I'm a little frustrated. After reading all the things about the Ferraro web of lies, I realized that I wanted to do my part to make my blog useful to the druid community. Sadly, I have no idea how to go about doing that... Averna already has a ton of great 'How to heal (insert Ulduar boss here)' guides, but there's not really any point in me making my own guides when hers are already so well thought-out and informative...
Any ideas?
Into the Emerald Dream
14 years ago
Yeah, the Ferraro business was wierd. I was confused when I couldn't go to the blog anymore, so I did some internet checking a few days ago and found whats been going on.
ReplyDeleteVery sad (and pretty fucked up) indeed.
Not sure if you've checked out the comments on Ferraro's blog and the ones on jagoex's blog, but I see a trend. Ferraro's comments are generally forgiving...while Jagoex's also contain some very interesting points that show that Ferraro may STILL be lying. Oi.
Wow.com added some interesting information that they found. According to them, all the "Ferraros" would have to live close to each other because all comments on their website by that person are from the same IP subnet.
As for your blog though, no idea :P
Don't sweat it.
ReplyDeleteMy blog has been more about anecdotes than information lately, while I've been a bit stressed and busy.
For a while I felt the same as you - that other blogs are doing great how-tos and whatnot, and it feels a little silly to go do the same thing.
Try thinking outside the box a little. When you're a raider it's easy to get frustrated when you can't think of raiding topics to post about (I know it frustrates me a lot!!), especially when you see other bloggers writing those topics and you think, "darn, I wish I'd posted that".. but I think we should all remember that our readers are not just raiders - there are other druids out there who want help with topics that aren't necessarily raid-related. That's why Phae's blog was so good, because she posted about so many different things that would help a range of people, regardless of the content they would normally play in.
That's when you get great topics about things like which consumables are good, which reps to shoot for, which professions suit us, good dual-spec matches, etc.
Also remember that new subscribers arrive at our blogs all the time. Syd might have done an awesome post on macros and Averna a great post on glyphs for example.. and quite often a few of us will have the same post idea at the same time.. but next month's audience will be different to today's. There's nothing wrong with doing a macros or glyphs post in a month or two because the new readers probably won't have seen those posts.
Every now and then I will have a big brainstorm and write down ideas for new posts. I just keep a notepad full of all my "maybe" topics.
(at the moment the first line says FINISH HEALBOT POST ... *guilty look*)
If an idea comes to me out of the blue I'll write it down also. Some of them are grand ideas, some are really tiny silly things. At the moment I have a few great ideas, but no time!
And if you're strapped for ideas or you don't have time to write, you can always ask a guest to write something for you. It gives you content, saves you a little time if you're behind, and adds a little variety. You can either grab another resto druid, or talk to a balance or feral druid about their take on XYZ, or how they would glyph for dual spec, or their PvP tactics, for example. It's a good fall-back for when you don't have the time to write something substantial yourself.
I hope some of this rambling helps :P
I just wanted you to know that I felt the same frustration recently.. and I'm only just now feeling like I can get back on track with my blog and get back to being a place that people say "you should go here, it's very helpful". At the moment I don't feel as though I deserve those types of compliments because I'm just writing anecdotes. I want to be helpful too :)
Thanks so much for the advice, Keeva! I never really saw it that way! I think I'll take a leaf off of your branch and make a little list of things I'd like to blog about, and try to think a little out of the box and come up with something new, but useful.
ReplyDeleteThanks again! <3
A lot of times I have a good idea, but don't really feel like fleshing it out at the moment. I'll jot it down and then wait a bit until I feel it's ready to be written.
ReplyDeleteAlso - everything that Keeva said.
=P
Those are some really good tips that Keeva gave. I personally miss Phae's posts. But she has a really good guide on starting up a blog: http://www.resto4life.com/2008/09/03/so-you-think-you-can-blog-youre-right/
ReplyDeleteand she mentions that if you get stuck on topics to write about to look at the shared topics on blog azeroth here: http://www.blogazeroth.com/viewforum.php?f=25
I'm on Tich too btw. ^_^
WHAA? OMG :> We must meet in Dalaran and hang out, Sylv!!! Time to stalk the Alli side...
ReplyDeleteI know my blog comes and goes a spurts. Sometimes there just won't be ideas. Blogging about progression and your blog layout always work - It made me come over and look at it! The great idea will come and you will be able to share it. We can't all be Phae's and no one is expecting that. I enjoy your blog!
ReplyDeleteThink about what YOU want to know more about. A boss? Gear? Macros? A game mechanic? How to write or layout a better blog? Blue posts? Try to learn or think more about what interests you and then just throw it up in a post for the forest to read.
I agree with most of the comments made already, but I'll add a couple of other thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI sorta think that there is room for more than one, or even a couple "How to posts" on a certain encounter. Folks may see things or say things a different way that may help different people. I also think that people may need to read "How to posts", but its the "How to posts" with your personality or personal flavor added that keeps folks reading your blog.
I can understand your interest in being useful, but definitely don't say your blog is useless! Maybe this is sorta biased coming from me, someone who doesn't do serious resto druid healing posts anymore (or really, ever).
But my personal take on it is that you are less likely to continue blogging if you just want to be "useful" vs blogging because you like it or it amuses you (which is the case for me). My advice would be to keep blogging about whatever crosses your mind, insert your own personal flavor into your blog, and the creativity and ideas for posts will come.