For Clarification

I have been thinking about blogging and how it works for about a year now. Next Friday will be a year to the day when Rob Osborn told me his blog address. Until that point I had never even heard the word Blog. And to be honest, I left that rainy Friday night and forgot all about it. My reason? Rob is waaaaaay smarter than me when it comes to computers, and I figured this blog thingy was just something else I didn't have the time to learn about. (On a funny side note, I was the top student both years I took High School computer. In fact, the program I designed for my senior show was sent to a programming tech school by my teacher. They called me for a formal interview with a possible full ride, but I didn't want to work with computers for the rest of my life. I know, I can see the dollar signs too! Back to my story......) So I put the address in a bowl on the 'fridge where I keep stuff I'll get to later. Eventually I got around to cleaning out the bowl and found a tattered piece of paper with Rob's handwriting on it. The very next day I started my comment-only-blog and the rest is history......

When my family all seemed to start blogs seemingly the same day, I started to think about this format a little more. Everyone seems to have a different reason for how they write, how often they write, what they write about, how they receive comments, how they respond, who else they read, the links they use, etc., etc. And since everyone has those different reasons, they must also have different reactions to how they are perceived by those that visit their site. (I know, genius, right?) One of those reactions I want to be careful to eliminate from the people who visit here is one of offense. And since Kimmy was so excited to see her name show up on my blogroll, it occurred to me I may have, or are now offending people who don't see their names show up. So I would like to clarify the criteria to show up on my blogroll............

First, my computer has to agree with you. Besides the usual Blogger problems, I am fighting everyday with the firewall here at my workplace. Almost weekly it seems, I am blocked from one site or another, or a blogging network, or a webpage I use, and so many other things. And no, it doesn't matter how good you are at computers, you can't get around it. I had someone who knows more about computers than almost anyone else I know, come in and try to beat it. He failed. Miserably. NCB did their homework setting this thing up. So, the first reason I may not add you is simply: I can't.

The next reason is also simple. If you don't write often, I don't read you often. Not b/c I don't want to, I really do want to know what's going on in your life. But if I have to look at the same post for months, I'm only left frustrated not knowing what's going on in your life. So it helps my frustration to just not look. Mike, I love you man, but it's been 2 months! Your wife is showing you up! :-) Please know I will of course check back from time to time. Just in case.

Next is content. If I don't like what you write or what you believe, don't bother looking for your name. I may still read what you have to say, but there are certain agendas I don't want to be associated with if a new person were to stop by and check me out. Sorry if that offends you or it makes me look shallow, but it is still my blog.

Last is privacy. There are some people who value their privacy above their "profile views" number. 'Pokes fun at Kimmy!' If someone finds their blog through a common interest or by accident they are fine with that, but otherwise they would rather remain exclusive. I would never bypass that privacy without permission.

There you have it. Those are my reasons. Everyone I read but that doesn't show up falls into one of those categories. So now that you have that, you should check out my blogroll. It's a pretty unique trip down a sometimes strange road.