Confessions of a Quackbuster

This blog deals with healthcare consumer protection, and is therefore about quackery, healthfraud, chiropractic, and other forms of so-Called "Alternative" Medicine (sCAM).

Sunday, March 20, 2005

How do YOU blog?

I'd like to start a brainstorming discussion about blogging practices.

Tell about your blogging practices:

- subject matter
- ideas
- plans
- methods
- indexing
- links to blogging services
- revising your existing blog entries
- dealing with nasty comments
- formatting
- etc.


Just to get things started, I'll share a little bit about my own thoughts.

I have several blogs and websites, and most of them are very subject-oriented, IOW I try to stick to one subject.

I find blogging to be an easy way to quickly post thoughts and findings. Some of my entries are things I have written myself, while most are things I've found on the internet. I often use the "Blog This!" button on my Google Toolbar.

I regularly edit my old posts for various reasons. Sometimes someone is kind enough to point out typos or other errors. Sometimes I revise my earlier viewpoints. If I have inadvertently offended someone (who didn't deserve it), I may revise what I have written.

I often get very nasty comments and emails. Quacks and true believers can get pretty nasty! I often let the comments stand as is. They are simply providing good evidence for why I'm skeptical of their views and thinking. They usually provide good examples of what a lack of critical thinking can do to a person. They also reveal that they have often misunderstood me, and haven't read much of what I've written. They often are attacking a strawman. I trust that people who know my work can discern what's going on.

Just because a comment is left alone - without any reply - doesn't mean I don't have a good rebuttal. I probably know from experience that a flame war with these types won't lead anywhere. I simply have better things to do, and I rarely have time to devote to such matters.

My formatting is straightforward and simple. I give information top priority, which means my blog might be considered boring by many people who like nice colors and lots of pictures. I actually enjoy such blogs, but since it's timeconsuming, I don't usually do much myself.

I take my hat off to those who do it, since combining good information with great formatting makes a site more appealing to many people. My problem is that I spread myself too thinly, covering lots of subjects, sites, and forums, which all take time. That makes it necessary for me to use very little time on formatting.

My concern with making information the first priority, has led me to place my index on top at all times. To do that, I have simply given it a future date. By placing it on top, anyone coming to my blog can do a search of the page and find every entry written on my blog. Usually most blogs have a lot of their content hidden away in archives, and thus not as available. That's too bad. I wish Blogger had a way of doing this automatically. Maybe someone will share their tricks with us!

Does anyone know if Blogger has a limit on the size of a blog? Mine is getting pretty large! I wonder if they possibly limit it by number of entries or by megabytes?

Share your ideas and experiences. Let's get an exchange of good ideas here.

Regards,

Paul