When Blogs Go Dark

I don’t know how many “Sorry I haven’t posted in a while” apology posts I have read in the years I have been following blogs, but they always seem a little out of place.  With very few exceptions, blogs generally don’t imply any sort of commitment on the volume of content, and honestly for most folks I would really rather they didn’t post if they don’t have anything interesting to say.

This highlights another interesting benefit of the RSS syndication model.  A non-updated feed does not take away from my attention.  It doesn’t waste my time the way that visiting a stale website would.

So to all the dark bloggers out there, release yourselves from the guilt of not posting.  It doesn’t matter to me or my feed reader that you haven’t posted in a month.  Your subscribers will still be here ready to read your next post, and very few will drop your feed from their blogrolls.  I would argue that you are more likely to lose subscribers from repeated apology posts, or uninteresting filler posts.

So, when family commitments get in the way, or when work hits crunch time, or when you just don’t have anything interesting to say, just lay low. The blogosphere will be waiting when you have the time, energy and inspiration.