A short time ago
I spent a bit of time navigating the process of unfollowing some of the blogs on my Blogger Reader’s List dashboard. In the spirit of new beginning, it was clean-up time.
A few were blogs that have been sprouting
copious posts to the point where I could no longer find any other blogs when I
checked the list. These bloggers, who chose the take-over-by-blitz-blogging,
had an interest for me at one point, and I admire their owners’ dedication.
But, like everything else in life, moderation is key to health and wisdom in my
life and you ain’t getting’ me with a flood, darlings. You got to leave room
for others now and again.
But most of my
unfollows were blogs that had gone dormant, and have stayed thus for what I realized
are not weeks or months, but years. I have kept them on because I loved those
blogs. They didn’t bother anyone.
They were there
not only so I can click and re-read old posts, but also just in case they woke
up.
But when they stayed
quiet for ions, I eventually had to conclude these blogs were not sleeping.
They were dead. Not their owners, I don’t think, but the blogs. Seeing them on
the side of my dashboard used to make me feel good, but then it got sad, and
sadder. It’s not that there was no point— it was depressing.
I have yet to unfriend anyone on Facebook, and
unfollowing was a new experience for me.
Let me tell
you, unfollowing each of these dead-blogs was painful. It was a death all in itself, sort of.
Who said
housecleaning is easy?
On the happy
side, I have more room thanks to saying goodbye to the prolific sprouters, and
more clarity on the side dashboard to check the others. And you know what? I
can now ADD new ones.
Onwards!
12 comments:
Today, I spent the morning deleting old mail and saved emails - same feeling! Each time I plotted to just delete the whole year, I found a reason to be more selective. That soon made a (in theory) simple job tedious and time consuming. AHHHHHHHHH....I just want to de-clutter life.
Sounds like the housecleaning was time well spent. I could definitely use that in my physical house. Cheers!
I recently went through the same process. I check the blogs I followed and unfollowed those that hadn't blogged for a year or more. I was so surprised to find that so many had stopped blogging. I have a tendency to focus on posts that come up in the feed, so I hadn't noticed specifically who wasn't posting. The upside of this clean out, though, is that I can go back to my original habit of more methodically visiting blogs I follow, whether they come up on the feed or not.
I actually cleaned out a real closet today! Which had needed it for many years, just like your old blog dust buddies in your virtual closet. :-)
I did this around the middle of last year - had to let go of a few places that just weren't posting any more :(
Seems like there have been a few bloggers saying farewell officially lately, too.
I need to do this with Twitter and FB. I've just been putting it off.
I seldom stop following someone. If someone hasn't blogged for a year, I still think the blogger might return.
Love,
Janie
I need to clean up my blog list but I do find it hard to let go. But you are right. Some of the blogs haven't been active in months and a couple over a year. The bloggers might have just moved on to other things and blogging isn't for them any longer.
Hmmm, I should do this more often. I have the places I read on a feed and it's very convenient to read when I get the time, catch up. But I wonder about the ones who fall off into the rabbit hole. Usually they return with a new book or something and that's always a pleasure to discover, but once in a while, it's the sad demise of the blogger.
My unfollows were dormant for at least two, and as long as--oh my-- four years. I guess I really have a hard time letting go.
Ah, the guilt of clearing out. I used to have that, too, but I've adopted a minimalist attitude lately. So de-cluttering is necessary and even fun. I suppose if our blogger friends are ready to come back, they'll pay us a visit to say 'Hi.' So we can reconnect again then! In the meantime, let go to let others in. :)
I completely understand how you feel. I had a hard time doing this the first time around but if I don't hear from someone after 1 year, then it's good-bye. If they want me, they know where to find me.
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