blogging ?s
Questions taken from "things to think about when blogging".
What would you like to blog about?
I can't decide.
Why are you interested in blogging? Why not anything else?
For a while, writing became my only outlet because I couldn't draw. I can draw again, but it turns out that writing is fun, so I'll keep working on it.
What does a 'blog' mean to you – how would you define it?
Journaling online.
How are you going to name your blog? How about your entries?
The blog's URL is "mechaport" because I'm mechaport. "chemical well" comes from this gleach song.
I try to make the entry titles simple.
What is the purpose of this blog going to be? Who is it for? Does 'purpose' or 'meaning' matter here, even? If so, how?
This blog is a public shelf for thoughts that don't belong anywhere else. It's for me? It's for projecting a different image of myself? It's for anyone? There's a purpose, but it's not a big purpose.
What would you like people (including yourself) to take away from your blog posts?
Please still think that I'm cool after reading these. Also, you should start a blog yourself.
Will you look back?
I always look back because of my ego and editing habits.
Does this blog treasure the mundane? How does it think about nothingness? What is worthy of being written about?
It's not like I make an effort to treasure the mundane, but I exercise it. It's difficult for me to talk about things that I think are important. Talking about big issues and topics related to my offline life requires a lot of mental effort, but I don't like talking about things that are too superfluous either. Generally I aim to talk about things that I feel are of "medium" importance to me, things that stay on my mind that I can make some comments of worth about... but looking back on my archive, I talk about a lot of meaningless stuff anyway.
Who are you in conversation with here? How do you converse with yourself? Who is the self you're speaking to?
I'm just hoping to talk to someone who doesn't think I'm stupid. The conversations I have with myself are self indulgent ones where I can be more sentimental than I normally am.
When is a blog post finished? When is the whole blog finished?
When the bare ideas have been expressed clearly, it's finished. I don't spend a lot of time polishing the posts here. The blog is finished when it stops being fun or I die.
Will you only publish when you deem something 'finished'? Does 'finished' have a meaning here?
I'll never publish an unfinished post. If it wouldn't make sense to a reader then it's not finished.
What do you absolutely not want your blog to be like?
Boring in your eyes
When are you going to set aside time and space to blog? What are the conditions you need to blog?
I'll blog whenever at any time. If it's been a week since the last post, I'll sit and try to think if there's anything pressing that I could write about, but it's not on a strict schedule.
Does setting rules for yourself help you? What constraints do you want to set on your blog? What contexts should the blog operate in?
The general rule for this blog is that the content shouldn't overlap with what I post on other websites. The blog has a reason to exist that way. I don't need to post status updates here when those are more suited for Twitter, I don't need to repost my art when it's uploaded elsewhere.
The writing style is formal-ish since I don't get the opportunity to practice outside of e-mails.
How would you like to structure your blog? Would you like to tag, categorize, or filter your blog posts? Or, what structures do you not want to be constricted by?
Current tags are
- #thoughts for general comments
- #librarylog + subcategories for art and media recommendations
- #original for when I make stuff
I don't think adding any more tags would be useful for organization and I don't tend to talk about the same subjects across multiple posts anyway.
Should you have one blog for all your notes, or would you like to create several ones? What identities will you assume for each?
This is the only formal blog I have and it's meant to be a slow environment. My blogging on Twitter is for short life updates and responding to news items. Tumblr is where I shoot my worst emotions into the void.
And I have accounts for my art that I don't really express my personality on. Sometimes I wonder if I should be more friendly on those, but since I don't have a strong attachment to my identity as an artist I've never conjured up the motivation to do that.
Would you like to customize your blog? What kind of space or environment would you like your blog to take in?
My main customization concerns are
- No ads
- Nice mobile interface
So Bear is great for that. I also like Dreamwidth and trust their staff, but Bear is easier to write on with my phone.
This blog's theme is modified from mgx.me's McLuhan Lite theme.
The color scheme is blue because
What should people feel before, while, and after reading?
"What's Port yapping about" -> "Hm" -> "I learned something ☺️☺️☺️☺️👍🫨"
Is your blog an open door? How do you welcome people in? Do you expect people to frequent or come back?
Come in and leave whenever you want. I don't expect anything, but I'm happy if you find this interesting enough to check on once in a while.
Who do you write for?
Meeeee
Who will you try to be, as a writer? Which fragment of yourself would you like to present?
I'm trying to be mawkish and gooey here
Is your audience the people you know? For people you don't know? A mix of in-between?
Discoverability isn't on for this blog, so I think the only people who could be reading this are people who already know me or people just checking out my Twitter profile. It probably wouldn't reach a lot of people even if I did let it onto the Bear feed, but I don't really want this blog being more exposed to the open sea of the internet because it's personal and I'm shy.
Do you want people to engage with you? Do you want to check stats or metrics?
Direct engagement in the form of sending me messages about content here is okay, but I don't like website metrics or analytics and I disable them on any website where I have the option. They make me uncomfortable both as an uploader and a viewer. The upvote button is hidden on all my posts for this reason.
Would you be comfortable with your friends talking to you about your blog? How should they bring it up?
If you're a friend, I'm happy to hear anything. Also, please compliment me and tell me that I'm a genius and the coolest guy ever.
How do you want people to engage with your blog?
People are free to lurk, be a voyeur, link to here, or send me a message about anything.
Is the blog precious?
Yes and no
How will you preserve and archive your blog? Will you mirror its contents anywhere?
If Bear ever shows signs of going down, I'll download an archive and move somewhere else, but there's no backup right now.