Follow the leader

Saturday, September 30, 2006 around 3 pm mountain

I’m not quite sure what to think, but I’m writing to you because my wife is off shooting another wedding, and I need to talk about this. When I got up this morning I did the usual: poured some hot coffee, skimmed the headlines in the local paper that I will never stop wishing my beloved dog would have gone out to fetch for me, and then rattled my new Mighty Mouse to wake up my working life. My personalized Google page gave me a quick glance at last night’s Red Sox score, some more worldly headlines, and a notification there was a new post over at zeldman.com. Which is where I stopped for the moment, clicked the title of the post, Blahg, and continued on to read what he had to say today.

For many, Zeldman is their leader. He’s done so much for this industry over the years; he has essentially set the standard for the way the world should build websites. Seemingly countless people have jumped onboard the accessibility bandwagon—myself included—and now produce sites using nothing except pure CSS and the ever-accessible XHTML. I applaud what Jeffrey has been able to accomplish, especially against odds as big as Microsoft’s world domination campaign (read: Internet Explorer). Basically, the guy just kicks ass when it comes to this web stuff.

But this is where it gets weird for me.

“After 4 years, I’m still blogging, but not as often. And I have to admit that usually I’d rather be doing something else like being with my family. It makes me feel better to know that you–whom I’ve looked up to for a long time–feel the same way.”Andy

Evidently, Zeldman’s had a child. Or a second one. I don’t really know. But, he wrote in “Blahg” that he’s now going to spend more time with his family than with his blog. And you know what? That’s fantastic. I’m thrilled for him. What’s more important than family? Apparently, though, there were a couple of folks just waiting for this news to break. As of 8:30 this morning, 35 people had replied all pretty much saying the same thing: they were done blogging, too. It didn’t take very long for Kim Krause Berg tell the world she didn’t need her blog anymore. And Andy Knight said:

“After 4 years, I’m still blogging, but not as often. And I have to admit that usually I’d rather be doing something else like being with my family. It makes me feel better to know that you–whom I’ve looked up to for a long time–feel the same way.�

Huh. Okay, Andy. I guess this isn’t as surprising as I originally thought. People have been following this guy for a long time now. Why should today be different? I wonder if the blogosphere is seeing the light at the end of its tunnel.

As for me, will I keep blogging? My blog is entitled “Often Daily”, and I suppose it’ll continue to be just that — once in a while, a few times a week, or maybe not. Tomorrow’s a new day, the sun will rise, and anything’s possible. For now, I’m headed back outside and away from this blog.

  1. A Day in the Life of a Persuasion Architect Oct 01, 2006 / 1pm

    It’s OK Not To Blog, Really!

    Mark Healey’s post Follow The Leader is worthwhile reading. He’s correctly identified why so many people blog and why they can now take comfort in their decision not to blog any longer. I’m hoping that the citizens of the blogosphere

  2. Steve Sherlock Oct 06, 2006 / 2pm

    One wonders then how much of their blogging was really a “keeping up with the Jones” versus having the need to say something (assuming they had something to say). The world needs blog readers as much as it needs blog writers. If there is no feedback, there is no conversation, without conversation there is no community.

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