Never mind why I’m blogging; why are you here? If you don’t know me from real life, or from an online community I’ve hung out in, why are you reading this? I’m not a guru or a celebrity. If you didn’t just end up here via a search engine, why are you interested in what I have to say?
Not that I’m complaining, mind. I’m just curious. Because I do the same thing. I follow the blogs of a number of people I have never met, but who just seem like interesting people. Take Woodge, for example. I’ve never met him, and all I know about him is what I’ve read on his site. I know he has a wee boy about the same age as Alex, and I know he likes some of the same films I do. I enjoy reading his random thoughts, and I smile in parental solidarity when he talks about his kid. Would we have anything to talk about if we got together over a couple of beers? I don’t know.
Likewise Rands, Keith Martin, Frank Schaap, Anders Jacobsen, Rick Horowitz, and a handful of other regular suspects. Okay, so I’ve met Frank, but essentially I’m dipping into the lives of a bunch of complete strangers. For all that I dislike reality TV shows, I sure seem more than happy to partake of the phenomenon over the internet.
Ok, so let me tell you why I have been reading your blog for over a year now. I did get here following another blog, but I wouldn’t know to tell you whose it was. In the beginning I enjoyed reading especially the book and movie reviews. I do feel the same for almost all of them. Then, you started to get more personal, then Fiona arrived, you even talked about cryptography which is what I do. You are an intelligent and interesting person and if I wasn’t on the other side of the Atlantic, I would have liked to meet you one day. Keep on blogging and have a nice day!
Since you asked, I grab your site feed via RSS since it was in the OPML file available at http://mt-plugins.org/resources.php .
I don’t read much except for the tech/blogging stuff, as it generally points me to something I may not have found by myself.
Looking through my FeedDemon archive to see why I keep your site on my feed, I do remember chuckling over your photoshopped image of Fiona.
Hey Martin, I know you from real life (er, work, which is kinda real life). And I’m a really nosey person and like to know what you are up to.
Well it all started with a printer…No actually I came across an entry you did on your sidebar, I thought that the article was really well done.
So now I read your blog, also, my Lawyer is going to have a baby really soon (see my blog to understand that one), so I am interested in what happens to your family.
For example your entries on pox duty made me think about what I will do when my yet-to-be-born child has pox.
To be honest you aren’t the highest blog in my bookmarks, rather 7th out of 50+, actually I promoted you just the other day, because you seem to write pretty consistently and what you write is usually amusing and interesting.
I personally think that it is all about community. The days have gone for most of us where we know our neighbors and we greet the new person with some cookies or something. Now-a-days we tolerate our neighbors and hope the new guy down the street doesn’t steal our cookies.
But, in blogonia (no not the sandwich meat) we get a chance to see what someone is like, then we start reading, then maybe we post a comment and a relationship starts.
It is nice, before long you belong to the community.
It is real life and real people with feeling and a desire to be liked and to have friends who share similar interests and ideals. As the world gets scarier the web opens up new possibilities.
Sorry for the long post, but that is my four cents worth.