Tagged: Metablogging

BeepBeep passed this one on . . .

1-Do you like the look and the contents of your blog?

Not particularly. But HTML-illiterate beggars can't be choosers. I love the contents of the sidebar, however :)

2-Does your family know about your blog?

My immediate family? No. But only because it wouldn't interest them. My girlfriend knows about it. It doesn't interest her, either.

3-Can you tell your friends about your blog? Do you consider it a private thing?

A couple of my friends know about it: one them actually introduced me to blogging in the first place. Do I consider it a private thing? On the one hand, it's on the internet, so how private can it be? On the other hand, I do use a nom-de-plume.

4-Do you just read the blogs of those who comment on your blog? or you try to discover new blogs?

I read other blogs far more than I post to my own: and the bloggers whose sites I frequent the most are also those with whom I have never exchanged correspondence (i.e. Pharyngula and Dispatches from the Culture Wars). At the same time, I like to discover good Australian blogs, and especially Perth blogs.

5-Did your blog positively affect your mind? Give an example.

I have developed an interest in critical thinking--particularly how it can be applied to education--since I started blogging. Bruce and others have been helpful in this regard. Discussions--some more heated than others--with various bloggers have helped me to clarify my own position re: atheism and religion.

6-What does the number of visitors to your blog mean? Do you use a traffic counter?

It means I have a small, respectable circle of readers.

7-Did you imagine how other bloggers look like?

It rarely crosses my mind, truth to tell.

8-Do you think blogging has any real benefit?

Absolutely. I know this sounds cliched, but I really do believe in the potential of blogs to assume the fourth-estate responsibilities that the traditional media is abandoning. Blogging has also, I would say, reconnected people with the art of good writing. Is it mere coincidence that Strunk and White's Elements of Style has become so popular in the age of blogging?

9-Do you think that the blogsphere is a stand alone community separated from the real world?

Some bloggers give you the impression that they haven't been acquainted with the real world in a very long time.

10-Do some political blogs scare you? Do you avoid them?

I stay away from those blogs where it is assumed that rants and ad hominems are substitutes for argument. They aren't.

You know the sort I'm talking about: authoritarian-righty types who brook absolutely no dissent, and are so scrupulously obsessive about this point that they scour the internet for the slightest hint of criticism or scorn, then send in the brownshirts when they locate it. They are the blogosphere's answer to happy-slappers and Werribee boys. Scum.

11-Do you think that criticizing your blog is useful?

As a student-teacher, I'm trained to believe that self-reflection is a virtue.

12-Have you ever thought about what would happen to your blog in case you died?

It would doubtless be eaten by spam.

13-Which blogger had the greatest impression on you?

A close tie between Ed Brayton and P Z Myers.

14-Which blogger do you think is the most similar to you?

A close tie between Sammy Jankis and Bruce Everett.

15-Name a song you want to listen to?

Pendulum vs Freestylers: "Fasten Your Seatbelt"

I, in turn, tag: Sammy Jankis, Tedalog Lite, and Bruce.