WILL THIS BLOG CONTINUE??
by John
HI METALWORKERS, MODELLERS, STEAM HEADS & FRIENDS.
I have been posting these blogs for a few months now, and have had quite a few viewers and views from many countries.
While blogging has been interesting and fun for me, there has been very little feedback or comments.
Feedback is the pay back for the time and expense of the blogger.
So, please leave some comments about the blogs, positive, negative, good, bad, boring, interesting.
Otherwise I will take my bat and ball and go home.
johnsmachines 
I think, if you wrote something about your personal life, your hobbies yadda yadda yadda. There are many ladies that blogs and I think if you continue the same topic over and over, it gets ‘used’. People actually lose interest very fast, it is about ‘keeping the crew’
LikeLike
Led with my jaw there didn’t I…
LikeLike
Hi John, and thanks for the comment. I guess that we bloggers need some affirmation that what we are putting out there is of some interest and possibly useful, and not just self interested boasting.
LikeLike
Dont worry. Same happened to me.
Perhaps we should all follow each other.
Cervantes said that there was no book so bad as to not have something useful in it. Could that be true of blogs?
john f
LikeLike
Don’t know what to tell you John – I gave up hoping for comments – they are so scarce with Australian audiences. You see a post of some American bloggers, and a photo of their cup of coffee elicits 100s of responses.
To give you some stats for my blog – I have 2620 posts over the last 6 1/2 years (just over 2500 days). In all that time, with 1000-2000 visits a day (over 2 million directly, and incalculable amounts through RSS feeds, Facebook, Twitter, Email), I have had a total of 6700 comments.
50% of which are mine, when responding to others. So say 4000 comments from others (to be generous). Roughly speaking, that is 1 comment for every 750 visits. Or an average of 1 person reading every single daily post, and commenting once every 2 years.
The value of the blog, the interest shown in a blog, the reward from blogging cannot be measured in comments.
Thank goodness! Otherwise I would also have given up years ago (and yes, I went through, and still struggle with, the overall lack of feedback). I simply have to take it on faith that my blog has sufficient value to continue. Even if for no other reason than a great history for myself of what I have done and the learning curve I have chosen to undertake. If others want to read about it as well – great! If they want to comment, awesome!
I look back at the million words (actually now well beyond that) – was it worth the effort? I’m sure it was, and is, comment or no.
I certainly enjoy dropping in and reading what you are doing, and seeing the record of a project’s progression and not just the finished product. I certainly hope you not only persist, but expand. Videos of production, workshop snaps, more info about the machines themselves etc etc. Who knows.
Remember that duck and dinosaur marionette you made Phil and me when I was 9.
You probably don’t. I do. I still have them today, in my workshop. You have no idea who you are influencing, what paths you are setting people on, simply by sharing a bit of what you do.
LikeLike
Thanks for those observations Stuart. The stats are amazing (2 million visits) and sobering. You are getting more visits per day than I have had in 3 months! 1 comment per 750 visits! Now I feel guilty that I did not comment more often. Now the shoe is on the other foot, as a blogger.
I also have a gut feeling that my musings are worthwhile, but I do sometimes ask myself if it is just a self aggrandising wank. So I will continue for the time being, at least until my one year subscription is used up.
LikeLike
To expand on one point I made (and as a followup to our recent ‘discussion’ on the machining of the column), have you considered using the blog more to be an education tool, not just showing the stages of a project, but documenting how you actually achieve each step.
It is a thought I could apply more to some of my postings as well. Not only the steps in progress of a project, but how each step is carried out. With a variety of posts, the site would still be of plenty of interest to those who know as well as you do about what is involved in a particular process, but could also bring along those of us who do not have the machines (yet) and give more insight into just what is involved, and getting to see through photos/video how the products/components are produced.
LikeLike
Hi Stu, I think I might need some lessons in making videos before trying to teach.
Also, having been metalworking for only about 7-8 years I still often feel like a beginner myself.
I think of my blog, as you described yours recently, as being like a diary.
And while not attempting to formally teach techniques, maybe inspiring others to ‘have a go’ which is basically how I started.
However, I have taken your observation on board, and I will consider it.
The blog was another “suck it and see” situation, and now that it is underway, I guess that I need to more formally decide whether i am aiming to try and induce more beginners into the hobby (i.e. teaching) or communicating with experienced metalworkers to share experiences.
There are quite a few sites out there with excellent teaching videos (Tubal Cain AKA mrpete222 springs to mind).
Just writing this reply is clarifying my thoughts a bit, and I think that the “communication with other metalworkers…”latter is the direction I am heading.
However, just for you, I will introduce more steps of the production process. (!!!)
p.s. the most helpful methods for increasing my metalworking knowledge have been (not in any particular order)
1: reading books books and more books, every magazine I can get my hands on, the Internet, other blog sites, YouTube
2: joining a local Experimental Engineers & Modellers Club. Has been most enjoyable. Great contacts and expert advice.
3: going to a local tech school night class for metalworking
4: talking to other metalworkers
🙂 John
LikeLike
Right here is the right web site for anyone who wants to find out
about this topic. You understand so much its almost hard to argue with
you (not that I really will need to…HaHa).
You certainly put a fresh spin on a topic
that’s been written about for ages. Excellent stuff, just great!
LikeLike