I blog therefore I am

Today I have been mostly wondering why I blog.

I think it goes back to my days running a fanzine in the early 80s. I started co-editing a role-playing games fanzine called Quasits and Quasars with a school friend called Dave Hulks, and then struck out on my own into the world of postal games with what was known at the time as a personal zine. These zines were often intensely personal affairs with editors discussing matters close to their hearts, reviewing films, comics, books and games, exchanging letters of comment with readers and running a few games of postal diplomacy to give the thing an excuse to run to reasonable deadlines. The physical effort in producing one of these zines was considerable though - typing the pages on a manual typewriter, cutting and pasting artwork (with real scissors and glue), letrasetting headlines, duplicating the required number of copies, posting to the subscribers and maintaining accounts that would in no way pay for the time, effort and materiel involved. There was no real reason to do it, other than for the resultant ego boost and the contact with like minded individuals around the country and occasionally the world.

My zine folded when I came to university and ran out of time and money.

Fast forward ten years or so, and something else triggered a need to write.

My wife at the time and myself were expecting a baby, but something went wrong and Ethan was still born. It was a terrible time and the only way I found to express the way I was feeling was to write it down. Eventually, I wrote an account of the experience and posted it to a support newsgroup on the internet. I received dozens of replies and continued correspondences with people who had had similar experiences for years afterwards. The story is still archived in a couple of places, and I still get occasional emails every two or three months from people and I offer what support and encouragement I can in response.

The newsgroup uk.media.radio.archers was the next area that I explored. It has been described as 'a newsgroup for the sort of people who might listen to the Archers' and I have been reading and posting there for six years or so now. I've laughed at the jokes and fish puns, discussed serious issues and seen people fall out and make-up, been to several real-life barbeques and wept bitter tears for the three umrats I have known who have passed away over the years.

People who I have only known as phosphor dots on a screen have become a real community to me. The blogsphere is a similar community, in some ways more diffuse than a newsgroup and in other ways much more personal and intense. People carve out their own little corners of cyberspace and invite others to join them.

There are real people on the other side of the screen ...