by I know this article may tick off 90% of the blogosphere but sometimes the truth stings and a barb or two can bump things back into an entertaining reality.
I skip reading blogs on Thursdays for two reasons: Half Naked Thursday and Thursday Thirteen.
I won’t discuss memes or Johari Windows today — those vile pretenders of interesting blogging are set for lashing another day.
I have good friends who participate in Half Naked and Thirteen
so I apologize if this post stabs their false blogging pride.
Thursday is the one day of the week to avoid blog surfing unless you
want to see really ugly naked parts of people published online or if
you want to read endless lists of incredibly boring ideas that would
never be shared in public unless it was Thursday.
I’m against Half Naked Thursday and Thursday Thirteen
because they both create laziness and predictability in bloggers who
are usually creative and daring.
I understand everyone needs a blogging break and by participating in
those programs you get one day a week you don’t have to spend any time
at all coming up with an original idea.
We, your loyal blog readers, deserve and demand your utter best every
single day and we crave your future non-participation in
predictability.
We love you because of your innovation and originality.
We loathe you for following the pack.
Please save us from your sloth!
The problem with Thursdays is it’s hard to be sexy and it’s harder to be funny and Half Naked Thursday and Thursday Thirteen
don’t work unless the first is stunningly beautiful and highly
sexualized and the second makes you laugh hard out loud. If you aren’t
going for big laughs with Thirteen then you are fooling
yourself relevancy can be read in a dead list of 13 things.
Most of the time those of us who forget what day it is are left
groaning when we see the words “Half Naked” or “Thirteen” blinking back
at us, dull and underexposed, from our browser windows.
Wake us up when Thursday ends.
The sad thing is, it isn’t just Thursdays. You can find memes for every day of the week. Most blogs I’ve seen are nothing but memes with a monthly update of life thrown in. And whats up with this tagging where you tell another blogger to do the meme you just did? It is enough to drive me insane. The only thing memes are good for are when you are taking a true break for a month or so and want to post something once in awhile to let your readers know you will be returning soon.
I lost interesting in Half Nekkid Thursdays but my ADD side really got into Thursday Thirteens because I got to know a lot of people a little quicker. I don’t have a lot of patience to read long posts unless it really grabs. I think sometimes blogging can be just fun and silly. I wish I could say I post something innovative and full of wisdom everyday but I just don’t have that kind of energy.
Hi Amy!
Oh, you are so right! The memes are everywhere. They are boring. When I see the words, “I’ve been tagged!” I quickly move on ASAP!
😀
Hi Robin —
I’m not trying to be provocative but if you don’t have innovation and wisdom to share every day then why post every day?
Because it makes me happy and I enjoy it. I don’t feel everything has to have a purpose, sometimes I just do things because I like it.
If you are blogging for personal reasons and not to influence others why post in public? Why not just keep a private journal offline?
Why would you do something that doesn’t have a purpose?
Well it has a purpose for me, it feels good to get it out there and I like getting responses to things. Even if I just post a picture of one of my cats it feels nice, like I’m sharing myself in small pieces. Granted it’s even more special when I put together a really meaningful post and get lots of input and thoughts but I don’t have it in me right now at least to do that everyday. Anyway, I just thought I’d give a comment from the other side of the spectrum.
Hi Robin —
Yes, your comment confirmed my point. Thanks!
What do you mean confirmed your point?
The point of Thursday Thirteens are to talk about yourself and let others get to know you in 13 points. I once talked about 13 movies that changed my life or today was 13 weird things about me.
You confirmed my point the Thursday stuff is narrowly self-pleasing and not intended to be influential beyond the author. You blog for yourself without purpose and that reaffirms why I argue Thursdays are uninteresting.
I skim over the meme postings. I don’t even know what meme means and don’t want to know. – I will blog surf those days because I like to rack up the credits and I figure mine is the only blog that is different those days.
I am with you, prying1!
I understand the want to gain surf credits — just avert your eyes when the sloth presents itself!
You make a fine point that writing original stuff on Thursday with an intention of influencing others will get you more readers on that day than any other day of the week because most other blogs go for the easy and the ordinary!
Meme not for us for only writer.
Right, tajuki. Memes are self-analytical and while that may be of great interest to the writer, it doesn’t hold much attention or education or enlightenment for those beyond the writer’s circle.
I was equally oblivious about these “Thursday Specials” – I just took a look – I realized it again – “(sometimes,) ignorance is bliss!”
Hi Katha!
I’m sorry you had to go see that! Bwa-ha!
😀
You’re right sometimes it’s better not to know than to know.
😀
At least I am sure I don’t want to know about it any more – and to make that decision I had to go see…
Katha —
You are right to make up your own mind and come to your own decision.
Bravo!
I’ve noticed those. I don’t participate in them. How do you feel about Cat Blog Fridays?
Wow. I guess I am one of the lucky ones. I don’t read one single blog that participates in either of these events. Although I think I have skimmed past a Thurs 13…
Try my blogroll sometime 🙂
cube —
I haven’t seen “Cat Blog Fridays” but from its title I doubt I would find it invigorating or an imperative weekly read.
I am, however, fond of Cats in Sinks:
http://www.catsinsinks.com/
and
http://www.kittenwar.com/
Jennifer —
I’m glad to hear you haven’t been exposed to the Thursday virses!
I don’t miss using the blog exchanges … especially now that I’m hearing about the explosion in toe and elbow pictures. Mixing the usual political debate and pictures of feet makes it even less attractive.
Now, if people did it right, Naked Thursday could be a thing of beauty, but unfortunately, most people who like to get naked shouldn’t.
Chris!
You are so right the *idea* of “Half Naked Thursday” is titillating and quite interesting — the implementation is rather blah and disappointing as people who are not clever try to be clever by exposing body parts against expectation. You see a lot of thighs pretending to be breasts and a lot of tattoos pretending to be interesting. Having all “Half Naked Thursday†content moderated first for sensuality would be a good thing.
Staying away from the Blog exchanges is smart. The blog content has fallen so far in the last six months it is disappointing. There is so much cursing and stream-of-consciousness-as-blog-content that you just sit there and try to scream but you can’t because you’re yawning so much.
I just want to take a moment to give you a pat on the back for having an original thought about how to approach blogging and for having the courage to articulate it even though it runs counter to what some are currently doing. Sometimes it takes an ounce or two of courage to suggest a different point of view when it isn’t necessarily what your entire audience wants to hear.
I’ve never made any Thursday lists but I can’t say I never will. One thing I always enjoy hearing, though, is a fresh perspective on how to do something better. Thanks.
Hi Gina!
I appreciate your kind and thoughtful comment. You get it.
😀
I certainly love a lively discussion with varying points-of-view as long as no one starts making personal attacks. Rethinking or challenging an idea can lead to growth and new understanding but when some try to lower the discussion to one of name-calling or personal viciousness no great ideas can be served because it then becomes about wound salving.
I haven’t been on a blog exchange for about 6 months or so … it took up too much time and it seemed like I was seeing the same things over and over.
I should drop in every so often to see if there are any new blogs of interest out there, but it seems like it is easier to do a Blogsearch to find blogs with interesting content.
I find that I don’t read too many blogs regularly anymore, besides this one and a couple of others.
Hey Chris —
You’re right the Blog Exchanges do serve up the same content often. On some exchanges you see regularly only the awful blogs run by those who have nothing better to do all day than click for view credits. Ugh!
Blogsearch is a great service but it does take a little more effort than just sitting back and clicking in a Blog exchange window.
😀
You’re right as the amount of new blogs increases our time to read them all — including our favorites — fades away each day. You pick what you can and enjoy as much as possible in the time you have.
The only one I like is the Photo Friday, you get to see some interesting pictures.
I’ve been tagged a few times on memes but never bother with them.
But then I haven’t been blogging a great deal as I have a load of work related computer stuff I am working on.
I will have to watch for Photo Friday, Mik!
I have never been — AND NEVER WANTED TO BE — meme tagged. I think my good friends know better.
Though I also don’t think any of my really close online friends have ever done memes themselves.
I agree completely. I run across so many thursday thirteens, sometimes they are ok…but how many times can someone do the same thing before it becomes boring and redundant.
The occasional meme dosn’t bother me. But seriously, too many people depend on memes for the majority of their content and if thats the case then I am just completely uninterested.
Blog explosion’s quality seems to have declined of late. When I surf I run across all of the same blogs. It’s hardly a way to find new and interesting bloggers.
Every once in a while I find something interesting to read. *Thanks for making today’s BE surfing less dull*
Happy Surfing.
Libby
Hi Libby!
Thanks for sharing your comment.
I take your point on you meme position.
I also appreciate your argument when memes become ongoing and predictable replacements for truly original thinking in content boredom can quickly set in to a reader’s mindset.
I heat your about BE. Their true greatness — for me anyway — was the Summer of 2005 when everything was new and singing and zinging and the blogs were aplenty and well-written.
Life is a pendulum, though, so the good never lasts, but neither does the bad.
It’s so nice to hear from you again with your friendly and kind and well-reasoned comments!
😀
Hey Dave!
I too don’t participate in Half Naked Thursday or Thursday Thirteen, just as I don’t participate in Wordless Wednesday. However, I have a friend on my blogroll that does Wordless Wednesday AND Thursday Thirteen, and the rest of the week, she writes some very good posts.
I have participated in the Occasional meme, and only occasionally, because I find the odd one now and again, fun and a little different (yeah, so sue me lol) but no, I’ve seen blogs that are made up of quizzes, meme’s and god knows what else, and seriously, I don’t find them at all interesting.
Everyone blogs for their own reasons, and same as Personal blogs, (like mine is), there are blogs devoted to religion, politics, mommy blogs and god knows what else. I feel personally that people should be able to pick and choose what they want to write, and people should be able to pick and choose what they want to read. I’ve seen people leave nasty comments about other people’s blogs and really it’s not the way to go. After all, if you don’t like someone’s blog, you skip straight on to the next right?
Isn’t it our individuality that makes blog reading so interesting though? Everyone has their own thoughts and ideas about events happening in the world, as well as close to home – I think it’s nice to get a different perspective at times.
Hi Dawn —
Thanks for sharing your experience!
I don’t understand the value of personal blogs that review the events of the day. I don’t know why people feel their every experience is important enough to be made public.
It takes a huge amount of ego and hubris to blog in the first place so we’re all guilty of that by nature but there are some blogs out there I just cannot comprehend on a level of improperly devalued intimacy and runaway bad taste.
There are life events that are important and universal but to use a blog as an ongoing public diary of every detail in that life is uninteresting on an intellectual and aesthetic level but I certainly agree with you that people can do as they wish and live as they want just as we can freely comment on what is pressed into public view.
Here are my thoughts on the most effective efforts of blogging:
http://urbansemiotic.com/2005/06/23/why-do-you-blog/
I don’t believe everything that happens in a person’s life is blog-worthy and many times modesty is the better part of valor. I cringe when people share intimate arguments they had with their lover, better half or friend because there are some things in the world that lose value and importance when broadcast and violated into space to be logged and recorded forever by search engine bots. Memory is fickle and convenient. Google is only convenient.
We need to have a greater responsibility as people and as bloggers to put the right energy back into the world that was invested in us and to waste a precious second of the gifts we earned on creating lists or currying a revenge or sharing private moments never intended for the public eye is a waste of the sacred covenant between people, families, men and women and friends.
Many of the newer blogs are all about “me and my day” and every grating, unimportant detail on the inhuman scale of humankind is shared – nay shouted – and you know those people could offer so much more to the world of eager eyes if they just took the time to dig a little deeper beyond the boundaries of their inner demons.
I should say first of all that I admire and respect you so much more for actually having the guts to write such a post as this, knowing it was bound to upset a few people.
I honestly don’t have a reason as such for my blog being a “Personal Diary”. However, it’s not personal to the extent that I post about every day of my life, and things that should remain between myself and my partner do just that.
Through surfing I’ve seen people that post about every intimate argument or conversation between their partner and themselves and frankly, that doesn’t interest me. I feel almost as though I’m intruding, and you shouldn’t have to feel that way when reading someone’s blog.
On the other hand, if myself and my partner go out, say to one of the Mountain provinical parks in the area, or a little further afield, and we take pictures, then I WILL post and also post some of the pictures. I also know that when we marry, some of the pictures WILL end up on my site. However, I wouldn’t even DREAM of posting about our Wedding night, for instance.
I also have another blog called The Feather Quill. This blog is for short stories that I’ve written (although I haven’t posted in forever). I wanted a place to keep them all together and having a separate blog just for them seemed the wisest course of action at the time, and one I still stand by now.
A lot of the newer blogs are, as you state “all about me and my day”. There’s a feeling I get from a lot of those blogs that “all my friends have a blog, so golly gosh darn it, I’ll just have to get one too.” Those sort of blogs tend to die out very quickly, but there are always new ones to replace them.
I guess a lot of it comes down to what you enjoy reading and what you don’t. I keep my blog for myself and if anyone wants to read it, then so be it. I’m not going to cry if nobody ever does. It’s MY way of recording MY memories, in a way that I feel comfortable with. If people leave nice comments then thanks to them, if they don’t, then it’s not going to ruin my day.
I am still confused by Meme’s….Open Trakbacks are ok, but Meme’s seem like pointless drivel. One thng I try to think about when I write a blog post is: will I want to read this again in 1, 5, 10 years….if not then why put it out there?
I hear you. I am also tired of /bored with the standard memes. So we are trying a new approach with “Feel Good About Yourself Friday” where we ask people to think about a success they’ve had during the week and write about that. I’d hoped this would be more of a writing exercise with the bonus of spreading some good spirit. Sadly, we have had very little participation. Suggestions are welcome!
Hi Dawn!
Thanks for shedding some good light on this matter and you know I love and respect your work and I certainly appreciate your positive participation here and for that I thank you!
Jonathan!
I think you’re on to the main point of my argument. Is what we share evergreen or is it fleeting? We know the work will remain — but will it remain relevant?
Hi DivaP —
My suggestion is to move away from the self introspection aspect of these weekly events.
Why not offer the opportunity to leave the self behind in favor a grander purpose with a wider human appeal: “How to Make the World Better Monday” is one option.
😀
Hey I can settle that line – How to Make the World Better Monday – in one quick post that would end all the memes. Problem is it would end everything else.
Nuke it all and let God sort it out.
At least we wouldn’t have to settle for boring memes. Hmmm. Maybe it would be better to put up with the memes. Although I don’t think their solutions for a better world would be more effective than mine.