GUNBLOGGER: The GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY

I subscribed to GUNBLOGGER.COM a few years years ago, because it gave me direct access to other blogs with which I shared a common interest:  GUNS


It was simple at the time (I thought) because I could access the link and select other blogs that I found interesting.

THE GOOD:

Recently, I found that the website had set up a mechanism which would routinely survey all member blogs, several times a day, an provide all of the most recent posts in a manner which allowed me to get a preview of each blog article, and I could click on it to see what they had to say.  If their articles weren't of interest to me, I could just scroll down to the next article.

This was (and is) A Good Thing, because I got to preview it regularly.  And I do.  I've learned a lot by reading the thoughts of these other bloggers.

Sometimes I get an early Heads-Up about an issue of topical interest to my readers, and I'll write a recap (with a link to the gunblogger article) just to keep my readers informed.

THE BAD:



My blogging has suffered a lot lately, as far as the quantity of articles I've submitted.
I've had very little original content to offer, and so I've read news accounts on the Internet and commented on them.  Usually, discover that someone wlse on GUNBLOGGER has found the same article, and wrote about it.

I was disappointed when I couldn't yell "FIRST".  (Isn't that a sad commentary on my creativity?)


THE UGLY:

Today, I found an article on FOX NEWS which I found very interesting!   I high-lighted the intro to the article, and saved it in my DRAFT, but then I thought:  "what if someone else has already mentioned this?"    So I went to gunblogger.com and sure enough someone else had already written about it.

So ... if HE wrote about it ... he's just giving his news, and an opinion.  Surely I can provide something original, or else why am I wasting my time and yours by being nothing more than a more energetic internet surfer?

Moment of Angst:
I would have had a few things to say, but I stifled myself.  I felt like Edith Bunker on  "All In The Family", hearing Archie say "Stifle Yourself".   Except I was both Edith and Archie, at the same time.

That's embarassing to admit!

So from now on: when I find something of interest to me, I'm going to just write my article and not worry much whether someone else has something to say about it.  I'll still write about things I find on the Internet, but QUANTITY isn't my most important product:  this is a personal blog, and I'll usually write about personal stuff.  QUALITY, not QUANTITY.  After all, I could hardly write less often!

And when I want to write about students who take my Introduction to USPSA class, I won't much care if it's not of any interest to readers of GUNBLOGGERS.   Folks in Oregon who shoot at the same matches may be interested in the kind of people who are entering The Sport, and I'm writing for them.

FULL DISCLOSURE:
Well ... actually, I'm not even writing for them.  I'm writing for me.  I write because I feel compelled to write.  Informing people is an important thing to do, but it's secondary.   And lately I haven't been doing as much writing as I need to.

So, my apologies if what I have to say is not of general interest, but fortunately it's very easy to just skip over my latest artcle and move on to something about somebody's food, somebody's dogs, or somebody's guns they have to sell.

hmmm ... actually, I guess I'm not really all that 'atypical', after all.  I'm just more neurotic.

Never mind.