Tuesday, May 3, 2011

A State Of The Blog Address


First of all guys an apology is in order. I know that my skills at responding to comments/leaving comments on the blogs I read/generally acting like a decent human being have all gone way downhill.

The fact is, I’ve just been busy, really busy and I get caught in a vicious cycle that goes like this.

(Get’s back from work exhausted.)

“Comments! I’ll answer them in the morning, when my brain no longer resembles a bowl of tapioca and I am capable of giving each of these the attention and respect they deserve.”

(Eight fitful hours later)

“And there’s the last of my formatting for the day's post. Now to get to those comments.”

(Glances at the clock, notices I have seven minutes to get to work.)


“Mother of God.”

Etcetera Etcetera.

On the days I’m not working replace working with working at my other job, working on my various neglected writing projects, letting my loved ones know I am still alive, seeing the sun.


Etcetera Etcetera.

This is no excuse for being rude, and if you took the time to post something and were left thinking “Whatta douchebag.” I can only apologize. I’d like to say that I’m sorry and that this will get better soon. And it will… eventually. Unfortunately it’s probably going to get worse before it gets better. May is simply put going to be a bitch. It’s going to be a remarkably exciting bitch, to be sure. But I’m going to be in serious crunch mode for awhile.

One of the things that I’m proudest of at Things That Don’t Suck is the consistency of the content. Simply put if I have to choose between putting out six posts a week, or four posts with every comment answer I’m afraid I’m going to choose six posts, right or wrong. Which brings me to the next point.


2) I’m going to have to experiment with some advertising on the site. It’s not a decision I’ve made lightly. I’ve been very proud to keep Things That Don’t Suck ad free since its Inception.

However, not to get into too much personal detail, but related to my extreme busyness, my cost of living is about to go up. Dramatically. This isn’t a tale of woe. In fact I’m pretty excited about what’s going to be going on. But the fact remains that for the time I put into it, I can literally no longer afford to ignore this blog as a source of income. I have two options. I can either choose to put less time into Things That Don’t Suck, or I can experiment with it as a source of income. I’ve gone for the latter.

The key word here is experiment. I don’t know what form this advertising will be taking it, whether it’ll be through Amazon, Google, third party rent space or some combination of the three. I’m basically going for what is as unobtrusive as possible. This is all my way of saying you might see a few different permutations over the next couple of days and weeks as I try to fine tune things. I can only ask you to work with me a little and I promise you that if it gets to the point where I realize there is no way to make ads compatible with Things That Don’t Suck, it will be the ads that will go, not the blog.

As always I am extremely grateful to anyone who takes the time to read my work. There’s a great community of readers here at Things That Don’t Suck that is as gratifying to me as anything I’ve actually written. That’s why I’m taking the time to explain the situation. We’ve hit a little bump in the road, but Things That Don’t Suck is still strong, and it’ll only be getting better.

As always thank you for your time.

10 comments:

Mr. Gable said...

I had to laugh at your intro because I am the same way. I get up early because that's only time I am able to set aside for my blog and 95% of the time after I've run through my daily internet sites and wrapped up my blog for the day...I'm out of time.

So I understand where you're coming from. If the days would just get longer. Or the work day would get shorter. That sounds better.

le0pard13 said...

I consistently enjoy your work, Bryce. I will continue to read your fine blog no matter. You're a class individual. Thanks.

Budd said...

Ads, no way, wait, I have ads on my page. Ads, A-OK.

Anthony R. said...

Man, whatever. If you have ads (or provide those Amazon links to whatever you're talking about that give you a kickback), then I'm happy you're getting something for providing so much content for free.

As far as comments go, well, I come here for the posts, not the comments.

Mythical Monkey said...

I suspect any blogger with a job (or kids or a dog or a life) has a hard time carving out time to respond to every comment. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it.

Unless, of course, you don't respond to this comment, in which case I say damn you to hell!

I kid.

As for advertising, writing may be a lot of fun, but it's also a business. If you can generate a little income from writing and you don't find it hurts your enjoyment of your blog, do it.

Anonymous said...

Dude, I totally know what you're talking about regarding the whole commenting thing. There is only so much time in the day. Plus, I want to make sure my responses aren't just canned. That looks worse than a non-response in my mind. I want to be able to react to each and every one in a thoughtful and meaningful way. I almost take as much time in my responses than I do in my actual posts!

BRENT said...

Apologies and Tricky Dick Nixon don't mix do they??!!!!(it is something the American public deserved and never got )...or is intentionally tounge in cheek?

Bryce Wilson said...

@ Mr. Gable: Wouldn't it though? We should start a bloggers union ; )/

@ le0pard13: As are you sir. Which is why I felt that an apology was in order.

@ Budd: This gave me a good laugh sir.

@ Anthony: Thanks man. My fear was it would be too obtrusive, but I think I've found a way to make it not so bad.

@ Mythical Monkey: I do appreciate it.

@ POT: That's always been my attitude too. But I know it does rankle some people. A lot of times I'll enjoy a writer without sharing their frame of reference. So I end up writing what basically amounts to "Yes I am still reading your site. Rest assured."

@ Brent: Ha! I wasn't thinking about it that much. I'm just fascinated with Nixon in general, and I figured if I needed a face for my state of the union it might as well be that old mug.

BRENT said...

Nixon was certainly an interesting character wasn't he?! I'm only been getting into reading about him in the last few years after having done the Kennedy's!

Biba Pickles said...

I remember I had a crush on 60s 70s Woody Allen when I was 15.