Well, I hate to follow everyone else, but I couldn’t resist. I read this post this morning after seeing numerous tweets about it and being the loudmouth that I am, can’t help posting about it!
Jon Becker wrote Reflections of a new-ish blogger which got many other bloggers talking and writing - here’s a quote from his post:
“I think where I’m going with this is that I worry that the ed. tech. blogosphere is reasonably saturated. Related to Darren Draper’s post on Twitter Set Theory, I feel like there are some central figures whose spheres overlap considerably and a whole lot of us outsiders trying to penetrate that inner circle. It’s as if folks like Will Richardson, David Warlick, Wes Fryer, Vicki Davis, Dean Shareski, Stephen Downes, Chris Lehmann…(and, yes, you Scott) are having an awesome cocktail party conversation and I’m standing on the outside staring over their shoulders and listening in, trying to get a word in, but not penetrating that conversation at all. I know there are LOTS of us on the outside looking in.”
And my response:
“@Jon - as you can see from the comments here, there are MANY bloggers on the outside looking in, although whether there is an “inside” seems to be disputed. Sad as it may be, i found your post after seeing a tweet from Ryan Bretag about people not wanting to be famous, which led me (I’m ashamed to admit) to look for a tweet relating to his tweet, which led me to Vicki Davis tweeting about the “Dear Jon” letter, and also led me to a tweet about Vicki Davis’ post responding to this one. What does that tell us? I’m not actually sure, but whether we like it or not, getting the big dogs talking about you gets you readers! I’ve only been blogging 3.5 months and it’s been an amazing journey. I’m thinking that the 3 reasons I’ve had ANY readers are because of 1)Twitter 2) Vicki Davis blogging about me back in January and 3) I comment on a LOT of blogs. I don’t get worked up about number of readers or technorati ranking - no idea how a blog gets authority, actually! I just moved my blog and people asked what I’m going to do about my old blog’s spot on Alltop and my technorati authority and I thought, “huh?” I moved my blog anyway and figured people would find me - and they have! I’m happy that I found your blog, regardless of why it happened and I plan to read more of your work in the future. You’re now in my Google Reader - nice to meet you 
“
Now, what inspired me to write this post was first noticing that everyone who wrote ABOUT Jon got more comments than he did, as well as his next post “The conversation is getting away from me…..” (more reflections)
I’m going to do the classy thing and close comments here - go show Jon some blogger love and tell HIM how you feel - he’s the one who started all of this……….
And this is way overdue -
Thanks to Vicki Davis and Sue Waters for helping me get my blog up and running and sending readers my way, your help kept me motivated at the beginning - all new bloggers need some help now and then. Which leads me to pointing you toward a new edublog by Amie: Early Childhood Technology - head on over!
Edited later to add (after Vicki Davis weighed in on closing comments and used annotations in diigo to continue the conversation):
I’m opening comments up, but here’s my opinion on all of this:
When you directly quote another blog and share your response and opinion, it’s just plain NICE to encourage everyone to visit the blog you are referring to. So, because I’m naturally a little, let’s say - contentious - I’m going to ask that you please share your thoughts on the original topic with Jon, this post wouldn’t be here without him. Want to weigh in on my incorrect/correct decisions regarding closing comments? Here’s your chance!
Comments re-opened (because I’m always open to suggestions), and here’s the diigo annotations that were left:
Vicki Davis about 2 hours ago
I don’t think it is necessary to close comments — I’m frustrated I cannot respond to Kate’s note about closing comments!
- Vicki Davis about 2 hours ago
Don’t ever close the comments! The conversation doesn’t BELONG to anyone! It just doesn’t - we can talk any place, anywhere that we want!
Diane Hammond about 1 hour ago
It’s more natural for people to comment at whatever point (or place) they are pulled into the conversation.
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> what inspired me to write this post was first noticing that everyone who wrote ABOUT Jon got more comments than he did,
No, that’s simply false.
One or two people got a bunch of comments.
By contrast, my post on the subject has fewer than half the comments his does.
Stephen Downes » You’re absolutely correct, point taken. Apologies for the error and will be more careful about generalizations in the future!
Happy to have helped you out because I remember what it was like when I started out. I’ve been trying to get back to your post all day to write my thoughts and now it’s late so lets hope I make sense.
I have posted a comment on Jon’s follow up post about losing control of the conversation. Blogging conversations are the same as conversations face to face — they can’t be controlled it’s just how it is. Off course there are tools that can help us keep track of the conversation if we want to hear what is being said.
And just in face-to-face conversations we get people that are good at it so is the same for blogging. Sure for Jon, as a new blogger, it must feel frustrating that his friends take his ideas and create a greater conversation — I would be personally honored that they saw value in what I wrote. Linking is in many ways much nicer than comments because it expands the conversation and creates increased opportunities for others to share their thoughts. I know a well known blogger who said he prefers people to link to his posts than write comments.
Personally I don’t like comments being closed off instead I encourage my readers to write a comment on the other persons post.
Sue Waters » Thanks so much for your thoughts on closing comments, I definitely rethought my decision after hearing from Vicki and others. I agree with you about linking being important, but also understand Jon’s frustration. It’s hard when you work so hard in building a site and people never take the time to visit! Just beginner struggles, though, we all go through them.
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