An e-mail I got today got me curious about my reader’s feelings on the content of this blog.
As you all know, I am passionate about graphic design, communication, typography, branding, standards, CSS, etc. I’ve had people tell me they’d like to see more write more about these topics. Truth be told, I’d love to write more about these topics. However, I don’t always have something to say. And while I could rehash what others have said (like a lot of others do), it seems silly to me. I’d rather just drop a link in my sidebar with a comment or two of my own and skip the full entry of same ol’, same ol’. I assure you, when I have something to say that is new and fresh on these topics, you’ll hear it.
In the meantime, what do you think about personal, or “off-topic” posts? I regularly post about sports, technology, personal matters, etc. Does this bother you? Do you think that folks who write about design and the related should keep their “off-topic” posts relegated to another blog, instead of integrated with their design speak? When I post about Terrell Owens, for example, do you feel I’m lowering the signal versus noise ratio here?
I ask this not just in the context of my site personally (although I’m definitely interested in what you think about jeffcroft.com), but also about “design blogs” in general. Do you appreciate the personal, “off-topic” stuff, or do you just find it annoying?
There is no wrong answer. I’m just curious.
001 // Roger Johansson // 02.11.2005 // 3:41 PM
I’m not a big fan of personal posts unless it’s about something very special or I know the person IRL. They don’t bother me, I just don’t read them.
With that said, it’s up to anyone who has a blog to decide what they post about, so go ahead and post personal stuff if you want to.
002 // Jason Rutherford // 02.11.2005 // 4 PM
One of the reasons I continue to come back to your site is because of the personal posts. Being self employed, I don’t get the kind of personal or professional interaction I got when working at a studio. To an extent, blogs like yours fill that void. ((Damn, that sounds sad))
003 // Dachande663 // 02.11.2005 // 4:24 PM
I don’t mind. In fact I like it because then I can see what a real life is like LOL. Seriously though, this is your site and your outlet. You can put whatever the hell you want on it!
004 // JD // 02.11.2005 // 4:33 PM
Personal posts I don’t mind, and this goes for your site and any other design oriented blog I read on a regular basis. Actually, I prefer it, since as soon as a something comes out that’s noteworthy, I have no less than twenty different items show up in bloglines from different blogs, all saying essentially the same thing. How many times have we seen a good post, then fifty other ” sure knows what’s up when it comes to .”? I know I’ve seen it all too many times, heck, it happens practically every week.
However, this can be taken in the wrong direction. One thing I hate to see is too much political content. (Yes, even if I agree with it.) An occassional post on politics is all well and good, but when a design blog puts up post after post on political issues, the blog starts to lose value in my mind. Maybe this perception of mine is because I have seen at least two such blogs post a little too much rhetoric and too few actual facts regarding the politics they discuss. They have great content from time to time, but the signal to noise ratio goes right out the window when the political ignorance becomes a platform.
That’s just my two cents.
005 // Justin Perkins // 02.11.2005 // 4:33 PM
Isn’t that the whole idea behind the “File Under…” categorizing of your entries? I mean, if somebody get noticess your RSS has an update, you can see rather quickly what category the entry falls under. If it’s not in a category you care to read, nothing to see here…please move along.
It’ JeffCroft.com, not JeffCroft-Business-Only.com. I say make it whatever you want. I tend not to read the sports-related entries (unless you’re talking about my beloved Kings, or maybe the NBA in general).
006 // Mike Nichols // 02.11.2005 // 4:44 PM
Since when did a blog have to be just about design, politics, sports, etc…? This blog is your individual diary. Discuss what you wish.
007 // Jon Hicks // 02.11.2005 // 4:47 PM
Its your site, you do what you like. You have to take that attitude and not give a fig if people want to read it.
008 // JD // 02.11.2005 // 5:13 PM
I should add an addendum to my last post. This is your blog. Post whatever you like. My comment was about what I read, not what I think people should be writing. After all, people aren’t out to please me on their websites.
009 // Rob Mientjes // 02.11.2005 // 5:22 PM
Personal posts and such are okay. Don’t always read them, but then again, I don’t read all posts that pop up in my feeds either. I don’t read the sports posts, as they are highly irrelevant to me. I’m no sporter, only like to watch some and it’s all US-centric. Not for me, that.
Post whatever you like. Like many said and will say, it is your blog.
010 // Jeff Croft // 02.11.2005 // 5:23 PM
Okay, thanks a lot for all the feedback. A couple comments…
First, the e-mail I got today was actually very positive and from someone who called my site “a breath of fresh air” due to the personal topics. So, the e-mail didn’t set me off in a bad way — it just got me wondering. :)
Second — I know this is my site and I can do what I want with it. I’m just wondering what your preference is. Trust me, I’ll keep doing what I want. I’m just wondering:
This isn’t so much about my site as maybe I made it sound. I am just curious what your preferences are when you’re reading blogs.
Thanks guys!
011 // Mike D. // 02.11.2005 // 6:04 PM
You should do one of two things:
Offer a “no-play” feed like Keith does on Asterisk. His full feed contains everything while his no-play feed contains only the professional and web entries entries.
Switch to WordPress which you lets you automatically build feeds from a combination of categories using PHP and a simple query string. I’m curious as to whether or not someone has written an MT plug-in for this as I feel it’s really the best solution. This way you can have a list of categories which checkboxes next to them and a “create custom feed” button.
012 // Joe Clark // 02.11.2005 // 7:18 PM
I’d say your dilemma is mild, even child’s play, compared to writing extensive discursions on the latest local bathing establishments, plus photographs of random signs and of a dilapidated and neglected neighbourhood, alongside treatises on Web standards and accessibility. (“I don’t mind standardistas as long as they keep their lifestyle to themselves, but do they have to shove it down my throat?”)
You know, I’m available in only one model, and so are you. People don’t like it? They can read selectively.
My other attempted measure— trying to restrict “business” topics to one site and “personal” topics to another (Cf. personal vs. business Weblogs)— is really not a very clear or consistent distinction in real life. Hence I am not sure it works all that well.
I find that this issue is mostly enunciated in terms of “How do you expect people to hire you when you keep writing about [X or Y personal topic]?” Well, I expect them to hire me because of my abilities, not because of local bathing establishments or photographs or anything else. It’s a bit backward to expect independent creators to run lawyer-vetted corporate Web sites, isn’t it?
013 // Judi // 02.11.2005 // 7:39 PM
I enjoy sites such as yours where the mix of personal and professional give a picture of the human behind the site. There are weeks where all I post are job-related entries, and then there are times such as now where most of my posts are personal (we’re in the process of selling our home so now my blog might as well be called “Adventures in Real Estate”)
All in all, looking at my web stats I seem to have the most traffic when I stop worrying about what I think people want to read and I write about topics that are passionate to me…no matter what that might be.
I love your blog…I look forward to reading it when it pops up in Bloglines and I wouldn’t change a thing. :-)
014 // Scott // 02.12.2005 // 12:23 AM
I stumbled on your blog from a link from another person’s web site and I enjoy your mix of blog entries. When I was in college for a while I read Wil Wheaton’s blog, and I believe that a person can express themselves however they wish with their blog since it is their own blog. I am working on my own right now between work and other parts of life and believe it is a great form of expression.
015 // Michael Heilemann // 02.12.2005 // 2:56 AM
I wish more design blogs had personal content.
016 // Pierce // 02.12.2005 // 7:50 AM
It’s always a case by case basis. I like this blog, but I’d no idea who Terrell Owens is. At all. So I skipped it. It’s always going to be like that with the more personal posts. Personal posts will not interest everyone. Some people are excellent at mixing the two (Simplebits). Some aren’t so good. Or just aren’t as interesting to me specifically.
Seperate personal and design posts if you like, but it only takes a fraction of a second for the reader to look at an article and decide whether they want to read it or not. I think that sometimes design journals make everything a bit too easy for readers, with aggregated and seperated RSS feeds. Let the viewer work for it a bit.
Saying that, I’m really missing Dunstan’s designy posts.
017 // Mark IJbema // 02.12.2005 // 8:59 AM
Personally i would really prefer a no-play feed over an all posts feed. I couldn’t care less about what you write about sports, especially since i ain’t American and never even heard about the teams you’re talking about. So a no-play feed would be great :)
018 // Stefan Visser // 02.12.2005 // 8:59 AM
I haven’t read all the comments, so I might be rehashing a bit.
Today, more and more people are beginning to write weblogs. For any one topic, there might be a dozen or so people who have the knowledge and the know-how to offer a good explanation or insight of the discussion du jour. And there are flocks of people who don’t, but still post about it. Any subject is going to be talked about excessively, if you know where to look.
It is not a sin to write about things, wich already have been said. No one reads all weblogs, and you might have a better way of saying things.
For most people, it’s not about what’s being said, but how. Technical people might like a lot of techspeak and pages and pages of detailed explanation, but a manager might like to know what’s going on too. I’ve never seen a techspeak-to-marketingspeak translator before, so it might be a good thing to write something down in your own words. ;)
I’d like to see something personal, it always makes a weblog seem more legit and makes reading alot more pleasant.
I never read lists of links. If it’s not so important for you to write about it, why should I read it?
019 // Brian Ford // 02.12.2005 // 9:34 AM
As with anything else, what you do often ends up betraying ‘who you are.’ Everytime you or anyone else slips onto the personal side of things, it chisels that block of marble into a more recognizable form. Your personality, your likes and dislikes, are completely relevant to your design sense. Without it, how would this site be “different” than any other design related site?
If an author never put anything personal into a book, everyone would be writing the same thing with no variation.
Quite frankly, better a design blog with flashes of personality than a personal blog with flashes of design. Some very popular sites (cough, dooce.. cough) who write the most boring (as if no one else on earth has dealt with these things) personal topics should realize that sometimes less is more. She can only be “the person who got fired for doing something pretty stupid” for so long… I’m pretty close to nominating “dooced” as my least favorite word (or at least word I’d least like to hear again) of the year. I’m glad that the site has been an outlet for her but that doesn’t make me “know” her any better. She seems like she’s writing for her audience which, to me, is kind of a copout, as her audience isn’t very challenging. (I think I”d like her blog more were it not for the comments she gets, and the fact that she writes for -that- audience.) I read her site sort of like I read the “letters to the editor” in the local paper… “What’s going to annoy me today?”
I’m currently reading that Polysyllabic Spree book, by Nick Hornby. People could say, “Hey, Nick… no one cares what books you’re reading, write another book of fiction dammit!” I happen to really like the idea of getting into his head, and seing what he has to say about something slightly off topic. I feel more informed then, when I’m reading one of his books. Neil Gaiman’s blog is the same way. (He writes about his kids alot too, but… he’s NEIL GAIMAN…. so I think he gets away with it.)
020 // Arman Choobineh // 02.12.2005 // 12:19 PM
KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. There’s no point in having another blog for personal matters. Just post here!
021 // Zelnox // 02.12.2005 // 12:31 PM
You can post on whatever you want. If it is interesting, I will read it. ^_^
There are already many many people writing about design I feel. Reading is just only part of learning. Learning by doing is more important I find.
022 // Ryan Rahn // 02.12.2005 // 4:48 PM
I think personal comments are fine. They give the blog personality. I think a separate feed is also a good idea, but I’ll continue to check the normal feed, as I find personal entries interesting as well.
023 // Dustin // 02.12.2005 // 6:12 PM
I personally think you talk too much about macs. You might notice I never comment on those one’s.
I would agree though, that everyone who came to this website in the beginning (and posts regularly) are folks interested in your core list (css, dom, xhtml, web standards, design, usability, hci, bla bla bla).
My only tiff with apple is that most folks who talk about it act like it’s just far superior. and those who don’t have a mac are just stupid…or at least that’s the feeling I get when I hear about it.
The fact is, not even the MacMini will fit in my budget.
Your typical random posts on life in general are pretty cool. It’s always nice to bring back some reality. It might actually get boring if you always talked about geek stuff.
What I’ve done on my blog is created a section called the H.L.I.(human to life interactions) which I feel I can combine geeky stuff with real life stuff.
A few months ago I talked about the usability of my bathroom and where I put my toothbrush.
All I ask from you Jeffie is that you keep it real. And that my friend, You Have!
024 // Vinnie Garcia // 02.14.2005 // 8:12 AM
I find some of your personal posts pretty interesting, and the ones that I don’t I tend to just skip over. There are just some topics I like more than others no matter who’s writing. For example, I’m not too into Keith’s taste in music on Asterisk so I tend to skip over most of his reviews, but I love his take on usability and IA which is what keeps me reading over there.
You’re not going to please all the folks all the time, so don’t worry about it. If you can please most of your readers most of the time then you’re doing alright.
025 // Lea // 02.14.2005 // 11:18 AM
I’m with personal. I’m not a fan of entries by robots. Unless they were Autobots. But that’s a different story. ;-)
026 // John B // 02.14.2005 // 3:58 PM
It’s your blog. It can be as personal or as broad as you wish. It’s the height of arrogance for someone to tell you to leave out the personal/off-topic posts, especially when it’s not specifically a design blog.
Personally, personal posts make me feel more connected to the author most of the time. Sometimes they alienate me. It just depends on how they’re written. Yours are usually more the former.
027 // John B // 02.14.2005 // 4:01 PM
“Personally, personal…”
I’m sure I just violated some obscure grammatical rule there…
028 // Brent O'Connor // 02.16.2005 // 8:10 PM
I only like the personal stuff if they agree with me. Otherwise I just ignore ‘em! :)
029 // Kade Hodges // 05.10.2005 // 4:03 AM
Yes, everyone loves persoanl stories!