# New favourite habit-word "Personal Blog"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-favourite-habit-word-personal-blog/504323>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [July 26, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-favourite-habit-word-personal-blog/504323 "2009-07-26T16:04:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-favourite-habit-word-personal-blog/504323/21 "2009-08-04T22:12:51Z")

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> [@Martini\_Enfield](#):
>
> …although, as you say, treating a messageboard like a personal blog isn’t really Cricket (nor should it be, I hasten to add.)

(snip mine)

But up to now it has been cricket to be personal on a MB! Can you blame me for being upset that I have been attacked because the way of the world has changed and suddenly what I do, which was once acceptable, is no longer acceptable?

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**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-favourite-habit-word-personal-blog/504323/22 "2009-08-04T22:48:44Z")

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Guys, I’ve been picking my nose at the dinner table for years without any problem, but then _out of nowhere_ a dinner companion told me it was gross and asked me to stop. I’ve surveyed all my friends and family and they all agree with my friend that it’s gross and I shouldn’t do it. But I’ve done it for years without any complaints – when did it suddenly become wrong?

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**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-favourite-habit-word-personal-blog/504323/23 "2009-08-04T23:15:55Z")

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> [@Martini\_Enfield](#):
>
> Not to defend the practice of using the boards as a blog, but now that every man and their iguana has a blog, the odds of _anyone_ seeing a particular non-commercial blog are almost nil, unless the blogger has a wide circle of friends (or can get a link happening with an existing, popular site).
> 
> So I can understand the desire to share thoughts with people (say, on a messageboard) and not feel like they’re simply talking to themselves- although, as you say, treating a messageboard like a personal blog isn’t really Cricket (nor should it be, I hasten to add.)

That’s because most of them are meaningless drivel that no-one wants to waste their time on. Oh, sort of like MPSIMS but worse. Be interesting and you can attract visitors. Spew your brain wanderings and people will be not happy, Jan.

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**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-favourite-habit-word-personal-blog/504323/24 "2009-08-05T02:35:35Z")

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> [@Caught\_Work](#):
>
> That’s because most of them are meaningless drivel that no-one wants to waste their time on. Oh, sort of like MPSIMS but worse. Be interesting and you can attract visitors. Spew your brain wanderings and people will be not happy, Jan.

That sounds very much like the summary to one of my research papers last semester, you know. 😉

I agree with your point- what I was getting at earlier was that, because of the huge number of blogs out there, even if you’ve got Bill Bryson’s observational wit, P.J O’Rourke’s ability to score a free drink the in the middle of a combat zone in a Dry country, and Jeremy Clarkson’s ability to insult multiple countries in the same sentence and still make people laugh, there’s _still_ a very high chance that no-one will ever hear of your Blog, and even if they do, you’re not likely to make a lot of money out of it without some kind of sponsorship deal. Which you need to be fairly well known to get.

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**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-favourite-habit-word-personal-blog/504323/25 "2009-08-05T19:59:09Z")

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> [@Giraffe](#):
>
> Guys, I’ve been picking my nose at the dinner table for years without any problem, but then _out of nowhere_ a dinner companion told me it was gross and asked me to stop. I’ve surveyed all my friends and family and they all agree with my friend that it’s gross and I shouldn’t do it. But I’ve done it for years without any complaints – when did it suddenly become wrong?

Your analogy is flawed, and doesn’t fit this situation.

A better analogy is this…

I’ve been telling jokes at the dinner table for years, and people have laughed. But one day a dinner companion said he didn’t like my jokes, and has decided there’s a new rule - no joke telling. Suddenly all the guests who liked my jokes have left and have been replaced by fun-less mean-spirited people who like to SEEK OUT things they don’t like in order to complain about them.

Edit: In fact, same guy who created the rule, now seems to think everything I say is a joke, and seems on a mission to ban me from speaking at all. I think he dislikes me so he has a personal vendetta, no matter how mild or non-existent any bad behaviour I commit is.

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