Tuesday, April 6

Staying on topic - an off topic rant

Why is it so difficult for bloggers to stay on topic?  At CheckedException, I really try hard to keep the posts focused on technology because that's what I said I was going to talk about.  To me, it's like a contract... I tell you what I'm going to say, you decide if you want to read.  You may read a few times and think I'm full of crap, but at least I've fulfilled my contract with you and, of course, you're free to stop reading at any time.

To clarify, I'm not talking about the occasional off-topic post or rant(like this one) where you have no other outlet but your blog.  I get it.  What annoys me is when the incessant posts about your trips, your skiing, your kids and all the rest of the things in your life start to outnumber your posts relevant to the reason I subscribed to you in the first place.  Most people subscribe to your blog for the content, what they might learn, to get a pulse on what people are thinking in the industry, and so on.  To me, if you are a technical blogger and your only recent posts are about your day skiing, you have broken your contract.  I told a fairly popular blogger that one time because his recent posts were all related to politics or skiing, or his kids, and just about everything else BUT technology.  His response was, "I'd be happy to give you a refund."  Cute... but missing the point.  Unsubscribe.

Of course it's your blog and you can write about whatever you want.  But if you tell people you are going to write about one thing and then you write about something completely different you have failed those of us who subscribed to your blog in the first place because we thought you might actually have some insightful things to say.  When you use your blog as a sign that says, "Hey everyone, look how frickin awesome my life is!" I start to think that if I ever had to have a conversation with you it would end with me punching you in the face for being a pompous douchebag. 

Jealous?  Sure,  I'll admit that I'd love to play hookey because we got 15 inches of powder the night before.  I just think I'd tell everyone about it on Facebook rather than over my blog where I told people I would be writing about technology.

I'm not asking for you to not have a life.  I'm simply asking you to stay on topic and, if you want to write about something else, start another blog and for the love of semicolons, keep the RSS feeds separate!!!

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