Other Blogs

Every now and again I find myself perusing through random blogs, authored by strangers. In these online ramblings I've learned some things. To start with, I think there's something inherently narcissistic about having a blog in the first place. It's as though us bloggers believe that our mere existence does not satisfy the demands of the masses, they want more of us. I think most bloggers deep down inside believe that their blog is a blessing to others. If I'm truly honest with myself, I have to admit that I believe that I am generously gracing my readers with a little bit of me. However, I also feel that the blogs I read are a gift, and a gift that I very much appreciate.

That being said, these are a few kinds of blogs I've observed:

Journal Blogs. Journal bloggers are very generous with their readers. They're willing to share details about medical conditions, romantic entanglings, embarrassing moments, family tribulations, brushes with the law, etc. They hold nothing back, and we, their readers, love them for it. We stop and read these blogs even when we don't know the person writing. They're willing to share, we're willing to let them.

Bragger Blogs. These bloggers appear to keep a blog for the sole purpose of gifting their readers with the knowledge that their life is a breeze. They only post about exotic vacations, major purchases, their gorgeous, overacheiving children, and for some weird reason dinner recipes. Sarah first pointed them out to me, it's like a cyber version of keep up with the Jones'. The author of a bragger blog will never compose a post about personal trials, financial hardships, disappointments, or hard days (unless it's of course to brag about successfully overcoming the trial). To do so would risk destroying their June Cleaver image. As a result, bragger blogs seem to be updated on a more infrequent basis. We're annoyed with these blogs, and yet we find ourselves reading them, waiting for the day that they slip up and post something to show us they're real. They never seem to falter, and despite our annoyance, their blog inspires us to try a little harder to obtain a live the June Cleaver life too.

Scrapbook Blogs. Scrapbook blogs tend to be heavy on the pictures, short on text. These bloggers only choose to share themselves with their readers when they have a trip or event to tell us about, and pictures to document the experience. Their posts are often sparse, but we check back in dutifully because these are family and friends we care about. If a reader doesn't care enough about this person to look through their scrapbook in real life, they probably won't care enough to look through a scrapbook blog online either. For those of us do care, we read these blogs, and wonder why this blogger can't give us more. These are the bloggers that force us to speak with them in person to get the real stories behind their pictures.

Theme Blogs. As the title would indicate, these blogs are focused on discussing one particular subject. A blog may be intentionally designed to be a theme blog, or the blogger may get stuck in a rut and the blog just winds up with a theme. Carrie's blog for instance, seems to be developing a parking/speeding ticket theme. :) I read a blog authored by a polygamist man. We read theme blogs, because although we ourselves may not have the knowledge, or perhaps the dedication and focus to be posting away about this one particular subject. We appreciate the fact that someone else does.

Family Blogs. Family blogs are those blogs that are again, pretty heavy on the pictures, and these bloggers share information that couldn't possibly be interesting to anyone outside of the family. They tend to be very straight-forward, with information like "Everyone is doing good, turns out little Harry isn't deaf afterall, just really good at ignoring his teacher. Reginald fell and scraped his forehead on the way home from school. Our baby Leonard has learned to roll over, and Boris just got a big promotion at work. We are all very excited for our upcoming vacation to Idaho to visit Aunt Mildred." Sometimes you get the feeling when reading a family blog, that the author was badgered into starting a blog by other relatives. The relatives that read family blogs love them. We love to see the pictures, and are always glad for an update, just so we know how everyone is doing. It gives us a sense of connection, despite the fact that we may only speak to this relative in person a few times a year.

Rambling Blogs. There seems to be no theme, no particular audience in mind, and no consistency in post length, or frequency. Some of the posts are amusing, and some of them...well, not so much. Some of the posts have pictures, and some of them don't. It's all just one big crap shoot. The thing I've noticed about rambling blogs, is that the bloggers will ramble on about whatever strikes their fancy, but they are generally a cautious lot, that refuse to share too much. These bloggers are not nearly as generous with their readers as some of the other bloggers. Bordering on selfish really. They deceive their readers, making them feel like they know what's going on in the blogger's life, but reading back over the posts you realize that the blogger has actually revealed very little about themselves. Despite the lack of solid information, we the readers find ourselves developing a certain affinity for these blogs, and we return, eager to see what idea has flitted across the blogger's mind this time.

Newlywed Blogs. These are the blogs that focus entirely on the newly acquired spouse. The blogger is eager to share with their readers about each new thing they've discovered about their spouse. We read these blogs baffled as to why the blogger thinks we care that he sleeps on the right, and she sleeps on the left, or the latest discovery that she only drinks 2% milk, and he likes skim. We continue to read these blogs, with the hope that the happy couple will become bored with this information quickly, and the blog will morph into something that interests all of us, and not just each other. So far that seems to be the inevitable result.

Divorce Blogs. Every now and again you might stumble across a blog that someone is using to divulge information about personal traumas. Divorce seem to be the most common topic. The blogger loves to talk about the divorce, and the evil ex. Some of them (like the one mentioned in an earlier post) will go into excrutiating detail recording the entire history of the relationship. It's lengthy but riveting. Then there's the other kind of divorce blog where you can see that the blogger believes that they have moved on, but it becomes painfully apparent that they have allowed their divorce to define them. Many of their posts start off like it's going to cover another topic, and the next thing you know you find yourself again reading about how Guillermo destroyed her life. You find yourself scrolling through previous posts trying to find a post that tells the whole story. There never seems to be one. Just these continual references to the brutal demise of the marriage. Still, we keep reading, hoping to find that much sought out horror story of abuse and betrayal.

Comedy Blogs. We probably all have a favorite blog, and for many of us that may be because the blog is hilarious. We find these gifted bloggers, who can blog about what they ate for dinner that night, and for some reason it sounds hilarious. We find them and we return again and again. We love these bloggers, and we don't care how much information about themselves they share, we love them because they've shared their sense of humor with us, they've brightened our day, taught us to laugh at ourselves, and teach us to find the hilarity in the drudgery of every day life.

I'm sure there are more kinds of blogs out there to discover, but these are the blogs I've found thus far. To all my fellow bloggers who have taken the time to gift a little of yourselves to me, and the rest of the online world, thank you!