Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Follow and Unfollow, Friend and Unfriend…

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.
 I wanted to be there if they did, and welcome them back with a hug and a kiss.
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:

Cherdo said...

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.

Evelyn said...

Sounds like the housecleaning was time well spent. I could definitely use that in my physical house. Cheers!

Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...

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.

Willow said...

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. :-)

Lily Cate said...

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.

Kelly Hashway said...

I need to do this with Twitter and FB. I've just been putting it off.

Janie Junebug said...

I seldom stop following someone. If someone hasn't blogged for a year, I still think the blogger might return.

Love,
Janie

Anonymous said...

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.

Vijaya said...

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.

Mirka Breen said...

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.

Yanting Gueh said...

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. :)

BB said...

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.