blogs–it frequently does. But conflict in blogs is more like sitting in on a family argument or a couple of friends going at it. It doesn't have the "mob mentality" feel of brawls on boards and listserves–at least, not when it's going on at a friend's blog. Stranger blogs–yikes! Seeing conflict there is like walking in on domestic violence. :crazy:
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with boards and listserves at all! I'm just saying that I've never felt comfortable in those environments, and that my blog feels like a warm, happy place where I am safe and my friends visit often. When I'm lonely, I go visit them.
I love the blog community, and it can bring unexpected surprises!
