I spent some time today going through my
Feedly and unfollowing blogs that had either been discontinued or had been inactive for a long time. There were a few blogs that no longer existed, and one URL that now leads to a page about anti–hair loss products for men (the greatest irony being the blog had been called "Forever Young: A YA Lit Blog"...well, I guess that's
one way to try to stay forever young, eh?) And then there were some bloggers whose last post was a declaration that they would not be blogging anymore, or would be taking a hiatus, etc.
But I was actually kind of shocked at the large number of bloggers who simply seemed to have vanished into the mists of cyberspace, never to be seen again. Bloggers who hadn't posted in over a year, but whose last post gave no indication that they'd be up and leaving.
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| Maybe they read this? |
Which made me wonder...what happened to them? Are they okay? Are they
just super busy with work/school/life? Are they ever coming back?
The thing is, we don't tend to notice a lack of something. We notice when somebody posts, yes. If they haven't posted in a long time, we may go, "Oh! It's a new post from So-and-So! Man, it's been a while!" But the absence of activity does not raise the same flag, and so we continue on, reading new posts from other bloggers and forgetting all about good old what's-her-name who hasn't uttered a peep since February 2011.
And once you do notice, then how do you respond? Online friendships are a tricky thing. Unless you know the blogger really well, you can hardly just call them up and go, "WHERE ARE YOU?" You can shoot them an e-mail or tweet or comment, sure, but you don't want to go overboard and be perceived as some kind of weird stalker.
So, this post is a tribute to all the disappearing or disappeared bloggers. Think about it for a moment. Which bloggers do you know who have faded from the blogosphere? Who do YOU miss? And how do you react when a blogger friend just suddenly seems to fall off the face of the planet?
Great post! I wonder the same thing. Some of my favourite bloggers just...stopped! I know sometimes life can throw things at you, but even just an update post so I know that their alright and all is well.
ReplyDeleteUpdate posts would definitely be helpful! I know, sometimes bloggers just seem to stop out of the blue and I can't help wondering if everything is okay.
DeleteIt is interesting, eh? Especially when you don't really *know* the person that well... you do wonder what happened, whether it was something bad or whether they just randomly got busy or lost interest or something.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the fact that it's an online friendship and you're right, you don't know the blogger all that well, does make things a little bit more difficult. Thanks for your thoughts, Ashley!
DeleteWHERE IS NIC AT IRRESISTIBLE READS?
ReplyDeleteHaha, sorry, it's just... I don't know where she is... :p I love this post, Danya! I know what you mean, sometimes I'll look at a blog's blogroll and notice that some of the updates are from like, a year ago, and it makes me sad :( it also makes me sad when I see my blogger friends disappear without saying anything!
I don't know where she is, either! I'm wondering the same thing :(
DeleteAnd I'm glad you enjoyed the post, Audrey! It *is* sad when bloggers you've grown close with just seem to vanish one day.
I know what you mean. There are blogs that I've followed that just (like you say) up and disappeared. Or the blogs are still there but their owners have gone missing. I've also wondered what happened to them.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only one who wonders what's going on when that happens!
DeleteMaybe they didn't disappear! Some people are just tech-stupid and broke their rss feed when we- er I mean they made the move to Wordpress- or so I hear.
ReplyDeleteI'm sincerely missing Irena from This Miss Loves to Read, who sadly didn't break her feed, she just DONE R-U-N-N-O-F-T.
LOL, don't worry — I'm following your Wordpress blog feed now! :)
DeleteAlso, yes, when I went through all the blogs in my feed reader I noticed there hadn't been any activity on This Miss Loves to Read in quite a while :(
Haha...
ReplyDeleteWe often forget that good blogging, like most forms of good writing, takes focus. Over the last week and half, I have started 3-4 different blog posts and didn't get around to finishing them. I still plan on finishing them, but need to find a time when I a) am sitting in front of a computer, and b) actually have the focus and energy to write about that topic.
Sometimes I get sad when a good blog doesn't update for a while, but I suppose that's better than seeing my inbox clogged with rushed and/or half-hearted posts.
I've disappeared before. LOL!
ReplyDeleteI think it's just life, you know? Plus, keeping up with blogging can be daunting, especially if you put unnecessary pressure on yourself to keep up or be better than another person's blog.
My reason is because I got pregnant and felt like poop. Now I have a baby, and I have to juggle the time. I only post when I can now, but I still really enjoy it.
My guess is busy life or blogging loses its newness and becomes too much work. I love it though, and hope to blog for long time. :)
I do that, too. What if something happened? I get really worried sometimes! Recently, there was one blogger I enjoyed talking with who said she was quitting, but she came back, so I was happy. I usually don't delete the other blogs that don't update b/c they're not spamming me with posts I don't want to see. And if they do update again, I'll see it.
ReplyDeleteI cleaned out my reader recently too, and noticed the same thing. Some of blogs weren't that old, I guess maybe they lost interest. But others have been around forever (or you know, a couple of years at least, which seems like forever in blogger terms!) and I also am like "Hey, why don't you come back, please hurry," and (Cue Paul Young song.) Anyway, the ones I really love will just wait in my reader as I hope for their return:)
ReplyDeleteOne of my fave bloggers, DeRaps Reads....randomly stopped blogging. She's pretty much the only one that I've REALLY noticed at the time had stopped blogging. But then same as you, I go through my Reader and see tons of bloggers that haven't posted in months!
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm one of those bloggers whose not posted for a while and seems to be disappearing! In my case as you know, I've just had too much school work going on to blog and that's sad because I do really miss it. You've reminded me that I should write a post explaining my absence. Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteDo you know, when I first started blogging & started noticing this, that sometimes people just... disappear, I though it was a little bit ridiculous. If you know you are going to stop blogging, why not just take 5 minutes to pop on and tell everyone goodbye. Or something. It seemed so... strange that so many bloggers would just... stop.
ReplyDeleteBut then, earlier this year, I got a new job. And now I totally get it. Because I always intended to get on and blog. I always thought about how many books I need to read, and how many posts I need to write. But I wasn't reading ANYTHING and almost every single post I've published in 2012 has been a guest post from another blogger or an author. I believe I've written a grand total of 4 reviews this whole year, and maybe 4 other posts that didn't come from someone else.
But I INTENDED to come back, but it's SO easy to just... not. (Although FTF has helped get my motivational mojo back some, so we shall see where things go :P)
But ya, I do know what you mean. It SO makes me wonder what happened that they just... disappeared.