What is happening to Blogland?

(Bear with me…I really don’t know where I might get to with this, yet : )

I follow several blogs and I have been noticing a few things lately.  From the postings of others, they have been noticing too.  A lot of bloggers are ‘closing’ their blogs.  I have seen different explanations of why.  Others have been posting on this too, so I know I am not alone in my observations.  I was reading a blog where the blogger felt she needed to explain how perfect her life isn’t.  I was reading another that the blogger (who has been through a horrific event in her life and she is blessed to have lived through it) mentioned that she gets nasty, snide, judgmental, hurtful comments often about how she lives her (drastically altered) life now.  I have read a blog where the blogger is closing down because her blog has been targeted by someone up to no good.  I have read blogs closing because they feel they have nothing to blog about. 

Is there a book somewhere on blogging etiquette?  Are there really any hard and fast rules of how we should be blogging and what it is supposed to be about?

Could we all follow the golden rule that our mother’s should have taught us?

If you don’t have something nice to say- don’t say anything at all.

or in blog land…how about-

If you don’t like what someone has to say or what they are doing, simply just DON’T READ IT ANYMORE!

This has been bugging me all morning, and I started a big long drawn out post about all kinds of things about blogging, but I can probably sum my feelings up pretty quickly by saying this-

We are all adults.  We all have opinions.  We all have different lives and different aspects of our lives- and we get to choose which aspects of our lives we want to share with the world, and which aspects we wish to keep to ourselves.  I don’t know of any blogger who posts every single thing about their lives- some post TMI sometimes, lol, but not nearly enough for a reader of their blog to form a concrete judgment of that person without personally knowing them.  Sometimes we have a lot going on…sometimes not.  I read blogs because I like them- I like the feeling of certain blogs.  I like that the personality of the writer comes through in their writing.  If I find that I do not like the feeling or the personality that comes through in the blog, then I just stop reading it.  There is no need to offer snide or rude comments toward that person.  The problem does not lie with the writer (because obviously, they will go on with their lives as they chose if we like it or not!), the problem lies with the reader.  And in certain cases, that is me!  I’m a big girl and I can admit that.  My life and my opinions are no better than anyone else’s…so there is no need for me to point out that I don’t like the way someone decorates, or how they are raising their children, or how they chose to spend their money, or anything else, for that matter.  Sometimes you just don’t ‘feel it’ about another person.  It’s human nature.  We are not all made to have the same views and opinions.  In your life outside of blog land, if you didn’t like someone, would you follow them around in their day to day life anyway,  just to get the chance to make nasty comments to them about everything they are doing?  Seriously?  If you would, and this is my opinion, lol, then you are a miserable person and maybe you should be looking for ways to make your own life more interesting instead of  looking for ways to make someone else feel as low as you do!  NOT that any of those miserable people read my blog…and if they do, then it must be on one of their good days cause I haven’t seen that side of anyone yet! lol   I just feel that we, as bloggers, should be able to share only what we want to share, and should not have to feel like we have to explain our whole selves to the people who read our blogs.  And if you want to quit blogging, then quit!  It doesn’t mean we will be happy about it.  It doesn’t mean we won’t miss the few posts that you do get out every once in awhile.  We don’t care if you are not feeling creative at the moment or if you don’t have to funds to run out and buy stuff so you can blog about it.  We follow blogs because we can become genuinely interested and vested in the person writing it!

I don’t feel like I am a person who has much personality at all- I never have felt that way- in fact, I feel that I can be quite backward.  But, I must put out a good feeling to some people who read my blog, because you keep reading!   It becomes a ‘special’ relationship unlike any relationship that you can find on Twitter or Facebook.  Those can be great too, I love Facebook, but blogs are in more of a diary format.  We don’t always care if what we say makes sense, but we care that we are able to share it with people who have like interests.  And sometimes, it turns out to be not so interesting to the reader, but at least we have a way to get it off our chest and at least feel like someone will hear our voice- interesting or not.

Guess that wasn’t a quick sum up, was it?  I know it’s not pretty or orderly, but at least I feel I got enough of it off my chest so I can just move on and put it out of my head.  And I know I am not alone in feeling some of these things.  I am feeling like blog land has started to change a little, and I don’t want it too!  We had a good thing going!  lol  I know it’s that time of year when we have more important things to take care of, but my only hope is that for those who are leaving blogging for the more fast paced social hot spots, will eventually find their way back to us.  And I also hope that for the people who come to blog land to try to rain on the parades of others, well, I hope they find their way to Twitter and Facebook! lol  At least there we can block them out!

I know I promised pictures the other day, but I’m not all that in to sticking to the script :)  Besides, my camera went with my oldest to D.C. for 2 days, so I have no way to take any.  I most certainly would have shown you a picture or two of Timmy, even though I said I wouldn’t (again, not following the script) but he’s so stinkin cute and apparently from your comments, everyone loves a baby duck! lol   I would most certainly have shared pictures of the heron that landed beside the pond this morning and was trying to catch fish (as I was standing at the window, screaming in my head “I told you so!’ cause I knew as soon as I handed it over I would need it back :).  And I might have shown you the goodies I picked up at a few yard sales I hit when I took Brady in to get his thumb re-x rayed.  I had to come home and look one purchase up…and yep.  It was a great deal!   So, with all that ranting, and nothing new to show yet, let me see what I might have for you today…cause we all like a picture in a post….

Miss Matty in an afternoon siesta…

(the first one I took was a little too front on, if you know what I mean…not attractive to anyone from that angle)

A young blue jay that I finally caught a blurry pic of…been trying for months and they are just too quick!

How about a squirrel I nicknamed Rod Stewart because his frosted tail reminded me of  Rod Stewart hair…

you can see it too, right?

squirrel playing with the peanut cup…

Thought he might jump on it and roll it around like a circus act…I could have made $ off of that one…

Okay, one more squirrel I nicknamed Red…

It’s hard to tell on a cloudy day like this was, but when the sun shines on her, she’s a really pretty auburn color.

And just because this is what I want to share with you (because it’s my blog and I’ll share if I want to)

Swimmy Timmy, again.

I’ve been scrubbing my sink daily now, and it sure is shiny :)  He loves it so how can I not?