Once in a blue moon metablogging thoughts
Posted: June 21, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized 28 Comments »
Recently, I've been running out of random pictures to serve as post headers. I guess I'd better hop on over to some imageboards and scrounge up a few more.
Because I don’t often metablog, yet often have random metablogging thoughts floating around in my mind as I wander throughout the aniblogosphere, I’ve decided to collect up all of these broken threads and mash them together into one post.
So random thought number one is on team blogging.
Honestly, the only kind of post from a team blog that interests me (and this isn’t to say that it’s the best of the worst – it really does interest me) is when a team collaborates on a single post, be it episodic or editorial. Team posts are like two blogs smashed into one – I don’t have to click a link to see another person’s views since they’re on the same page. They’re also like the comments section and the post mixed together. There’s a healthy debate (well, sometimes) inside the post between two or more people just like a convo inside a comments section.
But other than that, I’d rather see another blog than more ‘diverse’ posts on the same blog. Hey, Say Anime! is one of the largest active team blogs out there (in terms of members), but I don’t read it often because… well, there’s just too many posts. It’s like taking my post output (which is arguably a shitload, considering I usually don’t do half–assed posts) and shoving it through a 10x multiplier machine – ten semi-active/active mainly-episodic blogs smashed up into one enormous monster of a blog.
When a team blog gets to be more than three or four members large, it’s hard to remember who’s who (and who said what about which anime), especially if the members don’t have their own blogs (as in, OH! had members whose dispositions were already well known from their own blogs, and those who didn’t have their own blogs/had inactive blogs found room to develop their own blogging personalities). On the other hand, a blog like Epic Win, which has only two authors, almost forces you to see the authors’ different (or similar) personalities, since both 0rion (apparently, zeros look like “o”s) and Guff appear in most posts together.
tl;dr team blogs need less people and/or more team posts
P.S.: Of course, I’m too new to aniblogging to know any other team blogs all that well (yukan, for one), and this is all based on my own experiences.
Random thought number two is on post output.
Naturally, a blog (leaving out news blogs like SanCon and ANN) that thrusts out ten posts a day isn’t very attractive, no matter how awesome each post may be.
“Mikotoism” has an average of 1.52 posts/day, which is a lot for a solo blogger. Damn it, that’s why my e-peen is still so small! I got bored of writing this post here yesterday and left it as a draft. Since I totally forgot what I was going to say, let’s just end this point right here.
…but you don’t have to show them to everybody else!
My third random thought is on figure blogs.
I just don’t understand these. I find absolutely no enjoyment in looking at pictures of plastic pantsu, or at posts with so many jpegs that my less-than-awesome computer threatens to explode.
I think that one purpose of a blog is to strike up a conversation/debate. Though there may be some kind of fun in posting random shit that none of your readers care about, posting about something that receives insightful comments is ultimately one goal of a blogger. Receiving comments like “cool,” “I wish I had that,” and “awsumz!11one” aren’t exactly what I’m talking about here… and that kind of comments is usually what I see on many figure blogs.
The fatal flaw of figure blogs is that they can’t connect to readers very well (and thus, the redundant and pointless comments). An episodic post relates to readers because… well, the episode has just come out, and people can read an episodic, understand what the blogger is talking about, and make an intelligent reply. Editorials are equally… conversation-able, if not more so, as they aren’t limited by anime viewers’ short attention spans. Yet posts on figures lack this ability to prompt comments. Readers either have or don’t have the figure. Those who do can go in-depth into how intricate the figure is… or whatever people talk about regarding figures. Those who don’t… well, the most they can do is express their desire for the figure and/or talk about something else that’s not directly related to the specific figure.
My comment on 7’s recent AnimeNEXT loot post (which is pretty much akin to a figure post in its ability to attract intelligent conversation) displays both of these. “That sword is damn awesome” is equivalent to “awsum pantsu lolo” and “NOT ENOUGH LOOT” is equivalent to a discussion on something that’s not directly related to the specific loot.
tl;dr figure blogs suck because they’re not interesting enough for the reader
I could not find a relevant picture.
Random thought #4 pertains to blog names.
I myself have a very awesome blog with a very shitty blog name. Although Mikoto Misaka is indeed the goddess of anime and you probably can’t persuade me otherwise unless you get down to the semantics of the word “goddess,” Mikotoism is quite the crappy title for a blog. A blog title is by nature a very hard thing to decide on, unless you’ve an incredible urge to name your blog something and/or the great Haruhi in the sky has shown you the way to true blog success.
Among the 150 or so blogs that I randomly check every so often (and the hundreds more that I somehow get to, bookmark, and forget about for the next two months until some person links to one of them), there are only a few whose blog titles I truly respect, envy, and would turn gay for: Epic Win, wat u say, Low on Hit Points, some others, and some of those that are totally in Japanese and would seem pretty cool if only I knew what they sounded like/meant/lolwut.
Since there’s no real argument or anything to this specific point, I’m just going to dump out my thoughts on blog titles.
- Too many blogs are titled ____ Anime Blog
- Too many blogs start with “Anime”
- Too many blogs are all in Japanese and I have no idea how to refer to them in English without messing up badly
- A blog title is one of the biggest factors in readership. I mean, I get an average of 400 ~ 500 page views a day while Sankaku Complex gets over nine thousand page views a day. This is clearly because SanCon has such a damn interesting title while “Mikotoism” just makes people think “wow, that is a shitty title for this blog.”
If one were to see my blog and “Sankaku Complex” on the same blogroll, he or she would immediately click on Sankaku Complex because the title is just that appealing. Who wouldn’t want to visit a site that has a name like that?
Take a look at “Random Curiosity” and “Danny Choo.” Neither blog ever contains anything the least bit interesting, but they’re both so popular because of their blog titles. “Random curiosity” strikes one’s subconcious directly. Humans are by nature very curious, and to see “random” in front of “curiosity” is like hearing that Haruhi will have a second season something like that. And “Danny Choo?” That’s just some guy’s name! For some guy to name his blog/site his name, he’s basically saying “this blog is so awesome that I don’t need a damn title.”
Oh screw it, I got bored again.
My posts always fall off the serious cliff and into the sea of trollage.
In other news, I’m considering renaming my blog. Maybe “blog of awesome” is a good choice? Or maybe just “fangzhao,” like dannychoo.com. Thoughts?
Bad blog names might be an option too. At least they’re memorable. “Anime Blog,” “Blog,” and “Shitty Anime Blog on WordPress.com” [abbreviated as SABoW.com] are all things I’m considering.
lol @ blog names. At least yours isn’t the product of a misunderstood translation.
I quite like this post but my blog name is better than yours.
Oh yeah, I added you to my blogroll! I like this post a lot lol, especially some of the more bitchy comments.
i think people see mikotoism and the real anime fans go holy name look alikes batman! i tend to prefer Kanaism myself but if i see Mikotoism, my mind will immediately do this…go to
Haruhi
Mikuru
Konota
Kagami
FS/N
Kagami
Kagami
Clears mind
Haruhi
Majutsu no index
Index annoys me
Crystal girl is hot
Touma sucks
Mikoto, mikoto, mikoto, OH!
Electric shock H-manga
Mikoto!
I get it now!
I wonder how I fare when it comes to blog names….
‘Low on Hit Points’ was originally going to be a gaming blog. The name makes sense there. However, I kind of fell out of gaming and ended up becoming obsessed with anime. Thus, LoHP doesn’t work so well anymore… but I have started blogging about gaming occasionally!
So it’s totally a legit name now. It means I don’t game as much, therefore I’m low on hit points at the moment… fine, that’s a bullcrap justification for not being able to come up with an anime related name for the life of me. Names are hard!
But when it comes to traffic, I don’t think blog naming really affects much at all. For example, you destroy me when it comes to traffic (but I think your blog name is fine, however). Posting frequently (my main issue), posting good content (hopefully not my main issue), and interacting with the community are far more important.
Of course, you could always go the social network site route (Danny Choo) or the softcore porn route (Sankaku Complex) to skyrocket your pageviews…
Didn’t notice this before, but yeah you do seem to have ~1.5 posts per day on average. And I thought I posted a lot with my ~1.2 post per day lol (and most of my posts don’t require thought)
As on the issue of blog names, I name my blog for exactly what it is: a product of wasted time. Nobody reads my blog; it doesn’t make money; and I could spend the time doing something more productive, but for some strange reason I continue to post lol.
*Ctrl + F*
*”Minimum Tempo”*
*”Phrase not found”*
*Ctrl + W*
Team blogs are kind of already discussed in places like THAT. I completely agree that they suck unless they are done together. And figure blogs… I really don’t see what the hell is the use with that.
One name I was recently thinking of was “RA” To put it blatantly, “Raping Aizen” – in praise of Krauser-sama. I’m sure that would bring out a lot of yaoi fangirls but na. I’ll make a new name when I can afford my own web server.
I agree completely with what you said about the importance of connecting to the readers when it comes to blogging. That’s why I hold new comments much higher in regard than say, whenever I suddenly get a jump in the number of hits.
About team blogs, well for me, I find it confusing whenever I find a new team blog and have to sort out all the writers and their different opinions. If a blog has only a single writer, it is a lot easier to get used to his/her style and personality. But if one gets accustomed to a team blog, I really don’t see any disadvantages of it, it might be even superior.
I’ll also have to say that name probably has very little to do with how much traffic you receive; it’s more a function of how interesting your content is and how often you post. I know that on my end, I’d love to be able to post more stuff on my blog, but there’s no way I’m willing to sacrifice quality for quantity. And I would hope that when people take a look at my blog, that the content is what’ll be the selling point.
LOL, of course you won’t understand what a figure blog is about if you don’t buy figures :p It’s a collector’s thing. If you collect stuff, besides being happy that you have them, you like to show them off. Also, it serves as a review, cause plain pictures on online shop sites won’t really pinpoint any real flaws that might come with the figure, like close-up inspection, checking the real quality, reviewing how the real thing looks in general, etc etc. You know, it’s the same as reviewing anything people buy for decorational and fashion purposes.
Of course, with the prices on the rise now, I’ve limited my figure purchases from many a year to around 3 a year, which sucks from a collector’s point. If the prices and my budget were as they were 4 years ago, I’d make many more posts about figures :p Also for the record, figure posts ARE popular, which means that many people are at the very least curious about them, if not interested.
And nah, as long as the name doesn’t have stuff like “Anime Blog” “Anime” ” Blog” “Japan” “common word blog”, anime blogs or japanese oriented blogs can have whatever name. Just because a blog is popular doesn’t mean its name made it :p Damn its name may have actually driven people away in the past :p
Don’t understand your dislike of ‘Mikotoism’ unless it’s just over-familiarity. DannyChoo and Sankaku Complex are not interesting names – they get hits ’cause they pander. ‘Mikotoism’ pulled me in even though I wasn’t acquainted with that particular goddess. First the name, then the banner, than the writing – then gently tug on the line, and the hook snags in the lower esophagus –
I don’t care. My blog’s name is fugly.
People have the right to practice good search optimization (SEO) by including anime blog in the title. People are more likely to type anime blog into a search engine than Mikotoism when looking for anime blogs.
SaBow.com haha…. not a bad name XD. well, i dont have a blog myself and i just to read others blog, but the name doesnt matter to me. what appeal to me is the content. sankaku complex appeal me becoz of many NSFW gallery (haha), random curiousity due to their quite update on anime news and review. well, for your site, i like some post of u with unique humor ( like the first picture, may i know what manga it is from? XD) so gambate, dont give up ^^
My blog name is freakin’ general, but well, I never was good at naming.
Mikotoism ain’t that bad, yeah? It does intrigue one.
Team blogs are a hell unless the authors are highlighted and post flood isn’t too big. Some team blogs use themes where the author’s name is not stated anywhere, or stated so transparently that you won’t find it. I try to avoid that as much I can.
By the way… welcome to my blogroll.
Howsabout “Miko-to-you”.
Involves the readers, has a double entendre.
Scratch that, I suck at making-up names, why, even my blog’s name falls in one of the above mentioned issues.
I suck at naming, hence the many past blog names and such. At least yours can ring a bell with people. Mine, on the other hand…no comment.
I post like, three times a day. I’m out of control. I have been thinking of taking a break though. I mean, I start work finally, so I’m going to be forced to slow down anyway.
Eye Sedso is the best name for anything ever. If you want a truly original name, you can just type gibberish, like:
sdognosgiohs
I bet no one would ever even think of that, and I’d love to see someone try and bring up that name in a conversation. Frankly, I think Mikotoism is fine.
Since I am too damn lazy to reply to everybody, here’s some general responses:
1) I’m pretty much trolling on that last bullet point – yes, I do know that SanCon is for fapping and Mikotoism is not, and I was basically kidding on the blog name > all other factors in blog readership.
2) Yes, I do dislike my blog name, since it is, in my opinion, nothing like 7’s blog name which contains lots of random greek letters that pop out in a blogroll of over 9000 blogs (like the one on Drastic My Anime Blog). Though my title might make people interested in who “Mikoto” really is. Hmmn.
3) I have learned that metablogging has a direct effect on length of e-peen. Just one metablogging post has put me up on two blogrolls. If I metablogged like Author, I’d be the next Danny Choo by now!
4) It seems that my thoughts on blog names and my hate of my own blog title has prompted others to display their own dislike/disinterest of their blog names. Seinime, Gargron, Shion, simplybill, Aizen, TJ, ffviiknight, etc. have all displayed some level of either “I don’t care,” “My blog name sucks,” or “fangzhao is a god.” Maybe it’s just that people naturally find fault with their own blogs (though I have a ton of fun making fun of my blog, so it’s all good).
5) MINIMUM TEMPO MINIMUM TEMPO MINIMUM TEMPO
6) I still do not understand the importance of figure posts. I can see why one would want to brag, but from a reader’s POV, such posts seem pretty useless.
7) I’m not sure what’s worse from a team blog: post overload or lack of posts. A lack of posts defeats the purpose of a team blog, since there’s too little posts for separate authors to develop distinct personalities, and there’s really no workload to split/output. Though Epic Win Blog is certainly an exception, since all 0rion and Guff do are team posts.
More specific replies
@ojisan:
Blog name – “Seems like a nice little blog”
Blog banner – “Well, that’s kind of weird”
Writing (first half) – “Oh wow, this is pretty interesting”
Writing (part two) – “Wait, hold on a sec. What’s he talking about? Wait, what the fu-”
Hook, line, and sinker – trolling 101 here!
@Jura: Yeah, well… this blog has a monopoly on the google search term “Mikotoism.” “____ Anime Blog” might trigger a lot more results than one would want!
@Blacksun88: That top picture… well, I’m not quite sure. It’s Haruki and Kyonko, but I got it off of some imageboard or another, so the source is a mystery.
@glothelegend:
Eye Sedso = +1 for original blog name, -1 for post count overload!
Get a lif- You know, I, Mr. Internet, really shouldn’t be talking.
@Disheartened people who I didn’t reply directly to: Don’t worry. Come back five times a day and comment a ton, and I’ll reply! I’ll be busy watching my hits counter soa-
Also [I’m too lazy to edit my previous comment]:
This post got some 150 views (that’s less than the ISML-Shana post, which had a title, a picture, and fie words), and more intelligent comments than all of my other posts combined.
Therefore, my theory is that trolling with a lot of linkage is directly proportional to intelligent responses is inversely proportional to hits.
Thus I must post more stereotypical episodics to garner more vie-
I don’t like how both of my comments would end with a cut-off sentence if I didn’t type this line, so have at you!
bastardo! i was hoping to get some kind of sarcastic response on my train of thought that your blog title spurs but nooooo.
meh, being the disheartened few aint so bad.
ic. thx a lot for replying me fangzhao ^^
lol at the ways to enlarge breasts geegle search…
🙂
[…] is to anyone who wants to exchange bloglinks (changed the title, after hearing some rants on naming blogs, something had to be done. not good enough! suggest something!) – I’ve changed […]
Eh… I’ll just go back to my measly misnamed bloggu then. And delete the hundreds of fig and shit pictures from the FTP.
Wait, no. I love my shit. 🙂
Gut!