Browse 300 blogs in a day and you’ll quickly stop reading. That’s because at certain times of the year, everyone seems to start writing about the same topics. Readers only want to read it once.

It matters little whether you are able to give a topic a ‘fresh new take’, avoid writing a post on thes topics!

• Pagerank. Whether it when up or down or did a loop-de-loop, we don’t care and many of us have the google toolbar so can see for ourselves.
• “Sorry I haven’t posted in a while.” Honestly, we can see that and if there’s a shiny new post there, so be it. Make it a good one, not a “Look everybody I’m back!”
• Pictures you took off another blog. If they’re on one blog, they’re probably already seen, especially if you use the same social networks (eg Entrecard)
• Lists of interesting facts that aren’t true.
• Endless complaints about mild inconveniences some free service has caused.
• The same old ‘make money with adsense/bidvertiser/payperpost/other well established organisation’ story that provides no new insight, humour, feedback or experience.  

Fresh, original content is what the internet wants. News, not Olds.

This review is for It is nap time, a self-hosted blog of a stay at home mum.

Now I’m not a parent myself and I don’t know much about it, but I do know that white font on a pale blue background may be a nice colour scheme, but not if you actually want to read the text. And medium blue text on a brown background is also painful to read.

And my goodness, would you look at that! There’s 40 posts on the main page! 10 posts is the high end of normal, but 40!

There must be a better layout out there somewhere, surely there are free blogger templates around? It needs to change. Fix the colours, reduce the number of posts displayed one page, decide whether you really need all those plugins and widgits in the sidebars and generally tidy up. The blog will be much more approachable and readable then.

I happened across an uplifting article in the paper last week by Elissa Baxter: “Blogging makes you Happy- it’s official.”

It seems that Blogging has become so popular that it has prompted health officials to conduct a study into the effects of Blogging on the human mind. While we poor bloggers have long been characterised as “lonely desperate souls searching for validation in our meaningless lives” the study actually found that:

• Blogging encourages critical thinking
• Blogging encourages feelings of connection with other people
• Bloggers feel less lonely as a group
• Bloggers feel less isolated and more satisfied with their friendships
• Bloggers feel less anxious, less depressed and less stressed

The study concluded that this was because blogs are a medium rich in ideas that encourage them to exchange and critique information.

It would seem that some bloggers find that regularly posting in their blog is a constant that they can always return to, something that gives them a sense of regularity in life. It’s also a creative outlet, a means to improve writing and part of a larger network as a whole.

Honestly, who here couldn’t have told the researchers that themselves?

Yes, Entrecard is a neat traffic/networking system. You drop your card on people, and most will drop back providing you’re safe-for-work. So why is it some people feel the need to go out of their way and message you about their contest, when their card already states that they have a contest going on? Oh, and they will message linked accounts too.

I got this ‘charming’ little message today:

Hi,

I’ve launched a contest which can be seen here: (URL removed)

This is a monthly contest. Every last day of each month, until the end of 2008, I’m going to send FREE 1500 EntreCard credits to lucky contest winner of each month.

Best regards, (Name & URL removed)

PS. Don’t forget to drop your card!

Perhaps you’ll disagree with me, and you’re welcome to, but I think this is spam. It’s a cheap contest desperately trying to inflate comments and subscriber counts. The smarmy ‘don’t forget to drop your card’ also rubbed me the wrong way, because this little joker hadn’t even dropped a card himself.

I replied thusly;

Mate, a few points.

1. You don’t need a link to your post AND your blog. What’cha think the card is for?

2. It’s spam. I have unlinked blogs here and you’ve sent the same message to two of them, last month.

3. You didn’t even drop on me, but you’re basically asking me to go write a post about your contest. You’re fishing for entrants.

4. You sound Patronising.

Best Regards, The Bushie

P.S. Don’t forget to drop your card.

I think what I have done is fair (including reporting him for spamming) because he ticked me off the first time, and this is the third. We shall see what happens.

Disagree with me? You’re allowed to. But I’d prefer knowing that I’m not the only person out there that gets bugged by this behaviour.

You have to have a particular level of faith living in the bush of Australia. You have to believe that the rains will come, that the grass will grow, that bushfires will happen somewhere else and the beer will be cold in the pub.

But that level of faith is only going to get you so far. You know in the depth of your soul that the country side is still wild and unpredictable, and although you may love her dearly she’s never going to be tamed, so all you can do is prepare for everything and hope that nature likes you, for now.

You have to stockpile feed for when it doesn’t rain, dam water while it’s still falling from the sky, sell stock while the prices are good and don’t assume that the good times will still be here tomorrow. You have to believe that there will be good times, but you’re not daft enough to think that those good times will be tomorrow, or that they’ll last forever.

In many ways, the net is the same. There are booms for those trying to live off it, surges of popularity, unexpected stumbles and all the rest of it. Then there’s the rest of the time where you’re struggling for recognition, yearning for comments or desperately seeking feedback. There are the highs and lows, and you have to learn to live through all of them and just keep working at it.

Of course, it never hurts to have your backup plan ready and waiting, so keep that fast horse nearby.