The Butt Ugly Weblog

The why-do-i-blog-and-who-cares meme

Helsingin Sanomat has now a blog, which is about a journalist writing a story about blogs. And people go wild. I have some news for you: it's pretty much irrelevant. It does not matter at all what the traditional media thinks about blogs anymore - you, the bloggers, have the power here. It's your blog, and your own playground, and you get to do whatever you want. Though, this whole thing being public, you get to have the responsibility as well: behave like a moron, and you get scolded by other bloggers.

But I like memes, so I'm going to join this one from Katri. Translation mine, feel free to join in.

YOUR OWN BLOG

0. How would you explain blogging/blogs to a friend who knows what Internet is, but not about blogs?

Blogs are personal publishing. They are a very simple way to publish your own thoughts, feelings, opinions, facts, comments out to the world to see, or maybe to just some of your close friends. They are a way to take the internet back from the geeks (thanks, mitvit!) to the everyperson.

1. When did you start blogging?

1.1.2003.

2. Why do you blog?

To gain whuffie and to be able to participate in a world-spanning, loose conversation. I have already gained much through blogging, including friends and love.

3. How often do you blog?

Roughly daily. It varies.

4. Do you feel guilty, etc. if you don't have the time to blog? Why?

Only when I know I have something I want to get off my chest. I don't really care too much if I don't blog for days.

5. Bloggaatko vai blogaatko, miksi?

(This one makes sense only in Finnish. Kaksi g:tä. Yksi kuulostaisi liikaa "mokaamiselta".)

6. Which counter do you use? How many daily visitors (not page views) do you get on the average?

I have my own server, where the visits are counted by AWstats. This month: 977.80 unique visitors/day (excluding bots, but including RSS readers). That makes a total of 2157.87 page views/day and about 242.43 MB of traffic/day.

7. How many readers do you have according to blogilista.fi?

138. (Sheesh. I don't even know that many people in real life.) I have also 101 readers from bloglines, the rest seem to be using personal aggregators or are just random net surfers.

OTHER BLOGS

1. Do you read other blogs? If yes, why?

Yes. I choose to read a blog if a) I know the person, or b) the blog interests me otherwise in some fashion (good insights, beautiful pictures, up-to-date news, good writer).

2. When did you start reading blogs?

Mmm.... It was around the Sydney olympic games: late 2000.

3. How many blogs do you have on your blogroll?

I do not use blogilista.fi, but I follow approximately 220 blogs at the moment (the left side bar only lists my public subscriptions) using a combination of Bloglines and Sage.

4. What kind of blogs do you most like to read?

Insightful. People who are better than me in some respect, and choose to share their knowledge or skills.

5. What kind of blogs do you read the least?

Bitch-moan-complain -blogs.

6. Do you read blogs that you know to be irritating?

Sometimes. There are some blogs I read because the writer is insightful, though we might disagree on many things; and then there are blogs that I go to read probably for the same reason why people like to hurt themselves: to remind myself of certain truths about life.

7. Do you read mostly Finnish or foreign blogs?

At the moment out of my 220 blogs 95 seem to be Finnish. However, when you include blogs run by Finns but in English, I think it comes to about half-and-half.

8. Are the foreign blogs you follow similar to the Finnish ones?

No. My Finnish blogs I read more because of personal relationships with people, and because I try to keep up with the buzz. I also enjoy some Finnish bloggers because I admire their way to use the language. Most of the foreign blogs I follow are mostly "business".

9. How often do you read new blogs to find new favourites?

Very rarely these days. I almost completely rely on other people to recommend new blogs in their blogs. Sometimes I also end up on a blog through Yahoo search (yes, I've switched from Google), or when someone adds a link to my blog in their own.

INTERBLOGISTICS

1. Are you on the Finnish bloglist?

Four of my blogs are, with a new one probably appearing soon. One public blog is not on the list. My Nokia-internal blog is not on the list either, for obvious reasons. There are also some dead blogs to which I don't write to anymore.

2. If it's not, then why? Did you ask it not to be added?

The one that is not on the list is intended for a purpose that makes it sort of unsuitable for the blog list.

3. If it is, why is it there?

Blogilista.fi is a good way for people to follow blogs, without needing to know anything particularly technical. I don't want to exclude non-technical readers, so therefore it only makes sense to be on the list.

4. How often do you follow your blog's ranking on top- or hot-lists?

These days... practically never. Maybe, if I am really bored. I like the hotlist though, because it shows what is being talked about in the Finnish blogosphere.

5. What do you think / how do you feel, if your blog has gone up on top- or hotlists?

"Ha, suckers!". No. I don't actually care too much. Frankly, I would be worried if I was any higher, as there are better and more interesting writers in the world.

6. What do you think / how do you feel, if your blog has gone down on top- or hotlists?

"Yawn. What's for dinner?"

7. Do you ever comment other blogs in their comment sections?

Yes. Quite a lot, in fact.

8. Which blog do you comment the most in?

Probably Kari Haakana.

9. What kind of entries/matters do you comment the most?

Uuh... Difficult to say. Must eat more carrots.

10. Do you comment other blogs in your own blog? In which situations?

When the commentary becomes too long, or I need to go on a tangent.

11. Do you feel that there's an "inner circle" in the Finnish "blogoslavia?"

Sometimes I think there's an inner circle that has its meetings in some blogs and in their comment areas. But other than that, hardly. Unless you count me and Outi as one, very small circle ;-)

12. Do you feel like a part of an inner circle? Why / why not?

No, not particularly. If there is one, they're not inviting me.

13. Do you go to blog meets? Why?

Yes, I do. For two reasons: one, they tend to be near by to where I live, and b: most bloggers are also thoughtful and interesting persons also in real life.