Blogging decline

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a stats person.  It's part of my attention to detail, but I will definitely notice statistical measures, especially things like attendance at sporting events versus seating capacity and other numerical trends.  Well, I've noticed how much my blogging has declined over the past few years, going from 69 posts in 2008 (which included my posts on my old MySpace blog), to 44 in '09, to 37 last year, now to just 16 (this is #16) in 2011.  It's not like I have less time this year than last (it's probably about the same amount really), but for whatever reasons I just don't find the time or motivation to blog much the past year.  I've noticed my Wikipedia activity has also declined over the past year, though lately it seems to be increasing again.  Even so, it's nowhere near the peak I hit back in late 2010. 

Part of the decline with my blog here has been because I've been blogging on the Kent Patch website.  Originally the idea was that I would blog about once a month there, but that hasn't panned out either.  I have a blog in the works, but have found the current reading audience there really isn't all that interested in sports, so I'm far less motivated to write blog posts there since my topic is sports.  The only post that got any noticeable amount of comments was my post about the Kent-Ravenna football rivalry and how it's much older than it is credited for.  The comments, however, came not because of interest in the topic, but more because one specific commenter thought they were smarter than they were and basically called me out for using the name "Kernel" for the 1923 Roosevelt yearbook, assuming that I was just "sloppy" in using that term instead of "Colonel".  Well, unfortunately for that person, the 1923 Roosevelt yearbook was called "The Kernel" (The name The Colonel for the school publication seems to show up in the late 1930s/early 1940s, but it was never the name of the yearbook or "annal").  Most of the comments after were directed at that individual showing them how incorrect they were.  It was nice to see that people were reading it, but most of my other posts seem to go unnoticed.  Maybe people aren't commenting, but when I see other blogs getting regular comments, it's less motivating!  Keep an eye out, though, on kent.patch.com for my blog.  I just submitted a new post today, so it should be up in the next few days. 

Another reason for the decline in blogging is, I think, trying to figure out which direction to take this blog.  Do I want it more personal?  Do I want it to be on certain topics I like?  Do I want it to be reviewing products or experiences I've had?  I already broke off the most personal aspects of the blog by creating a private blog.  But lately, with my interest in local history at an all-time high, perhaps I should consider making a history blog separate from this one.  My worry is that I have too many blogs to manage.  At this point I'm thinking of making this more of my opinion blog (since it's subtitled "The World According to Jon") and having that cover my political rants and other opinions, while separating off my history posts to a new blog and possibly expanding my personal blog or having two personal blogs (keeping the existing one for my most personal opinions while making another one to share pictures and stories.  Still much to think about!

Lastly, I think my interest in history has taken much of my motivation and time from blogging.  For the past few months I've really been active in the Facebook group "You Know you are from Kent if/when..."  I have posted several photos of local interest and have commented on many others that have been posted.  I've learned tons of new things about Kent history and shared my own insights too.  It's been a lot of fun and has been nice to be appreciated for what I have discovered about Kent history!  If you're from Kent and on Facebook, be sure to check it out (and it's more than just history too!).  It's a "closed" group, so a current group member has to add you, but it's easy to request.