Tiaris has asked some interesting questions of her readers and who am I to walk away from a bunch of questions, especially when I'm having trouble putting my weekend on paper? See? Even my greatest tool of procrastination (my blog) can be procrastinated from! And yes, I know that's a hanging preposition, but I don't give a rat's ass (see question two).

1. What makes an on-line journal good? When you click on one, what makes you stay?

I think the qualities that make a journal good are a bit ephemeral and also are not the same for everybody. I have some I read because they are written beautifully even if the subject matter may not appear at first to appeal, some because the people who write them seem to be in some way in a similar situation to my own and I identify, some because their lives appear to be so incredibly different than mine. I tend to interact most with those with whom I feel some connection. I tend to connect with those that reflect a certain amount of experience (which may or may not map onto age) and thoughtfulness. For me to stay, the writer has to draw me in. That can be accomplished through personal revelation, intellectual inspiration or humor, primarily. I also read a handful of blogs written by people I know in real life (most of whom I don't see very often). I don't think I use the same standards on those blogs -- not because they wouldn't hold up but because I read them for different reasons.

2. What makes an on-line journal bad? What makes you run away from one?

I have trouble getting around consistently bad spelling and grammar, although I'm not dogmatic about it. There's a difference between spelling that is ignorant and spelling that is absent-minded. The latter I will read; the former I will not. I won't read anyone who uses a lot of abbreviation or IM jargon because what's the point of writing if you don't use words? Ditto on excessive cursing. I like to scream "Fuck!"as much as the next person and I'm happy to read it when the situation warrants. But if you're swearing in every other sentence then you might consider buying a thesaurus and possibly taking some anger management classes. If a blog doesn't ring true, I stop reading, although how I define that is vague at best. The things that irritate me most, though, are endless complaining without attempt to correct the source of the complaint, and also opinions that reflect an incredibly narrow point of view. These are things I find especially in younger blog writers and may, in fact, just be representative of a generation gap.

3. Where are most of the journals, diaries, or blogs that you read?

Diaryland has the bulk of them, although blogspot is rapidly catching up. The first blog I read was mimi smartypants and I started writing at diaryland because that was the only place I knew at the time. I've stuck with diaryland because of the community that has built up over my years here. But more and more of my cohort are defecting thanks to the ridiculous lack of tech support and the acceleration of problems, so the locations of my blog reads are changing.

4. Is there a difference in the quality of writing among the different services? If yes, how so?

I'm not sure that I could compare by service per se. I feel like the quality of the blogs I read is incredibly high " I'm constantly amazed at how well so many people write. Whenever I've clicked through blog randomizer services like blogmad, I've been amazed at how good the blogs I read are, because the vast majority of the stuff I've seen via blogmad is dreadful. The writing quality does not define and is not defined by a particular service. I do find that there are more professional blogs (that is, blogs used for professional services with real life names attached) on blogspot and those tend to be better edited and organized, although some of them leave me a little cold. But that is more a difference in kind than in quality. To me, a blog's location is not a key feature. I have blogs at both diaryland and blogspot and I prefer the community of diaryland.

5. Judging from the comments you see in other journals, diaries, and blogs, is there a difference in audiences among the different services? If yes, how so?

I don't read any Xanga blogs. That one seems to skew too young. I look for a lot of grownups in a service. I want a certain amount of community and for me that means finding people who have graduated from high school. I've found groups at both diaryland and blogspot. I am not familiar enough with the other services to assess them. I do have one friend at livejournal who seems to have found a sizeable community of grownups for herself.

6. How did you find most of the journals, diaries, and blogs that you read?

Mostly through links from other blogs I read or through people who link to me. I've gained a few from banner clicks as well. A few more I've found through rings.

7. Does template matter? Why or why not?

Yes. If it's too busy and has too many boxes and gadgets and animated doodads, I find it a turn off. If it doesn't work in my browser (Safari or Firefox), I won't read it. A good design can draw me in, but it won't keep me if the rest isn't there too. I don't care whether blogs change designs, although if they change daily, I find that a bit distracting. In general, I like a design that draws attention toward the writing (or photos), not away from it.

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There you go, tia. I hope to catch you up on the open mike and other weekend adventures tomorrow. I'll be heading down to campus early to play with microfilm. Ah, there's nothing like spending a beautiful spring day in the microfilm cave. I'm hoping to make up for it by having a picnic lunch in the great outdoors.

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