Blog Discussions

1

Rarely. Usually, bloggers get better with time. So, older posts are probably not as good as the recent ones. And you're right, you don't want to be on someone elses blog all night. ;)

2

Ben, yes, if I like a site I go through the archives so when I comment I know what they are saying and sometimes throw a little history in it. I also like to see how the site has evolved. I have gone through quite a few of you arcives and tutorials. This helped make you one of my favorite authors.

3

On the more personally focused blogs I tend to, if the blogger's story hooks me in.

4

It depends. Humor blogs, probably. Art blogs, possibly. Anything else, not usually.

5

Usually no, unless the blog really catches my attention I don't look at the archives. If the author links to past posts I go read them, but that's it. For anything else I rarely have the time.
I prefer to follow the new posts of a blog for a while before starting to comment.

6

It all depends really. If the blog has something relevant to what I am searching for or I really love the blog I will skim through older posts.

I think going through the archives is a great way to get a feel for what the blog is about and what the person who is writing is like.

If people don't read the archives they may just miss that hidden gem that they have always been looking for!

I have to agree with Ian, reading through some of your older posts allows me to see that you do know what you are talking about and that you love what you do. That is all I ask for in a writer!

7

I usually don't browse the archives. But if a post I'm already reading refers to an older post and has a link to that older post.

For the most part though... no, I don't. If I had more time, I probably would though...

8

I used to browse more than I perhaps do these days. I read a LOT more blogs than I used to so time is a factor. And I'm finding that the more blogs you read, the less "unique" content you come across.

What I am more likely to do is look through posts that the blogger has highlighted such as a series or a page devoted to "articles". That kind of thing. They're usually the best posts anyway.

Now that www.lighteningsblogworld.com is getting more established, I need to set up a page for this kind of "article highlighting".

9

I rarely go back in someone's archives. If I'm researching tech or marketing info or captured by a personal element, then I'll spend more time on the site. My girlfriend re-posts older articles that may get more response now that her blog has more readers. It's a meme called Scrolling Saturday. It seems like a good idea for people who have a lot of older posts and many new readers. What do you think? :)

10

noob - I see your point, but what if someone hit their peak a while ago and now they're just coasting along, milking their glory days? It's a possibility!

ettarose - thank you. :) I think that if the site is carefully organised (mine is meticulously so) then it makes it easier for readers to go through the older posts.

Ian - do you usually find that there's a lot of continuity then? I guess there could be some, but I haven't read a lot of personal blogs since I stopped using LiveJournal. Then again, there was a lot of continuity on LJ, but I also found it was tiring to hear about the same subjects over and over again. Still, I guess there's always a cetain amount of repetition.

Kelly - well, I guess it depends what you're looking for. My music could be listened to several years in the future, but I wouldn't expect people to read the archives of the music blog, as right now it's mostly news and a few thoughts and ideas.

Andranneth - I don't usually have the time either, but I sometimes feel like I should. I feel like I'm missing out otherwise. Not that it makes me change my ways...

Sarah - ah, but isn't that what an About page is for? :) Thanks for checking out the older posts. I try to highlight the ones that are still worth reading in the Blogging Guide and Tutorials sections of my site.

fragileheart - I think that can work really well if a post only links to one or two other posts. It gets a bit tricky if a post links to loads of previous posts (and I've done that myself) because how can you go back and read them all? Still, it does reduce questions that might be raised but were already answered in previous posts. It's a bit like browsing Wikipedia - I can get lost in there for hours!

Lightening - looking for highlighted posts could be a great way to start. Diving head first into the archives of a long-running blog can be very daunting. Even my site has a rapidly increasing volume of content and not even been online (in the current format) for 6 months. An article highlighting page would be good for your site, I'll look forward to it.

Tim - I do like reading older posts but don't usually have the time. I should make time. I'm not so sure about reposting older articles, perhaps the following post might interest you: To republish or not to republish?

Thanks for all the comments. :)

11

Unless I'm looking for something specific, I don't view archives myself. Though that's probably more to the fact that I'm too lazy to wade through all that extra content of something I'm not specifically looking for @_@