The Mark Dykeman Web Niche

I’m a blogger and I’m an introvert.  I’m trying to put those two things together, including some of the social media information that I’m absorbing.

The new blog is called The Mighty Introvert.  I want to write a blog that might help empower a large group of people who are smart and talented, but who aren’t always comfortable around other people.  Some people thrive on contact with other people.  Some of the rest of us can handle other people for awhile, but then we need our time alone to recharge.

The new blog is on the Blogger platform.  I’m starting it there mainly to experiment with that platform as well as learning a bit about Google Adsense.  Yes, yes, the dark side beckons… 

Which leads me to my next topic:  platform change.  While I love the WordPress.com blogging platform, I’m starting to find it a bit restrictive and limited for some future plans that I have.  Over the next 6 - 12 months, The Uncanny Broadcasting Brain Blog may move from its current platform and hosting to a bigger, better platform.  This change might occur sooner depending on how well my readership grows.  I think it will happen, it’s just a matter of time.

Having said all that, I might still keep this blog and domain as a “home” blog of sorts, but its look and feel may change over time.  I’m still pretty attached to it.  After all, it does have my name.  

So if any of you brilliant and talented readers have any advice about migrating from wordpress.com to a bigger, better solution that’s not terribly expensive, please feel free to leave a comment here or you can send me an E-Mail at the following address:

dykemans

At

nbnet

dot

nb

another little dot thingee

ca

If I’ve totally confused you, please check the About Mark Dykeman page, OK?  It’s at the end of the page.  (Note:  I’m trying to avoid being spammed.  But I still want lots of legitimate E-Mails!)  Thanks!

There are few things that turn me off of a blog as much as when it’s not easy to comment on the blog.

There seem to be a few different systems in the blogosphere for blog commenting. Some are built into the blogging platform (i.e. Blogger, WordPress.com, Moveable Type, etc.) Other blogs seem to use exclusive systems that require you to create a user ID. Some commenting systems are… well, I don’t get them, but I’m still fairly new to the game.

Some people disable the future to allow anonymous commenting - maybe because they want to avoid abuse or spam. Some people don’t want comments at all. Maybe other people just want to control who comments and when.

I don’t think those are very compelling reasons.

Look, blogging is an interactive medium. I post, you read and comment, I respond to your comments, and so on. It’s built to work that way.

Do you really want to prevent someone from commenting on your work just because they want to stay anonymous or if they don’t want to go a lot of trouble to communicate with you? I understand that there are a few trolls out there who can make your life miserable if you give them a crayon and a piece of toilet paper, let alone a blog comment section. However you might get a loyal subscriber or two if you let them give you feedback in a way that’s comfortable to them. Who knows, maybe they are just shy or paranoid about revealing their identity? Maybe they lack self-confidence and they want to test the waters first. Who knows?

There are alternatives out there that still let you maintain control:

• use comment moderation
• use Akismet, or some other tool to block the spam
• delete offensive or unwanted comments if you really want to

I realize that I may be taking a simplistic view which might or might not fit in with your personal blogging strategy.

On the other hand, if you really do want to build up a loyal following, shouldn’t you consider making it easy for your readers to contact you?

 EDIT:  well, I guess I didn’t follow my own advice very well.  I’m using Blogger for The Mighty Introvert and didn’t realize that I had put restrictions on comments.  Ooops…