So What Do I Do With My Old Blog?

Way back in 2003 I was working at a job with nothing to do (hence the term "Window Manager", from a Japanese phrase) and I was bored out of my mind.  Blogging was a New Thing 21 years ago, and I spent a lot of my spare time wandering around the Blogosphere.

One day I decided "I can do that!" and started my blog, naming it after how I was spending my time.

I really enjoyed it the first several years, and it became a part of my daily routine.   I posted mostly on business, economics, tech (where I work), and started wandering into politics.  I also put a lot of personal stories and details on the blog since most of my friends and family read it (remember this was before Facebook).  At its peak in the mid 2000s I had quite a bit of traffic, with hundreds of unique readers a day. I kept things mostly anonymous, but maybe someone with a lot of effort could figure out who I was. 

Several things lead me to ramp down and abandon it for years at a time.  Part of it of course was the rise of social media like Facebook and Twitter, which killed traditional blogging.  I also got busy with other things in life, and like many hobbies my interest simply waned.

A strong under-current was the rising Cancel Culture, and although I don't think I ever posted anything controversial to a normal person, one never knows what the HR gate keepers at potential employers might think.  So although I had abandoned the blog for years at a time, I did take the effort to delete most personal related posts.  Except the rant against Rice University stays public forever, the woke *%#$ers.   

Although my blog laid fallow I still read and commented at traditional blogs using the moniker "whatever" (yeah, whatever).  These blogs are getting fewer and narrower as more readers abandon long-form blogging for the quick dopamine fix of Twitter (sigh, I mean "X") and Facebook.  But I really enjoy (and of course don't always agree) with blogs listed on the right like The Z Man (alt right), The New Neo (moderate right), WolfStreet (economic, libertarian) and Mish (economic, left-center).  I also read daily but don't comment at Instapundit (a bit of everything from the moderate right), Ace (more of everything, further to the right) and Zero Hedge (economic with a dash of conspiracy theory).  Sadly American Digest will have no more posts, its talented writer Gerard Van der Leun passing away last year.

But starting by blog back up, my main question is: who would read it and why?  I don't think I have anything particularly new to say as every opinion can be found on the internet, even as repression has vastly increased.  I suppose I could be on the few people blogging about tinnitus?

I suppose "how" something is said can be different or more entertaining in a blog.  And some blogs have incredibly interesting comment communities, which are often more compelling than the original blog post.  I don't expect much commenting here, but will keep commenting at my usual locations and now link back and copy here if the comment is interesting or pertinent.

Fundamentally, however, I think a blog exists for the writer.  Even if no one ever reads it, it is an outlet for the author, basically a hobby.  And I think I need another one of those these days.