I’m now blogging at Hyperbole for 1000, Alex. Come visit!
Dec 08 2009
Where You Heading, Son?
For the time being I will be posting at Pursuing Holiness (where Laura has kindly invited me to share occasionally) and once in awhile at Grumpy Old Men–The Prequel (where the Minnesnowtans are apparently screaming for real content).
Nov 27 2009
Things I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Blogging
A week short of five years ago, I launched a blog called King’s Kid at Blogspot.com. It was a great experience, but I found – and still find – that Blogger/Blogspot is too limited in its capabilities. I moved on to a hosted site at Wordpress with carefulthought.wordpress.com. That was a great experience as well; in fact, I liked it so much that I started this blog on my own servers and domain, but still using the WordPress framework. It’s time to move on to bigger and better, or at least other, things. I’ve received a couple offers to post on other sites, and I may take up those offers, but this is it for this venue.
Here’s what I’ve learned in five years, in no particular order:
- God is faithful, even when we fail Him
- Blogging is a great way to vent, but venting is no substitute for real content
- Your blog is unique, just like other the other 200 million blogs out there, so give people a reason to visit you
- Stay faithful. If you have a political blog, focus on that, if it’s a faith blog, focus on that. Readers seem to prefer blogs with a single topic or theme
- Don’t dwell on stats, but if your stat counter is stuck on zero, that’s a bad sign
- Post regularly
- Appreciate your readers
- Don’t be afraid to step on toes, but do with grace
- Trolls are a fact of blogging life. Deal with it.
- There’s a huge amount of information available on the internet. Some of it is even accurate.
- Give full credit for your content. If it ain’t yours, attribute it.
Thanks for reading!
Steve
Nov 23 2009
Careful Thought?
My new friend Joyce is taking me to task on my use of the Obama Joker image. The point – is it a good Christian witness to portray the president, or anyone, in a negative light. She has a valid point and I struggle with this. Is it a derogatory image or is it simply drawing attention to our duly elected president’s political agenda? What is our role as believers in confronting wrongs? Jesus himself called the Pharisees hypocrites and whitewashed tombs.
She quotes Gary Thomas: “Just because someone I’m opposing is wrong doesn’t make me right.” Not sure I agree fully. We are called to be meek, which I understand as ’strength under restraint’, and not as a synonym for weak or inoffensive.
Am I off base here?
Sep 02 2009
At Last, Adult Supervision or Something
Greg has graciously returned from an extended hiatus, so you’ll be seeing an occasional post from someone other than yours truly. There may be others as well, who knows?
Jul 30 2009
Camping and SOA, what fun…
Tomorrow we’re off the the Crags on the back side of Pikes Peak with the boys and the Scout troop. I get back Sunday noonish and jump on a plane to DC for SOA training. What’s that mean to you? Not much, probably. The camping will be a lot more fun than the SOA training, but at least I will finally be a Certified SOA Professional. Woo hoo.
Posting has been way light for awhile. Between the job and some web hosting issues I haven’t time or access to blog for a bit. But all is well. Many thanks to Levi at CricketSoda for getting things rolling again!
Dec 07 2008
I’ll Be Back…
Sorry for the light posting. I have a new job and there are lots of government entitlement programs that my taxes have to pay for, so I’m trying to get caught up. Actually, the new job has me pretty busy and I just haven’t much time, but I should be back online shortly.
Oct 17 2008
Light Posting for a Bit
I’m off to Illinois for a few days to see family. Back in the saddle next week….
Sep 29 2008
Light Posting or Not, I’m Not Sure
Tomorrow is my last day at my job, and I haven’t gotten much response to resumes, so I will either be hitting the streets trying to get job interviews or laying on the couch watching soaps and eating bonbons. Not sure which yet…
Next Page »
Nov 10 2008
Comments Meme
I borrowed this from a random site and modified it quite a bit. Answer the following questions and provide links where appropriate.
1. Who is your most frequent commenter on your blog?
Gotta be kingdavid at FarWright.
2. Do you return the favor and comment at their site?
Absolutely. It’s the law.
3. Whose comments inspire you or force you to reconsider your opinions?
Christian at Sharp Iron. I don’t always agree, but his take on faith issues frequently causes me to look at why I believe what I believe.
4. On which two blogs do you comment most frequently?
FarWright and PunditKitchen.
5. Have you ever commented on a blog just to ’stir the pot’?
Once in a great while. When I see one-sided attacks on faith or political issues that concern me I’ll leap in.
6. Have your ever posted a comment because someone wrote something that infuriated you?
Frequently.
7. Have you ever banned commenters/trolls? Ever been banned?
Yes. Karen knows who. When someone continually uses foul language, gets verbally abusive or criminally stupid. I have not been banned as far as I know, but I’ve seen my comments deleted on several sites when I post opposing viewpoints.
8. Which post on your blog has generated the most comments. Why? (Provide a link to the post.)
Two posts: Kent Hovind Off to Jail (154 comments) and Sarah Palin for President (10,379 hits and 93 comments). The Hovind post generated lots of comments (frequently uncharitable) from Young Earth Creationists and the Sarah Palin post because she is a very popular/controversial figure.
9. Which topic (as opposed to a specific post) generates the most comments?
Politics. This was a critical election and lots of people held very strong opinions.
10. Have you ever commented on a blog and purposely disguised your info so that you or your blog couldn’t be identified?
Never (as far as I can remember). Own your opinions. Several commenters have done it here, though.
11. Do you post about controversial topics (politics, religion, social issues)? Do you receive comments from opposing viewpoints? Are they civil?
Yes and yes. Depends on the topic. Generally folks are civil, but I’ve found that many folks of a liberal persuasion need lessons in common courtesy.
Feel free to pass this one along. For grins I’ll tag kingdavid, Karen, and Christian.
Tags: blogging, comments, memes
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