Sunday, May 22, 2005

The Artful Blogger

Recently both Mis-nagid and Godol Hador have thrown in the towel, quit their blogs and deleted all their posts. Why the abrupt bailing for each of them I'm not sure, but I do have a hypothesis for why they both acted similarly.

I don't think it was some conspiracy but rather a case of convergent activity. Both Mis-nagid's and Godol Hador's blogs were incredibly active. They would sometimes post several times a day and get dozens and hundreds of comments to their messages. For just one guy, that kind of constant full activity could just be too much. It's like coming home from work and then seeing another load right in front of them. At first it would be fun but after awhile (a few months each) it began getting tiresome.

I think that it was a case of burning the candle at both ends. Their blogs were great to read, no doubt much better than mine. And they really tried giving something to their readers on a very regular basis. But that's _hard_ to keep up for any length of time when a person has many other interests and responsibilities in life.

So how do you keep a long-living blog (says the one with five months to his name)? By keeping things in moderation. I post messages only semi-regularly. Sometimes five in a week, sometimes none. But because of how irregularly I post, I feel little pressure to constantly put newer and newer material out there. And because of this little pressure I have no desire to put this blog out of commission. Even if I become uninterested for a few months I can leave it as it is and come back to it when I feel like it.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good point.

Add BneiLevi and AddeRabbi to the list of recent bailouts.

Nothing sinister afoot??

Anonymous said...

and:

http://orthosceptic.blogspot.com

I think it's chareidi thugs at work.

Orthoprax said...

Joshua,

I sure hope not. But Mis-nagid has assured me personally that his reasons were personal and he was not forced to take his site down.

The others though...I don't know what's going on in their private lives.

Jewish Atheist said...

I think he just got scared of the arguments he was being exposed to.

BrooklynWolf said...

It is difficult to keep up a pace. I try to keep my blog fresh by updating at least a few times a week. But it is a drain on your time and I can understand how burn-out or fatigue can set in.

Personally, I love to write, so I'm going to try to stick around as long as I can.

The Wolf

BrooklynWolf said...

OrthoSceptic hadn't posted anything since March, so I think he was done even before he took down his blog.

The Wolf

BrooklynWolf said...

I can't presume to speak for GH and the others, JA, but I can tell you that there is nothing wrong with being exposed to questions. One does not have to discard one's faith simply because he comes across a question that he can't answer.

The Wolf

M-n said...

"One does not have to discard one's faith simply because he comes across a question that he can't answer."

That part comes when they do find the answer. Reality isn't very kind to the Orthodox dogmas.

Orthoprax said...

rebelmo,

Well, actually Mis-nagid still has all his posts and all comments saved on file and you can view them at The Frum Skeptics Group at yahoo.com. I have a link to there on the right side of my blog.

I think that they took it all down because if it were still up and people were still commenting and viewing, it would be very difficult for the bloggers to not be curious about what was going on.

They would feel compelled to come back to the blog.