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In October of last year, 2015, I wrote a post that discussed the topic, Reciprocating Follows. However, I neglected to include any details as to why I pass by some of the blogs of my followers at WordPress.Com. I remember I considered a paragraph or two on these particulars, but decided it may appear a little callous. I let my inner coward get the best of me.
Has my spine become more durable within these last few months? Maybe, although I think it’s more a case of telling the truth as it stands. People are bound to find out the truth anyway, so those “little white lies” are a waste of time, as well as possibly chafing someone’s feelings to the point where a friendship is lost. Truthfulness with tact and as much compassion that can be mustered up will usually kept the rapport in good shape and bypass lies that are always impossible to remember or feel good about.
With this stipulated, why have I subscribed to blogs, in the past, that I haven’t had any interest in? I did it because those bloggers decided to subscribe to my blog. I skipped right over their notifications of posts sent to my email box, marking them as read and deleting them even though I barely scanned the first paragraph of the blogger’s entry. I agreed to follow their blogs as a kind gestured response to their decision to follow mine.
When considered with a realistic and forthright attitude, this behavior is absurd. I doubt most seriously I have any subscribers who are children, so they should be able to handle the concept of different preferences, even when they’re not included, right? Yes, there are those few who cannot get out of the mentality of “the even stevens” that may have been in place when they were young. I grew up with that philosophy too, but shed the material aspect of it and just kept the meaning in abstract. I do not expect all bloggers I have a subscription with to follow my blog.
The choices I make are what shape who I am. They make me an individual. I have some precise druthers when it comes to the subjects in the area of the arts as a whole. I find nothing exceptional about traditional paintings, unless it’s a Monet. My true choice is the works that are abstracts. Although I can listen to almost any type of music, except for rap, my love is with contemporary jazz. As with music, I can read almost any book, except in the area of hard science, but my favorites are in thriller and literary fiction. (Yes, they aren’t even close to each other, are they?)
As follows, I have my preferences in the blogs I read too. I want the posts that help me improve my writing, as long as the posts don’t get too repetitive in topic. I enjoy reading about the lives of writers; their hassles are often different from others experience. I appreciate some of the blogs that spill out opinions too. Despite this selection, I don’t enjoy poems usually, even though it most assuredly is in the realm of writing. If the blog, though is written by a lover of the writing craft, is all or even mostly poems, I’ll be passing it by, even with owning the book, Leaves of Grass. If the blog is all about being funny, with my general attitude being quite serious, the posts are wasted on me. Smut and questionable language in a blog never reached my hip-parade even for a glance.
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Sometimes I wish I was more unbiased with my choices. I’m sure I would be better read and cultured if I could broaden my scope a bit. Maybe little by little I can reach out more, but for the time being, I’ll continue to be reluctant to get a grasp on anything much past my comfort zone.
“No one should part with their individuality and become that of another.” — William Channing
A Scripted Maze 
I understand this. I skim over some blogs I follow. There are blogs with over a thousand followers. Would they even know if they weren’t being read by one particular person?
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I think the only thing that would tip you off would be if you were a faithful reader of that person’s blog and were commenting often. Next question would be whether would you really care though.
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Sometimes I can’t even come up with a comment. It also depends on the author of the blog. I have made many friend connections through blogging—you being one of them.
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❤ ❤ 😀
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I agree there are blogs we have to avoid even if they are followers of ours. I personally prefer my art on the realistic side so tend to avoid those artists of modern daubs on the canvas. I can take poetry but have never warmed to Haikus and the like which seem to take all the descriptive merit from a poem.People who write that style almost exclusively tend not to get followed.
My big ones though are religious blogs, especially preachy ones and those that claim to be Christian. That just seems to exclude all other religions as unwanted so I”’m happy to oblige.
I often see the claim ‘Christian author.’ just what does it mean. Is nobody else welcome to read the books?Does it make you a better author than any other or perhaps it means you mention god every other line. I’m just an author and my religion or lack thereof has no bearing on what or how I write.
Politics I can stomach unless the writer spends time just attacking the opposition with insults making it a cult of personality rather than of politics and beliefs.
Hugs
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David, we are alike thinkers even though I didn’t touch on the religious or political blogs in my entry. As a person who grew up in a community of so many varieties of culture, religion, and politics, I usually tune out those subjects. I’m comfortable with this diversity and consider it common-place. Discussing it in a blog isn’t something that feels right to me. Most of my beliefs are out there in the celestial spaces somewhere. I don’t feel I have the knowledge to judge others in these areas.
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I’m a ‘middle ground’ reader of blogs, Glynis. Like David, I’m not particularly interested in Christian blogs and (at the other end of the scale) I don’t like profanities or hidden agendas (people preaching ideas about gun control or politics, or trying to sell me something). I read blogs because I like to see the everyday lives of people, pictures of their travels, their animals, paintings and (last but not least) it’s a pleasure to read something that’s nicely written.
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Yes, Dianne, well written is something I appreciate too. So far I’ve been fortunate to come across mostly blogs that are written by people who paid attention in school. With that stated though, I’m only fluent in English. I sit here in shame when I read posts written so well in English by people whose first language is something else. Obviously, I wasn’t paying attention in my Spanish classes of long ago.
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“Follow for a follow”. I never really got this mentality here on WordPress or on social media platforms. Many do so just because they want follows – perhaps it’s a narcissists game in that sense. But it doesn’t mean that there’ll be more people who’ll glance at what you blog about.
Personally, I only follow blogs that I’m genuinely interested in and if they don’t follow me back, that is fine and I’ll still make it a point to engage with the blogger. I like to follow bloggers who are passionate about what they blog about, be it photos or about their backyard. No particular kind of theme of blog piques my interest though…usually I’m more attracted to the personality behind the blog.
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“usually I’m more attracted to the personality behind the blog”
Well said, Mabel. When the personality comes out rich through the posts, yes, I’m definitely hooked.
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You better not leave me!
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Don’t get too pretentious. In truth, I like the variety of topics you have so I don’t think you have to be worried. 😛
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I am far from pretentious. I am just humbly awesome 🙂 I hope I can continue to keep you entertained with it all.
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