Community

Just a simple post here to say, check out my new weekly blog and leave comments/questions either on this thread or on the blog itself.  Just click on my name to get to my profile and to the blog itself. Enjoy!  The first series is about being a DM with Evil PC's in the group.  And I've already received my first question which I will address either on this thread, or in a future blog post.

Happy Gaming!

The Artist formerly known as JLaurHughes  peace.

Second installment of D4rkVision is up for any who wish to take a read of it.

Installment #3 is out.

No blog this week, I'm appalled by the lack of interest, comments, or even suggestions for a subject.

Blogs here need work, inasmuch as apparently only staff blogs stay visible for more than a couple hours.

The only advice I can give you is keep blogging and hope people start recognizing that you are updating regularly.  Eventually you should get lucky.

People are really only going to see your blog if they befriend you and get noticed of a new blog.  The best way to do that is to participate on the boards a lot, make yourself known as a smart guy with a lot of good ideas, and point people to your existing blogs when relevant, and befriend people.  Also, read other people's blogs, leave helpful or appreciative comments and ratings.  That will make other people want to read your blogs.

Even the staff blogs don't get a lot of traffic.  Shelly Mazzanoble's last blog got 9 comments, which seems pretty small to me, and only a handful of votes.  I try to comment on or rate any blog I read.

But, with that said, don't be annoying.  If it feels like you're participating in threads, just to move traffic to your blog, it becomes a turn-off.  It feels insincere.  People want to be part of a community; they're not looking to merely be an audience.

One thing I learned early about Blogs is that you generally have to be somebody before anyonewill pay attention to it. Otherwise you're just "John Doe's" opinion on xxxyyy.

Don't take this the wrong way, you could have written an amazing post; it does not matter. People are generally interested in "who" you are before you say anything. For example, lets say Paris Hilton starts a blog, you can be she will get 100,000 of reads, if not millions; even if what she says is total crap.

Notice that after a big football (I mean soccer) match, the press hang on the every word of the player......"Ye it was a close game....we pushed hard....then they came back, then at half time we thought' we'd had it, but we never underestimate [insert crap team here], ya know....ya gotta take each game as it comes, ya ....know".

In other words some rambling crap that could apply to any game played in the last 20 years. It does not matter, since people are interested in who he is.

Now you don't necessarily have to be famous, but you do need an angle. For example in the UK some people who work in our NHS (Nationalized Health Service) may have blogs that act as "whistle blowers". MR DARK HOOD is really doctor who works in the NHS, read his Blog for what REALLY goes on in hospitals. Now people are interested in his blog due to his expertise or perhaps that he holds a privileged position, or he is privy to certain information etc. Hence people will read a WoTC employee blog since they are privy to some inside information, maybe they will let something slip?

So before you can get people interested in what you say, you need to get people interested in you, and if so why, why are you qualified to make these statements, what singles out your blog from others etc etc.

I don't think this applies to you, but often younger bloggers also meet with initial disappointment. Younger people often have an inflated or at least egotistical view of their position in the world. Thus if they speak, surely the world will take notice one this great "inner self" has expressed itself. This view can often be re-enforced by teachers, for example, who are trained to listen and give encouragement to students even if in reality they are bored. 

Sadly most people are just interested in themselves, they are interested in celebrities on account of them embodying some characteristic that they'd like to have but don't; other-times people live vicariously through sports celebrities.

Anyway hope some of my rambling helps.