One of the features of the OSR blogosphere is relatively frequent handwringing about the death/decline of blogs. Here is a graph of my blog's stats, beginning around 2011. (The blog started in 2008; I think at that time Google didn't own Blogger so the stats for that period are not available.)
Peaks and troughs, but a clear, steady, linear ascent. I don't see a drop-off in readership; if anything I see the opposite. It's not as rapid as I'd like, but there is clearly still a growing appetite to read all of this nonsense.
But what does that mean?
I think, probably, that just as newspapers didn't kill books, and radio didn't kill newspapers, and TV didn't kill radio, and the internet didn't kill TV, the move to more immediate platforms such as Twitter and Discord has not killed blogs. The older technologies hang around, and can indeed have a very long and productive shelf-life. Blogs are not the cutting edge anymore, but they have matured into an independent and perhaps permanent, and permanently useful, medium.
Yes, even though I've not been active actually commenting on blogposts or making many myself, I've still been following the OSR blogs and finding new ones.
ReplyDeleteAnd there are lots of new ones.
DeleteInteresting.
ReplyDeleteYeah, my stats only go back to 2011 (even though I started in 2009). Same spike in the 2016-2018 years...what the heck was going on then?...and then a more recent spike in 2021. Otherwise, my readership has been pretty steady the last ten years with neither dramatic increases or declines.
I guess folks will keep reading as long as we keep writing.
I wonder if 2016-2018 was the peak of the Zak-led G+ boom, which also led to an increase in blog traffic?
DeleteMine get spikes and dips all the time, and even the one I haven't touched in over a year now isn't really dipping very much. The active blog is slowly but steadily gaining views, but I use it mostly as an online notebook for ideas that I'll use for roleplaying or skirmish minis gaming. If other people get any benefit from it good on them, but it's mostly just a replacement for the piles of old spiral notebooks I used to keep for myself. The internet isn't invulnerable, but it isn't going to get wiped out by a single flood the way my dead-tree stuff was.
ReplyDeleteIf you care for a browse:
https://sanctumreconditesage.blogspot.com/
My only fear about the longevity of the blog is the vagaries of Google. They have that tendency to suddenly pull a product. Blogger might get yanked at any time.
DeleteThat is a legitimate concern, agreed.
DeleteI definitely follow more blogs on RPGs than I do on any kind of other social media. Would rather see the longer form, more thoughtful posts than an endless spew of short messages.
ReplyDeleteDitto. “280 character tips about how to improve your D&D game” are usually not so deep. Blogs, like most RPG stuff, require some real reading leisure time
DeleteYes - I think most (not all!) things worth saying really take a bit of time to say.
DeleteI’ve been reading rpg blogs for an unreasonably long amount of time now, and I think they’re a really good medium. What’s crucial to me is searchability: if I see a neat idea in a twitter or tumblr post if I don’t permalink it it’s gone, and even if I do accounts get deleted very quickly and I’m likely to lose the post anyway. Also infinite scrolling webpages are the work of Satan.
ReplyDeleteBlogs stick around, and with content ordered by date with post titles it’s easy to find something I half-remember from years ago. One of the earliest bookmarks in my browser is the False Machine post on Ganglia Moor.
Yeah, there are some really good old entries lying around.
DeleteThis is interesting. I just came back to my blog after a long absence and I've found the same thing. It's a bit strange but even after leaving it silent for a couple of years, the views have still held steady.
ReplyDeleteDo you link your posts anywhere? Discord or Twitter? With the demise of Google+ I'm not sure what the done thing is.
I don't link them anywhere. I think that the blog just has a momentum of its own now because it has been around for ages. I used to promote it on G+ and, initially, on rpg.net - back in the day. I guess now reddit and the OSR Discord would be the places?
DeleteA consequence of time-preference differentials?. Mass appeal platforms like Google+ and now Reddit seem less conducive to in depth analysis or discussion because of a regression to the mean. Specialized Blogs with a more curated audience can and will continue to exist.
ReplyDeleteUnpopular opinion: G+ was often tauted as the lifeblood of the OSR, but its actual importance is vastly overstated. The OSR works perfectly well as a thinly linked archipelago of thousands of islands with intermittent contact, connected by a few disparate hubs. The lack of oversight and centralized authority allows for a great diversity of approaches and insights. Gygax save us from the tyranny of the consoomers, the ugly mono-culture of the coastal college campuses and the hair-pulling social media screech-fests. It is not civilized.
Very bad writing.
DeleteHi, Kent?
DeleteBy acknowledging you confirmed.
DeleteIs Kent a man or is it a role, a sacred calling thrust upon us? Is there a day when each man, as he gazes into the mirror, sees reflected therein not his own familiar features but the hooked nose, needle-teeth and beady eyes of the Eternal Kent?
DeleteAnd are they a Kentish Man or a Man of Kent?
Deletehttps://www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/news/are-you-a-man-of-kent-or-kentish-man-228500/
Perhaps he's the clark of Kent? Which raises the question, is he man or Superman?
DeletePerhaps he's just a complete and utter Kent. I mean, the signs are there.
DeleteDiscord is like a conversation- moves fast & all over the place & there's really no record of it except the memory.
ReplyDeleteGoing through a blogroll is like reading a magazine, scanning for an article you like & then diving in. A bit more leisurely. Far easier to nail down an idea & reference it again later. More permanent.
Both are fun and I think both platforms (in general- flavour may change again ala G+/Discord) are here to stay for a while yet.
If that were a stock chart that you posted, one would be a buyer. You, sir, are a steady growth company!
ReplyDeleteLove your blog and your work.
I'm constantly amazed by the fact that you've been blogging for so long and so consistently, and still manage to regularly write interesting posts. I guess that kind of quality and consistency pays off.
ReplyDelete(I've also noticed my own number of "regulars" increase from 1 or 2 to as many as 10 or 15, mostly I think through links from you and Patrick, plus the occasional bit of whoring myself on Facebook)