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A blog with my thoughts regarding games I am playing and other stuff in life. Please read my Terms of Service
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Thursday, April 09, 2009
Persistence and blogs
I had to clean up my Google Reader and remove a bunch of MMO blogs that have gone inactive, or downright declared they were closing down. There have been some news stories in the MMO blogosphere about even big blogs, like Resto4Life and Big Red Kitty for WoW, and Waaagh! for WAR, closing down. Although we write about persistent worlds, our blogs aren't necessarily persistent. Blogs like mine that are over 5 years old are actually quite rare.
I have no plans to stop blogging, but I'm not handing out guarantees that this blog will be around forever. And, maybe more importantly, there is even less guarantee that I'll keep writing things you are interested in. Because our interests might drift apart. I always insist that this is not a World of Warcraft blog, it is a MMORPG blog of a guy who happens to play WoW since 2004, on and off. If you move on to play Darkfall, and I develop an unexpected passion for Hello Kitty Online, it is likely that our interests would overlap less.
It is very difficult to write every day about something you aren't passionate about, so I totally understand all these blogs shutting down. Especially when they dedicated their blog to a particular game or even class. I've been passionate about games for over 30 years now, so I think I'll remain interested in games for a very long time to come. Thus there is a good chance that I can keep up the blog with it's current subject matter for years to come.
One thing that struck me about blogging is the way how your blog URL acquires a value of its own, due to the way search engines and Google page ranks work. If I stopped blogging here tomorrow, but opened Dlobot's MMORPG blog on a new URL, writing there exactly what I'd normally write here, it would take months, if not years, before the new blog would get the number of daily visitors and feed readers that this blog is getting now. Or if I kept this URL and completely changed it's subject to "Tobold's Blog on painting garden gnomes", I could instantly get the number one spot on Google among all garden gnome painting blogs. In short, Google attaches a page rank, and thus value, to my blog URL, not to my person or the actual content of my blog. Well, let's hope that you are interested in painting garden gnomes. :)
- posted by Tobold @ 8:30 AM Permanent Link
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The day Tobold changes his blog is the day I'll start levelling my painting skill and grinding faction with Gardengnomeregan.
But Plastic Rat is right, Garden gnomes are the new faceroll FotM class!
But Plastic Rat is right, Garden gnomes are the new faceroll FotM class!
Are we talking terracotta or plastic Gnomes here? be specific man!
You're touching a sore point here. Of course the fans of terracotta gnomes think that the fans of plastic gnomes are a bunch of lightweight n00bs, while the fans of plastic can't understand why anyone would prefer the harder and heavier terracotta. The matter is further complicated by the fact that when painting the gnomes, different paints are optimal for plastic and terracotta.
You're touching a sore point here. Of course the fans of terracotta gnomes think that the fans of plastic gnomes are a bunch of lightweight n00bs, while the fans of plastic can't understand why anyone would prefer the harder and heavier terracotta. The matter is further complicated by the fact that when painting the gnomes, different paints are optimal for plastic and terracotta.
Not to mention the issues around gnomes who like to brave all that the world can throw at them, and those who exist only to make other gnomes look bad.
Do they go for the fishing pole, or the pitchfork accessory? And don't dare mention the Shovel vs Spade issue.
On a side note: Maybe Tobold just discovered the secret to making decent money from blogging? Write something that lots of people read and then sell the address to a corporation for them to abuse as they see fit.
Do they go for the fishing pole, or the pitchfork accessory? And don't dare mention the Shovel vs Spade issue.
On a side note: Maybe Tobold just discovered the secret to making decent money from blogging? Write something that lots of people read and then sell the address to a corporation for them to abuse as they see fit.
Why clean them out? If you have Google Reader to only Show Updated posts, they're basically invisible. And if they ever do come back, you'll be able to know.
I am curious how many days it take for this blogpost to get to the first google page on "garden gnome".
Part two of my answer to Gevlon: Just checked. If you search for "painting garden gnomes" on Google now, I'm already on page 1. Scary, isn't it?
"It is very difficult to write every day about something you aren't passionate about, so I totally understand all these blogs shutting down"
It seems to me BRK shut down more for RL reasons than not being passionate about WoW.
It seems to me BRK shut down more for RL reasons than not being passionate about WoW.
*The Lords of Win Approve This Post*
I also would present the motion to change this blog's name to Grandfather Tobold's MMORPG Blog. :)
I also would present the motion to change this blog's name to Grandfather Tobold's MMORPG Blog. :)
Change the title, change the subject, maybe. But I doubt you'll ever stop writing Tobold, maybe not here, but I'm sure anyone interested will be able to find your words of wisdom somewhere as long as you're able to write them.
I think that the huge base of readers you have, will let you, with relative ease, to transfer readers to any new blog you start, no matter it's subject. That means that you should be able to start a blog about almost any subject, and still have a massive base of readers from the start.
The value of your blog sitename is similar to real-world values of geography. A store in a busy downtown will get a lot of traffic just because people are used to going to that area.
REAL GGnomers use marble gnomes. Take paint beautifully, weather-resistant. Also useful against intruders.
# posted by 
: 9/4/09 19:17
: 9/4/09 19:17
Your assumption is probably incorrect. In order to become the number one gnome painting blog you would need other gnome painting sites of similiar content to point to you. You'd still get traffic for being a mmorpg blog as long as sites point to you as being one. SEO works like a giant voting system. If a site about wow links to you, google treats you as a wow site as long as it detects the same key words found on the site pointing to you.
That's how I understand it anyway, on one can truly know unless you wrote the code!
That's how I understand it anyway, on one can truly know unless you wrote the code!
"And Gevlon should write about painting garden goblins."
Yes, he will write on how M&S can't paint and that any spouse will divorce his/her significant other if he/she cannot paint a garden goblin. In bed.
Yes, he will write on how M&S can't paint and that any spouse will divorce his/her significant other if he/she cannot paint a garden goblin. In bed.
"Your assumption is probably incorrect"
Read up Marcko, he's already on page 1 of Google for painting garden gnomes.
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Read up Marcko, he's already on page 1 of Google for painting garden gnomes.
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