03-30-2006, 05:45 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Blogs to Riches - The Haves and Have-Nots of the Blogging Boom
"By all appearances, the blog boom is the most democratized revolution in media ever. Starting a blog is ridiculously cheap; indeed, blogging software and hosting can be had for free online. There are also easy-to-use ad services that, for a small fee, will place advertisements from major corporations on blogs, then mail the blogger his profits. Blogging, therefore, should be the purest meritocracy there is. It doesn�t matter if you�re a nobody from the sticks or a well-connected Harvard grad. If you launch a witty blog in a sexy niche, if you�re good at scrounging for news nuggets, and if you�re dedicated enough to post around the clock�well, there�s nothing separating you from the big successful bloggers, right? I can do that...In theory, sure. But if you talk to many of today�s bloggers, they�ll complain that the game seems fixed. They�ve targeted one of the more lucrative niches�gossip or politics or gadgets (or sex, of course)�yet they cannot reach anywhere close to the size of the existing big blogs. It�s as if there were an A-list of a few extremely lucky, well-trafficked blogs�then hordes of people stuck on the B-list or C-list, also-rans who can�t figure out why their audiences stay so comparatively puny no matter how hard they work."
It's a slow news week for Pocket PCs and PDAs in general, so I went digging through my list of recent off-topic articles. This article published last month in New York Magazine is an interesting take on the haves and have-nots amongst blogs, and what makes the difference. For every Engadget out there, there's 100 sites that try to blog about gadgets but get no traffic. I know what attracted me to Pocket PC Thoughts in the first place -- it was a niche I cared about, and a bunch of Editors that cared to post interesting topics and content on the subject. And almost 13,000 posts later, I'm now a veteran editor myself. 8O
Anyway, have any of you tried to start a large-scale blog? And what draws you to Pocket PC Thoughts or other favorite sites of yours?
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03-30-2006, 06:21 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 211
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Well, I have no desire to start a large scale blog. Nor do I really have the time to invest in something like that. I'm content with a handful of postings that keep my family up to date - every now and then a deep thought or two.
As for what I tend to look for - depends on what I need. I have a lot of SQL Server blogs in my feeds as well as things around the GTD program. PPC, PC, etc figure in somewhat, but only from a handful of sites. I was sad to see PPCPassion dwindle as that was one of my favorites for a long time.
Other blogs of interest tend towards things involving worship or using technology in the local church. I'll find one link, that leads me to another, and so on. These don't tend to be huge blogs from what I can see, but the contributors are faithful. I've enjoyed www.worshipmatters.com quite a bit lately. Good material to think about.
I suppose I should also toss in UserFriendly and SlashDot - just for the amusement value. :-)
As for the sizing - it does depend on who you know and how you can get the word out. Getting mentioned on SlashDot or a large-distribution newsletter/blogsite will get you a lot of publicity pretty quickly. Otherwise, you'll be scrambling to get readership from other small sites. UserFriendly actually just ran a small series on this that was amusing at times.
-Pete
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03-30-2006, 02:13 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 18
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why I like this site
It keeps me in touch with other pda users and helps keep me informed about what's going on in tech world. I enjoy this site and others like it. Thanks guy's :lol:
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03-30-2006, 03:34 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 58
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What draws me to Pocketpcthoughts is the volume and frequency of posts. Since I work at a hospital I usually have the opportunity to check the site in-between patients. This is how I satiate my desire for the latest and greatest pocketpc related news, software, and rumors. I enjoy the camaraderie here and the selflessness of the members to help the less knowledgeable. It is because of this I've formed a personal loyalty to this site. That loyalty also extends to the businesses that are affiliated with Pocketpcthoughts. I support the work here and respect the dedication that it takes to keep a site like this operational. That is why, IMHO, some sites make it, and some don't. It's not just the product, it's the people.
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03-30-2006, 04:25 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 18
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Very elequently stated Micheal, If I had a few your brain cells my reply would have been alot longer. You make my point as to why I am a member of the site. 8) Good lookin out.
Kimy
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03-30-2006, 04:36 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 134
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Was the word blog even around when PPCthoughts started? At that time it was one of the very few sites to get information on CE devices. No support from Microsoft, Mfgrs just supporting the hardware and OS, very small software developers made integrating and solution finding very tough and created the need for a site with a good user community
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03-30-2006, 04:41 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 454
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I second the other posters' sentiments. The editors and other contributors to this site have solved more problems for me than I can count.
This site is like the manual these devices should come with.
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03-30-2006, 05:48 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 211
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I'll second Michael's thoughts. Besides, being a subscriber, I get all of the alerts via e-mail so I'm always up to date.
As for how I came here, I was a regular reader in the msnews.microsoft.com Usenet group for Pocket PC's. I still remember the flame wars going on over this site and several others. :roll:
My favorite site before this was Dale Coffing's site - it was always up to date and had a great forum going. Once his server died, though, it just fell by the wayside. He never did quite recover from that as far as I can tell. 
I think I finally came back to check this out (despite all of the flaming in the newsgroups) and was really impressed. Once I bought my iPaq 2200, I was impressed enough to subscribe (the discounts helped, too).
So Kudos to the editors, maintainers, reviewers, contributors, and all the others who make this site a pleasure to visit.
-Pete
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03-30-2006, 06:19 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,097
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For about a year I ran a gadget blog, it got a fair amount of traffic. Pocket PC Thoughts was my inspiration.
I got hacked and didn't bother to restore the backups. It was many long hours and as we saw with Brighthand that can take a toll on you.
I since missed blogging, and relaunched my site under the same brand but with a new niche. I chose clean transportation because that's a niche I could get into for long hours. If you check out the new site (barely a month old) you'll see I occasionally post tech news but that's our off topic. I want to thank Jason for the inspiration, and for helping me launch that first site. The new site www.grlt.com will be an adventure.
Thanks to everyone here for welcoming me back after my long internet sabbatical.
__________________
Please see www.grlt.com "Tech with a twist of lime!"
The Midlands Hybrid Club MidlandsHybrid.com
Current: Kacey's Wing, T-mo Wing Past: GCM_T, T-Mobile MDA |
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03-30-2006, 06:22 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 211
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On a semi-related note, does anyone know what happened to Dale Coffing? Can't seem to find any sign of him being active anywhere with PPCs.
-Pete
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