If you feel you have had enough of blogging, that's fine by me. I have no problems with people stopping blogging. After all, I've gotten to feeling like I have reached that stage a few times myself.
However, if you decide to stop blogging, please, please, PLEASE... do NOT delete your whole blog. Just leave it alone. Don't post any more... but please don't delete the whole thing.
For a start, it means that all the links you were given are now dead links.
This might seem a minor point. After all, blogrolls can be edited fairly easily now.
But it isn't just the blogroll. I'm not a big-time blogger by any means, but my daily visitor numbers (at about 350 a day, when I blog regularly... it's dipped a bit lately) aren't bad for a Catholic lay woman who isn't a professional journalist. I appreciate the leg-ups I've had from other more established bloggers, and I try to help by giving links to other bloggers in my turn.
Yes, it's all about linky love...
I have noticed, however, that when a blogger quotes another blogger, if the whole item is included in the first blogger's post, then the comments (and visitors) often stay on the first blogger's blog - especially if people are reading through an aggregator such as Google Reader. So, in order to give other bloggers credit, one will often just give an indication of what is being said, and whether one agrees... and then provide a link so that visitors will be encouraged to go and visit.
The next blogger then gets to see that a particular post has proved popular, or controversial, or whatever... and this gives them ideas about further posts and discussion threads, and so on.
But, if you then go and delete your whole blog, the link is no longer available. Sometimes this is more than a minor inconvenience, and can ruin a whole post.
It also discourages bloggers from making links in posts that are anything more than acknowledgements of where one has seen something... because you can't guarantee it will still be there in a few months' time...
So please... DON'T DELETE BLOGS.
I've been checking my blogrolls for dead and inactive links... if I have culled your blog by accident, feel free to let me know, and I'll reinstate it. Likewise, if I haven't linked to you before, and you would like to be added, leave a comment...
Linky love makes the blogosphere go round, after all...
There's an even more serious reason which you've begun to touch on:
ReplyDeleteIf lots of people link to your blog, etc., etc., then it looks high in the search engines. So, when you delete it, some nasty porno/wares/Viagra/whatever site moves in and takes over because you've got lots of links referring to you. They then get lots of clicks - albeit people are disgusted when they get there, but they don't care because most of it's computerised.
My friend deleted his blog and this is *EXACTLY* what happened. It annoyed a few people - what if the Bishop had been looking for it!? The mind boggles...
Blogroll add request:
ReplyDeleteA Student's Perspective On Sacred Liturgy: http://aperspectiveonsacredliturgy.wordpress.com
I'm a soon-to-be graduating high school student who is planning on entering the seminary this fall for my diocese. (At which point I may start using a little more personal info)
Also, blogging is addictive - far easier to resist temptation if it just doesn't show up in public...not to mention avoiding the trolls who continue to attack whether or not the blog is active.
ReplyDeleteBut in any case, I'm back, thanks for unculling me!
Terra - I would always disable comments on an inactive blog... just not delete the blog
ReplyDeleteI would love to be added to your list of links.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Gabriella - delighted to do so. Your blog is very good!
ReplyDeleteI think they, as well as forums, lists, groups, certain informative websites, etc., should not be deleted simply because of the historical and informational value.
ReplyDeleteAt the very least, they should archived somewhere, like newspapers do.
Thanks for the reminder Mac. And yes, by all means if people need a hiatus, then of course, disable comments.
ReplyDeleteI hate when blogs "disappear."
Something I find similarly annoying to blog deletion is post deletion. There's nothing quite as annoying as getting an email from a reader saying "so...that post you linked to? I don't know what was in it, but I tried to read it and it's been deleted." There is an inner "grr" at moments like that.
ReplyDelete