CT Biz Blogs

The blogosphere is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.*

In this big ol’ blogosphere, it’s easy for little blogs to get lost, and easy for blog owners to abandon blogs without needing to drive to a farm in the country.

Blogs can be abandoned for several reasons. Maybe the blogger started with a fit of enthusiasm, then realized that he or she has nothing to say, or no time to say it in. Or perhaps the blog is forgotten; the owner just starts a blog on one of the free services, makes a post, and then gets busy and forgets that idea. Six months later the owner finds a note in his or her PDA with the blog’s name and the password. Or perhaps someone got a blog for Christmas, and finds that taking care of it as it grows is just too much work.

And we can’t forget all the abused blogs out there, which, because of cruel owners, have been turned into splogs. These poor blogs have to work harder than is healthy or reasonable.

That’s why I’m announcing my latest idea: the home for abandoned, lost, and abused blogs.

In this home, perhaps sponsored by the SPCB, blogs can be housed in a safe environment, away from predators (spammers). Here they will be looked after and read occasionally, while arrangements can be made for foster bloggers to take them in, or even adopt them.

There are couple of ways to find these lost or abused blogs.

• Time:  After a year of no posts, a blog can be considered abandoned and taken in. The exception would be historical blogs kept online for archival purposes. These should be labeled archival so that they’re not considered abandoned.
• Ratios: There are three key ratios that should be evaluated.
  • ad/word ratio — if this is greater than .5, that’s an abused blog!
  • original words/total words ratio — if that’s too low, the blog is abused (unless proper attribution and links are given and quotes are shorter than 3 or 4 sentences).
  • real words/jargon ratio — too low, and the blog and blog reader is in danger of being abused (unless it’s a real tech blog, of course).
• Reporting: All free hosting services should have a way to report splogs so that they can be tested and taken away from abusive owners.

If you think your blog is in danger of being abandoned, or if you want to make sure your blog is not “lost,” I have a few ideas on that as well.

• Blog responsibly.  Make sure you have some ideas for posts before you even begin. 
• Use a reminder system. Backpackit is a free web-based service, where you can setup online reminders and get emails.  Or use a blog-watching service that would send you reminders if you haven’t posted in a while. OK, this doesn’t exist yet — it’s just a wish. Maybe this is a good candidate for a web 2.0 thingy with AJAX ?(blog abuse ratio alert!)  Or maybe this is something that subscriber services such as FeedBlitz could offer.

Someone really oughta set up such a home — in a blog, of course.  But don’t ask me to do it; I’m still trying to rescue my own blogspot blog!

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* Apologies to Douglas Adams , whose original line about space made a much better joke in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy .