Saturday 2 July 2011

The blogs are going out

Phil reflects that the old Christian mega-blogs of old are no more, and resolves to join them for a while. Tell it not in Yeovil, nor down a mousehole. And even Dave Walker is thinking of doing something other than cartooning. Although his Dullest Blog is as frantic as ever. And Doug is taking it easy as well, although currently still with us.

We Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley have been here, with a brief interlude after that incident with the Porsche Cayenne and the Black Hole, since 2006. Although sadly the first year or so was lost in the Time Wars. Much water has been poured over the ground, and many tea lights lit, since that time. Many a young blog has emerged blinking into the light, and eventually been ground down by the demands of publishing public thoughts.

Back in 2006, the blogs all seemed to be a lot more personal - they were web-logs in the old sense. Maybe they were the 1G blogs. But about that time, the tendency started to go toward commenting on stuff - women priests, Anglican covenants, British National Party - all that kind of stuff. The trouble is - writing a personal blog is relatively easy, provided you don't mind telling people about your thoughts, or if your day is exciting enough that people would be interested. Writing one of the 2G blogs is much harder. It takes research - you have to cite your sources and engage in intelligent discussion. It takes real time - time you may not have.

The Third Generation of British Christian blogging might go in two directions - the "professional" blogs, such as Andrew Brown or His Grace, and the more personal ones with a certain amount of theological reflection - such as Sally's (which has been around a long, long time) or Catriona's (likewise) or Anita's. I realise I've just listed three women and maybe that makes them less aggressive, less determined to blog relentlessly, and therefore less likely to tire of it. And Lay Anglicana is a good read of the 2G, more issue-driven variety. Meanwhile Sam's survived a long time - perhaps because he's scaled down the output since a few years ago, Simon Robinson blogs something thoughtful once a month. Will Cookson's interesting as well. In fact there's thousands of them out there. Go and take the chance and read something new!

As for us, well - gibberish about tea lights is much easier to write than well-reasoned argument. We're going nowhere.

If anyone has any more new blogs worth reading, please feel free to post them in the comments.

13 comments :

  1. Thanks for the mention. A lot of the blogs I've followed have fizzled out, often becuase they were too worthy to be sustainable long term! Not sure if mine has survived partly becuase I don't do social networking?

    Anyway, I'll keep up the drivel for a while yet.

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  2. Don't worry, I'll keep the (tea?)lights burning for now at Gentle Wisdom.

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  3. There's to many blogs out there to keep up with.

    You have to be selective or you would be all blogged out.

    Still, I'll have a look at some of your recommendations, I can always un-follow some of the others.

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  4. Dear Archdruid,

    Thanks for the mention, Archdruid!

    "and the more personal ones with a certain amount of theological reflection - such as Sally's (which has been around a long, long time) or Catriona's (likewise) or Anita's.
    I realise I've just listed three women and maybe that makes them less aggressive, less determined to blog relentlessly, and therefore less likely to tire of it."
    Because we are women? Women can be as aggressive as men, and as determined to blog relentlessly, surely.
    In my case, I have limited energy, sadly, and it's not my highest priority. If that means I will be less likely to tire of it, that's good news.
    Blogging on a daily basis is far more demanding than I realized--not only coming up with something which, rightly or wrongly, one considers worth sharing, but putting it in a form, which rightly or wrongly, one hopes is worth reading. It does not surprise me that people burn out. I hope to keep going simply because I have recused myself from the tyranny of blogging every day. I just post on the days I have the time, energy and a somewhat coherent thought!
    I am staggered by your inventiveness, Archdruid and Beaker People!!
    Anita

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  5. Thank-you very much for the mention, as well as the point, gently made, about not being too relentless!

    It's a good reminder not to attempt to post too often - I seem to have settled at twice a week for the moment, but that may get less frequent as time goes on. Personally, I wish people like Church Mouse would reduce the frequency of their blogs rather than giving up and leaving us with a gaping hole considerably-larger-than-a-mouse!

    Laura

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  6. Thanks for the mention. I am pleased that you are hanging around - sometimes things just get too serious and its great to come over and read your humorous insights.

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  7. Thanks for the shout-out. Real life is what has led to the decline in blogging output (plus setting up a few side-blogs) but I plan to raise the number of posts a bit. I'm still standing.

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  8. I'm still here. I don't show well on rankings lists because not many people link to me. But my stat counter is showing 2038050 hits right now which may or may not put OCICBW... in the Christian Mega-Blog category. Whatever, I persevere.

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  9. 1G in 2006? I was blogging in 1999. What does that make me? Cetaceous?

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  10. Hi Jonathan, you're already in my third list. Until Eddie's "subtle" reminder I was trying only to list some generally less-known blogs (and Sally, who is our greatest living inspiration, of course). But I've widened my list since. I'm glad to see you are still there, and you are of course on the list of Folk we Light a Tea Light For.

    Paul, almost Permian I would think.I have added "Many Pies" to the Tea Light list.

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  11. I blog therefore I am... no seriously I occasionally feel pressure to blog, but usually fight it. Recently I made a decision not to blog whilst on retreat, and much of that will remain unsaid..

    As for having been around a long time abt 6 yrs, does that make my blog old?

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  12. Thoughts on blogging and sustainability.
    http://dreamingbeneaththespires.blogspot.com/2011/07/third-generation-of-british-christian.html

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