I'm steadily getting the uncomfortable impression that I might be talking only to myself around here. I've always joked to real world friends and family that nobody reads this blog, but frankly in the last few months it feels like my humility is jinxing itself into reality. Its been four years since I started this blog, and during that time its become an essentially hobby in my daily life. I can't watch a movie in theaters anymore without pondering how to best word my upcoming post, and I constantly looking for new subjects to write about. This is just a part of who I am, if I were to drop this hobby, my life would become considerably more empty and dull. I have no idea what I could possibly replace this part of my life with. But lately... I don't know, it seems so much more empty around here.
Steadily there have been fewer and fewer comments on my posts, perhaps making me wonder, am I doing something wrong? Have I strayed somehow away from the formula that made this blog - an extremely small - but measurable community? There were old faces of well-known users who used to comment all the time, now most of them have disappeared. I get maybe ten comments per month, when back in 2010 and 2011 I felt like I got that may per post. I know "Escape Plan" isn't exactly a movie that is setting the world on fire and creating an army of rabid fangirls rioting through our streets, but neither was "Sanctum", and damn, I got much more of a response for that back in the day. I have to wonder: what happened? I try to improve my writing and this blog's presentation all the time, but yet everything I do differently seems to have more and more people running away. Is there a smell around here I am unaware of?
Where'd ya all go? Do you want cookies? We have cookies. Do you want a review of "Kingdom Hearts 3D"? Because that's coming tomorrow - with cookies. Do you want poop jokes? Then the cookies are getting an extra special ingredient just for you.
So if I still have sentient readers (not that I dislike the adbots, you are valued citizens of Planet Blue too) please give any good advice that you may or may not have to get Planet Blue back on track. Or if you have no good advice, give bad advice. Anything would help at this point. Because nothing in the world - not even "Man of Steel" - is more depressing than the words "0 comments" at the end of a post. I'd like to see that go away.
EDIT: Jesus, eight comments in just as many hours, that's really touching. That means seriously a lot, you know.
Hey I do read your blog and check it everyday. Couldn't comment though, but will try to comment as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteHey Blue, I also enjoy your blog very much and check it regularly. I don´t know what you could do to improve it as I like it the way it is, but I would take a cookie :-)
ReplyDeleteJoki
Okay, long post, TL;DR at the end
ReplyDeleteMan, I've been reading your blog for like a year now, and I'm sorry, but this is the first time I post a comment.
Hi. You're awesome.
Sorry for not speaking earlier, but seeing as you're asking for it, let me give you some feedback and tell you how I got here. Also, sorry if I never post again, I'm not really used to it and I'm kind of lazy... like when you asked about the new infoboxes... I saw a comment that said it was ok, so I stayed quiet because I agree with it and... Man, I’m such an ungrateful bastard.
Ok. Time for the story: It all started halfway through last year, when I decided to play ALL Final Fantasy games for the first time! … An idea that ended with a 6 month marathon of FF 1 to 7 (minus 3) where I used your walkthroughs in the wiki for some of those games, and from there I'm not sure how but eventually I came across this... probably one of the best blogs I've ever read! ...... Also the only one, I'm not usually interested in this sort of stuff... but hey, that means it's good, right?!
Back to the story: looking for something to do with my free time after the FF thing I started a 3-4 week Planet Blue reading marathon where I read a majority of your posts, movies, games, some bleach filler stuff, man that one was funny as hell and when I finished with everything that would interest me I decided to keep reading the blog, and it’s become a daily routine to check for new updates, just like checking my mail or tweeter.
Since then it's been almost a year and I've been reading pretty much everything except the monster movie thingy, sorry I got bored after like 5 of those. But not counting that, it's been awesome so far.
If I had to say why... well I guess it’s because today you just can’t trust critics. Not for movies, or videogames, or even music. It’s all either fake paid reviews or even worst: poorly informed reviews by a person that doesn’t know what he’s talking about but still has the power to affect a product’s sales. Hell, recently some game company admitted that they modified their games for the critics, making them really good for the first couple of hours, but not caring for the rest of it, making it suck for the rest of the player base, and in this case even the critics that ware giving their true opinion found themselves rating a shitty game with a high score. It’s crazy.
And you are just a guy that gives his honest opinion about the hobbies you enjoy. Well, maybe you’d take a fat stack of cash if someone asks you to lie for it, I don’t know, but right now in my eyes you are better that most paid critics out there. Keep it up man, you’re doing great.
And for feedback… let’s see… I’ve been finding a lot of grammar and orthography mistakes in some of your recent posts, maybe be more careful next time? It shows especially when you delete part of a sentence and write something else, as well as mistakes made by Word’s correction system or whatever program you use. Hell, I´m fighting Word right now, damn piece of trash.
Also something that I’d love to see in the infoboxes for movies AND videogames is the budget, I´m very curious about how much money is spent in this things, especially for games, since a movie’s Wikipedia page will almost always say its budget, but not for a videogame.
TL;DR: You’re doing a great job, and I’m sorry if I don’t comment as much as I should.. or at all. I still read and enjoy most of your posts. Good luck, man.
also, is there some kind of like system for blog posts? like the one in youtube videos.
Deleteor maybe a Thank You button like some forums have?
because people are too lazy to leave a comment but a simple click is something anyone can do, even the laziest of us. Ok. I wrote too much, I'm out. bye.
I would totally take tons of cash if a game company asked me to lie about things. However, the review would be extremely tongue in cheek and I'm pretty sure everybody would see right through my nonsense. But I do love money.
DeleteI recommend more Video Game posts.
ReplyDeleteSorry that we haven't been commenting as much Blue. I've been reading your blogs, but haven't been commenting because as the anonymous person has said before me I'm lazy as hell or someone has said what I wanted to say and didn't want to be redundant without at least adding something witty to the comment. I have been wondering if anyone else has been reading the posts, which they are, but aren't really commenting unless it has something to do with a anime or video game). Unfortunately I am one of those people and for that I am sorry. But please don't get discourage from writing your posts. If I can offer what little advice I can, why not write about opinions on things? For example: Do you watch internet videos? What's your taste in music? Pepsi or Coke? I can say that one of the things that I like about your blog is that we have a similar sense of humor and I find your thoughts to be very interesting to read and I know I would be sad if you stopped writing.
ReplyDeleteDon't give up on the blog man. *Puts on the deepest manly voice I can muster* We love you dude.
Nah. I'm here. The most basic anon but I love your movie reviews. :)
ReplyDeleteHey man, I always read your stuff, it's just that I'm always lazy and don't feel like commenting. I really liked your batman and monster series.
ReplyDeleteI particularly enjoy your posts on anime movies/series. I would be cool if you started reviewing a bunch of series and added your wit and funny jokes.
Anyhow, hang it there, don't go getting depressed on us now.
Sorry, man. I do read all of your posts, I just haven't been commenting much lately. I'll try to comment on all of your posts from now on.
ReplyDeleteI still visit the blog fairly regularly, at least twice a week. I don't read every post (you review a LOT of movies, and I usually don't read movie reviews unless I've already seen the movie, kind of defeats the purpose, I know, but I like to go in to a movie with as open a mind as possible).
ReplyDeleteIt might just be that Blogger itself doesn't get all that many visitors anymore, relative to when it was the dominant blogging site online. Honestly, if you just, for lack of a better word, syndicated your blog on a site like Tumblr, one with a better tagging system and a larger base of users, you'd probably get a LOT more readers and comments. The only bad thing about it is that spoilers are rampant on the site. It's basically community policy that once something has been released, you're responsible for avoiding spoilers, which kinda sucks. Even I have a Tumblr now, and I resisted joining that site for a long time. It really is just easy and fun to use.
Anyway, I'll be here until you finish your blog. I was there at the start when it was called Tales from the Q? over on the Final Fantasy Wiki, and I'll be there at the end.
-- DrakeMasterDrake
Awww, Blue's sad. Since before the start of the Unquantulatable Quest I've followed your writings, from many a medium. I'm a silent person for the most part, but I'll be honest, you've always been a hell of a good writer.. I guess this Space Monkey has been missing ya a little?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I've been with you ever since I discovered your blog in 2010 or so. Though if I had to make a suggestion, more video game posts.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it seems like you need to update the "Upcoming Posts" section a little, huh?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi, Erik. A team at my school constantly says "ache te vitu," but will never say what it means. Could you please explain? Thank you.
DeleteI would love to know what "ache te vitu" means. Did you ever figure it out?
Delete"Ache te vitu" means "indominable perseverance". We may go to the same school because the XC team at my school says it all the time, and I learned the meaning from an old XC coach who didn't realize it was a secret.
DeleteBeen around since day one, all posts are as entertaining as ever. Typically I don't have much to add to any conversation, so I've never really commented, but I've always enjoyed reading this blog and I check for updates quite frequently. Keep it up, dude.
ReplyDeleteI read your FF9 walkthrough maybe 3 or 4 years ago when I was going through FF9 and found myself enjoying it almost as much as I enjoyed the game itself (3rd best in the series, mind you). In fact, I liked it so much, it got me back into FF and I went on a tear through the whole series using your walkthroughs. I eventually found your blog and have checked it regularly. I love your wit and your rare commentary on politics even when there is a topic I may find myself disagreeing with somewhat.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work, and I look forward to your next post!
Regards,
CG
Hello! I've been following your blog since it's start, and before that I'd read your writing on the Final Fantasy wiki. I don't comment much on anything sorry. I guess I'm a part of that 'silent majority'. I do really enjoy your writing though so please keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteI'm disappointed you never got around to doing reviews of Durarara!! or Pokémon Conquest. I was really looking forward to those. But it's your blog so you should write what you want.
I read, virtually, all of your posts (unless they're about things that I'm not particularly interested in), and I'm the type of person that would only comment if I had a significant question to ask, or if there were no comments on the post.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, you're doing a really good job by making these reviews (and other things) entertaining and informative.
I've been reading your blog since you created it, and I read your original tales from the q? back on the Final Fantasy Wiki too.
ReplyDeleteI check it pretty inconsistently, hence the late response to this post, but I always binge read afterwards. I also almost never comment (in fact, I made an account just to comment, back before you could comment anonymously here... and then I only commented a couple times, and didn't comment for so long that I forgot the login, and made another account... and now I forgot it again and am just going to post anonymously from now on xD )
But I do enjoy it! Especially the video game related stuff; I can't say that I'm as interested in movie reviews, personally. So please don't stop.
I've been keeping up with this from the beginning. I'm just a lowly anonymous reader who refuses to get a Blogspot account, but trust me when I say, if there is no one else who reads your stuff (which there are plenty) I always will. I just don't always have anything to say. I'm sorry to hear you feel the way, 'Ol Blue. Put your worries to rest.
ReplyDeleteyour blog has been on my bookmarks for almost 2 years now. i read it daily! I realy appreciate all the hard work that goes into this! I first found you because of your hilarious walkthroughs! i honestly read some for games i didnt even own. It was just so funny!
ReplyDeletethe blog has gotten a lot more serious/movie review filled, and i miss some of the more ridiculous and silly posts, but im still clicking that bookmark every day :)
*almost 6 years now.
Delete(since ff wiki)
You have a loyal reader here from the days of Tales from the Q on the FF wiki. (still miss the old name) Like many others have said I tend to be lazy in regards to commenting, but for the most part it usually comes down to I haven't seen/played what you're reviewing and so have nothing really to contribute in a comment.
ReplyDeleteI usually only comment if I have something to say, (also I don't have an account) but I'm definitely lurking here. Keep at it Bue, I'm still a big fan and usually resort to your blog when looking for movie recommendations.
ReplyDelete