I'm With David

David Weinberger has a fantastic post here, that says just what I want to say, about why I'm not keeping up with your blog. 

I wonder at the people whose sidebar says "Blogs I Read" or "Blogs I Love" and then lists hundreds of weblogs.  Do they think we don't know they are lying? 

I read new posts from the blogs listed in my aggregator most of the time.  Sometimes I skim; sometimes I delete them without reading.  I visit a few other blogs that I haven't subscribed to, but like to check in on, from time to time.  Sometimes I feel guilty about those I'm not reading -- there are certainly lots of good ones, worthy of my attention.  I'm not going to feel guilty anymore. 

Comments

[PG]

All well and good for people whom you know mostly through blogging, but I doubt that it holds for your 'real life' good friends. Of the half dozen people whose birthdays I note and who have an online presence, I keep up with theirs more faithfully than any others, even blogs that are better written. Mostly not out of a sense of obligation, so much as a desire to know what's going on with them that they might not tell me b/c they assume I read it already.

[David Giacalone]

David Weinberger said it well, Sherry. Thanks for pointing to his post. I've been saying for a long time that there are far too many weblogs worth reading, and webloggers I like, to make keeping up with them practical, nor aspirational, as a goal.

I have stayed away from the RSS aggregator fad, too -- precisely because I feel it would compound the problem for me, by bringing far too many interesting posts to my attention. Just as I do not try to read every brief my lawyer friends write; nor ever book that seems interesting or important that is published and recommended by a friend, I cannot try to stay abreast of the weblawg (much less the weblog) world, even if it seems like I "know" many of the main characters. The "community" has grown far beyond the personal level.

It's a generational thing, I'm sure, but none of my closest friends and family members read my weblog, even though they know it's important to me (unless I specifically write to tell them about a post of particular personal interest to them). I'm pleased they feel no obligation to keep up with my posting, and haiku.

[Denise]

This is why I have intentionally stopped adding blogs to my blogroll. I can't keep up and it's more important to me to keep up with a few good ones than it is to get whatever kudos or ratings come from links. Even now, I often will only get to blogs I like on a weekly basis (less often this past month, I must confess!).

Fortunately, for me, my family does read my blog, so I always know I have at least one faithful reader -- my mother! :)