Taking The Good With The Bad
I received an RSS unsubscribe notice on one of my blogs. No biggie, really. Happens all the time. Folks get busy, change their interests or what have you. Generally, I don’t take those things too personally. In this particular instance, the unsubscribe notice was timed with a comment from the person on the last post. To say their comment was snarky would be an understatement. In their comment they bitched about the content of the article as being too basic.
If I proffered the blog as a place only for experienced freelancers it would certainly lend validity to the comment. Seriously though, who has a blog like that? I can’t imagine posting a big above-the-fold warning, letting folks know that “THIS BLOG IS FOR ADVANCED WRITERS ONLY. BEGINNERS LEAVE NOW!!” I mean, really.
One of the writing blogs I follow did an article recently on how to hyperlink. Sheesh. I figured that one out within a few hours of starting my first blog. Did I lambaste this writer for posting something so basic? Of course not. In fact I left a comment thanking her for taking the time to post it and for not assuming that everyone has the same skill level. Perhaps her post saved someone hours of frustration. If so, how cool is that?
When a new post shows up in my email for one of the blogs I subscribe to, I don’t assume for an instant that the post was directed solely at me. I think it would be fairly arrogant to assume so. Some of the blogs I subscribe to have topics that are way over my head. If they interest me and I can learn something then all the better. Sometimes the articles are rudimentary in nature. What I will say is that almost always I am able to pull some kind of nugget out of the information presented. Maybe something I didn’t know, or perhaps something I could be doing differently.
My point here is that when you are perusing the blogs you subscribe to you need to take the “good” with the “bad.” You subscribe to the blogs that you do for a reason. At one point there was something that captured your attention enough to go through the subscription process. No blog is all things to all people all of the time. Nor should it be. For most of the blogs I subscribe to I’m perfectly willing to garner out of them whatever I can. If the blog topic no longer interests me or if the blog itself has morphed into one that posts topics that do not interest me, I unsubscribe. I certainly don’t feel the need to add a snarky comment about what is being posted. Blogs grow, they change. The owner sometimes decides to move into a different direction. That’s cool.
What say you? What causes you to unsubscribe to a blog and a writing blog in particular?
About the Author: A writer living in Alaska. A simple man with few passions: My daughter, writing, soccer and now and then a good cigar.
Steve | Feb 15, 2012 | Reply
“My point here is that when you are perusing the blogs you subscribe to you need to take the “good” with the “bad.” You subscribe to the blogs that you do for a reason. At one point there was something that captured your attention enough to go through the subscription process. No blog is all things to all people all of the time. Nor should it be.”
George –
Excellent point.
I can vouch for this fact: about 2-3 in every 5 posts in the blogs I’m subscribed to are ones I read start to finish.
Steve
Samantha Gluck | Feb 15, 2012 | Reply
Thank you for sharing your experience with the snarky (maximizer personality) commenter who unsubscribed to your blog. My website includes post for writers at all levels — from the very basic to the moderately advanced. I don’t think I’ve put anything up that one would classify as “hands down” advanced. I have subscribers and unsubscribers just like everyone else and have had at least 1 experience where someone didn’t like the photo I used with a post, so she unsubscribed. She did not, however, lambaste me for the photo in the comment section of the article. Good for you for writing this post to “break the news” to others who might be thinking that it’s all about them…
Samantha
Mark | Feb 15, 2012 | Reply
As they say in the north of England: “There’s nowt so queer as folk.” (nowt=nothing, queer=strange, not gay.) Indeed.
I am assuming they don’t have the gumption to be blogging themselves or they would know it’s not a science.
Fuck ‘em. We love you, George.
George Angus | Feb 16, 2012 | Reply
Hey Steve,
I think that is my ratio as well. I’m thankful for the ones that apply and non-plussed by those which don’t.
George
tumblemoose | Feb 17, 2012 | Reply
Hi Samantha,
Thanks for the encouragement. I think reasonable folks would take a post for what it is, and if it didn’t apply, they would just move on. You really had someone unsubscribe because of an image you used? Yoiks!
Cheers
George
tumblemoose | Feb 17, 2012 | Reply
Hehe, Mark. You always find a way to put things in perfect perspective. Thanks, mate.
George
John | Feb 19, 2012 | Reply
We are not trying to please every one. Being YOU is what makes you different and gives you that edge from others. Being YOU is what people want, the ones who don’t are not worth the worry. Being outstanding in your shoes is what counts and that goes for all of us…Some you win & some you lose. At the end of the day if you are happy with what you’ve achieved then that is AWESOME.
Ravinder Murthy | Mar 1, 2012 | Reply
Sir,
It takes all kinds of people to make this world. Some are nasty and some are very Good. When you meet some good (like you) there is a pleasant feeling and we try to grasp the knowledge they possess and when we see this knowledge we do not see whether it is Basic (Fundamentals) or advanced. I have found that every information Basic or otherwise provides some more insights of that topic even if we claim to know it 100%.
Don’t Worry sir, You are indeed doing a good job and I am a happy learner from your blogs. Let me confess.. I still do have the courage to strat a blog of my own which may interest the General Public. It is really not clear as to what I should freelance.
Till my thoughts are organised and the irrelevant matter is sifted I will keep following your blog. Later I will use this as my reference.
May God Bless you and Your Family and Fulfill every wish of yours.
Thanks again for the material on your Blog.
tumblemoose | Mar 2, 2012 | Reply
Thanks very much for your kind comments and I wish you the best with your blogging adventures!
George