My Blog

Okay, I know that it is generic to blog about blogging, but here I go.

The small handful of you that read my blog on a regular basis may have noticed some recent changes. I made some small layout changes that you might not notice but mostly I edited my list of blogs. I removed several of the links, and I am now in the process of putting some back. Notably, I also changed my "Following" status to anonymous on all of the blogs that I follow. This second change was made because I don't want all that stuff on my profile and blogger doesn't give you the option (as far as I know) of NOT displaying the blogs you follow publicly on your profile. If I am wrong about this, please tell me in the comments. As far as the first change is concerned, I did that to make my blog more anonymous. The majority of my few readers are people that I know very well; most likely we are related if you are a reader of mine. Because you know me, you might not notice the fact that there is no mention of my name, first or last, anywhere on my blog. Aside from photos of me, I have tried to limit all of the personal information that I put up here. I do mention my wife and son by name in many posts, but that is a practice that I have been slowly ending as well.

Curiously, in a recent conversation, a friend commented that "I am so public" on my blog, that I 'really put everything out there'. Because we are friends, this person completely overlooked the fact that I am not really as public as one may think. In another conversation not long ago a different friend asked me if my blog "is anonymous… you know, do any of your family members read it?" In this sense of the word anonymous, my blog is definitely not anonymous. I don't mind my family reading my blog; in many ways that is why I blog – I am really bad about staying in touch with them and this is an easy way for me to update people without actually emailing or calling; this allows me to stay in touch without actually staying in touch. Nevertheless, this awareness of my family as my reading audience has affected the way that I blog at times. I definitely write with that audience in mind and consequently there are things that I don't share here, at least not as openly as I might otherwise (I know that that will shock my father – he sometimes calls me to lecture me about being too open on my blog). (Don't worry, Dad, strangers don't know it's me).

To those of you who notice that the links that used to connect your blog to mine are now missing, I just want to say that nothing is final and things can be put back. On my blog's dashboard, I still follow all the links that I removed. The reason that I took those links away is because I don't want information on my blog that can lead readers I don't know personally back to me. If you use my last name on your blog I removed the link. If you have me listed under my name on your blog, rather than my blog's name or any of the pseudonyms that I have used in the past, I removed the link. If you take my name off your blog I put your blog back onto mine. Also, I just want to repeat that I still read all the blogs that I linked to in the past, but they are just not all on my blog anymore.

Many of these changes are consistent with the types of changes that I have made in the past. Long time followers of my blog know that I shut it down a few times in the past six months. The last time that I re-opened it, I did so minus about 200 old posts. I have tried to remove most of the political-commentary-type posts that were here, and I don't plan on blogging much about politics in the future. The reason for this is that I think that some of my political opinions that differ from some of the people (SZ) who occasionally read this created more ill-will than anything that I actually blog for. There are three main reasons for the removal of that sort of stuff: One, I really don't care that much about it; two, I am not really that well-informed or that smart on the issues that seem to divide people; and, three, I really don't care that much about it. Much of the same goes for a lot of the posts that had any really religious tone to them. I don't blog to feel further divided from people, especially the people I am related to.

Anyway, if you read this whole post, THANK YOU for reading. If you think that your links should be restored – that is what the comments are for.

Sincerely,

me