Wendi was there first, and Rey showed me how the damn things worked, but I really feel like, within the group of people (not just talking about my friends here, but simply people I know) that I know and interact with on a fairly regular basis (in reality or virtual space), I was ahead of the curve on blogging, and even got some really good people using the tool. Especially with gamers and folks of that sort, it’s really a natural fit for the sort of constant stream-of-thought documentation that goes with creating something entertaining that’s also basically free, for public consumption.
The reason I’m mentioning it: last year I was out at ACNW in early November. This would have been about six months into my blogging activity; I’d just come off of a really big hit-count month for the main page, had posted about 17.5 thousand words in October (until I did NaNoWriMo, it seemed like a lot), and I was using the blogging tools available to revamp most of my gaming pages to a greater or lesser degree, so of course I was talking about it.
No one knew what the hell I was on about. Blank looks were the best thing I could hope for, even when I tried to explain it (“man, it’s pretty cool”).
These days, things are different. I went surfing around today and noticed that almost every one of the people that I know ‘create’ stuff in Amber have a blog-ish thing going on now. At a local convention, I was recently informed that my blog is actually something of an in-joke for people who read it — a reference that they can all share between themselves. I don’t know if that’s a group of the truly hip or the truly lame, but at least it’s a group.
So this is what that feels like: being one of the first, at least in my little group, and seeing everyone else catching up and saying “man, this is pretty cool.”
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To be honest, your weblog was the main reason why I set mine up. Your Amber site has been the main site that I use for reference for my games. I also found the character’s continuing adventures thoroughly amusing. (Lysander is my hero.)
I eventually decided to check out the rest of the site and came across your weblog. It was just as entertaining to get to know, in a limited fashion, the GM and creator of one of my favorite sites.
So, in a fit of egotism and also out of a desire to learn more about web design, Random Ravings was born.
Thanks for the inspiration.
lessee
that makes three ‘random’ webblogs that I know of– encounters, ruminations, and ravings…a set within a set…
Wendi set me thinking about it, but I didn’t have the nerve until I saw that Meera could do six blogs at once.
🙂
Yes, well, Brian’s and mine are alliterative, and Doyce’s isn’t.
Cast him out! Death to the unbeliever!
‘Sides, mine isn’t actually a blog. It’s me being stupid. If I went to all the trouble of installing actual blogging software, I’d feel like I’d actually have to take it seriously now and then.
I don’t know whether to applaud Doyce for his individuality or chastise him for being a friggin’ rebel.
So:
I appreciate your individuality, but GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!
I love playing devil’s advocate in the same sentence.
I wish I had more time to blog.
I wish I had more to say.
But I don’t.
So, there you have it. My pages grow dusty and fuzzy.
I blog, therefore I am.
Wendi, yes… and Meera, and Doyce and Dave…
you are all very very bad influences.
I am hooked, and I never shut up.