Whoa. So I totally missed my two-year blogiversary. It coincided with my husbandâs and my six-year wedding anniversary (August 13th), which was three days before dear Lydia showed up. It was a busy time, you might say.
So here are a few things Iâve learned in my two years (and two months!) of blogging.
Blogging offers an excellent opportunity for you to see just how small-minded you are.
When youâre offering up your opinions for public scrutiny on a regular basis, you end up revealing some of your stupider ones. Since readers can immediately respond, it doesnât take long at all before someone can help you see that theyâre stupid.
Not great for the self-esteem, but pretty great for character-building.
Women are quick to express their disagreement online, but they are much more likely to do it anonymously.
Almost all of the harshest criticism Iâve gotten on this blog has come from women using pseudonyms and fake email addresses. (I know theyâre women because they either assume some kind of feminine name or they talk about woman-specific experiences). Pleasant comments, by contrast, usually accompany real names and email addresses. On occasion, WordPress has enabled me to see that both anonymous criticisms and personalized pleasantries have come from the same woman (or at least the same computer) . . . sometimes even on the same post.
I donât know for certain, as I havenât done any scientific research, but I suspect this situation is different with men. At least, in my experience it has been. The men who have disagreed with my posts have always identified themselves. In addition, Iâm a regular reader of a few male-dominated blogs where there is lots of debate and disagreement, and the men donât hide their identities there, either (They use names and gravatars that link back to their own blogs and stuff).
I just find this interesting is all.
It’s possible to make deep, meaningful relationships online.
Before I started blogging, I probably would have told you that all online relationships are contrived and superficial. In the two years that I’ve shared my thoughts on here and engaged with the lives of others on their blogs, though, I’ve made some intimate and lasting friendships. I’ve cried with them; I’ve kept up with their daily lives; I’ve prayed fervently for them and I’ve talked about them with my family like I would about my carpool buddies. I am intensely grateful for these wonderful folks who live thousands of miles away and whose voices I’ve never even heard.
Nothing gets readers to delurk like having a baby.
When I announced Lydiaâs birth on here, suddenly a bunch of readers whoâd never commented before wrote in to tell me that they were long-time secret readers and that they were intensely happy for me. I even got a couple of emails from readers saying the same thing.
It was truly lovely. I felt flooded with love. It was so sweet to think that all along, there had been readers out there in the real world who had been feeling with me all this time. (One was even from Kenya! Can you believe it?) It was beautiful that this all came out at such a transformative moment in my life, too.
If you’re a blogger, what kinds of things have you learned from the experience?