Carol's Questionnaire

I hope you've been checking out Carol's 7 Days of Blogging. Too bad she planned it on the same week that Blogger made it so hard to contribute. . .

Today she posted a questionnaire. Here are my answers.

-- How do find the blogs you read regularly? Through other bloggers' recommendations? Their sidebar links? Search engines?

Through comments left on your blog? Something else? All of the above, but mostly through recommendations and comments left on my blog. Almost never through sidebar links.

-- When you leave a comment, do you frequently return to that post to check for the author's response?

Yes, I do try to return. If I have commented or asked a question I often go back and read all the comments. Sometimes I do forget, though. I hate when that happens.

-- What types of situations might cause you to stop reading a blog that you once enjoyed?

That's hard to say. Probably the biggest thing for me is content. If the content changes, like too many days in a row of poopy diapers and throwing up, I'll take a break for a while, but profanity, or a design change that makes it hard to read (yellow letters on a red background or even white letters on a black background if it's a long post) may cause me to give up a blog altogether.

-- How much personal privacy do you try to maintain when posting on your own blog? Everything that might identify you to a friend or neighbor? Only demographic data? Only children's information? Something else?

My biggest thing is respecting my family's privacy. I don't blog about them without their permission. And I do try to keep demographic data vague. I don't mind my friends, neighbors and family reading the blog.

-- What are your thoughts about encouraging offline friends to read your blog?

I don't encourage them to read. I don't exactly invite anyone to read (except for when I put the pictures of the wedding up). If people read it, OK. If they don't OK. I don't want anyone to feel obligated to read it and then feel as though they have to say something nice.

-- What criteria do you look for in the blogs you enjoy reading? Orperhaps I should ask, what factors do your favorite blogs all have in common?

Substance (usually, but not always Christian) or humor. My favorite blogs (like She Lives) have both. I like to connect with the blogger on a personal level.

-- Are there any blogs you read on a regular basis in which the author frequently expresses beliefs or opinions that completely contradict your own?

Regularly and frequently? No.

-- If you disagree with a blogger do you usually voice your perspective so they can see things from a different angle, or just ignore theirs and click away?

That depends. If I have a relationship with that person, I may email them privately. I don't like to enter into online controversy. I find that if I enter into a controversy, I spend way too much time thinking about it and fussing and generally getting worked up. And if I start something, I feel an obligation to finish it. That can take a lot of time.

--Does the size of the person's readership influence this for you?

No. Not in the least. But I will admit to getting excited when Phil the Pyromaniac commented on my blog in the first month I was blogging.

-- Do you read and/or post on Saturdays and Sundays? Or are you predominantly at M-F blogger?

I post everyday (at least I will until October when I finish posting the God's minute prayers). However, I am seriously thinking of taking the rest of the summer off. These last few days of Blogger problems made me realize how much time I am spending blogging and how many other things I can get done if I'm not blogging. (I've shampooed all my rugs! Yea! And my laundry is done and almost put away--unheard of!!) During the school year, I need to be in the general vicintity of our DVD homeschool so that I can oversee and be available for Sam, but now that school is finally wrapped up, I have more freedom to get outside and do other projects. So look for a lot less blogging on Hiraeth, at least throughout the summer months.