A blog post about blogs. How exciting!

I've recently (or not so recently - I've been distracted by my internet problems at the beginning of the December, and then some other posts seemed time sensitive) been asked to provide a little bit of exposure for a new blog by the members of a new corp, REPO. I don't normally do that sort of thing (so please don't everyone suddenly start asking), but REPO is a rebuilt Blood Money Cartel (or at least, a new home for many of the old members), a corp I had a great deal of respect for before they closed their doors. As such, I don't mind letting people know that they are back in business.


How do I get on Taurean's blog list?

This would be a pretty short post if all I did was link to REPO's blog (See how I keep using their name? That's three times in four sentences. It's almost like I've done some marketing or something.), so I'm going to ramble a little about why I link the blogs that I do in my blog list.

It's actually stupidly simple. Like this blog as a whole, my blog list is designed to serve my needs, not anybody else's. I'm actually quite the introvert (no kidding, right?), and I have very little need or desire to talk about or promote myself - I'm actually quite taken aback by how well received this blog has been.

As such, my blog list is simply a list of blogs that I enjoy reading, and I want to know when they have been updated. One or two, like the Tusker Public Relations Desk, are utility links, but mostly it's just blogs I like to read.


How do I stay on Taurean's blog list?

Of course, there are some rules I follow, and I imagine that most bloggers have their own versions of these rules, and any blog I'm going to link has to do most of the following:

1) Post regularly. Unless your posts are truly exceptional (like Kishin's now defunct financial blog), I will ruthlessly delist practically any blog that does not update regularly. Some leeway is allowed for real life - that happens to everyone - but I dislike seeing blogs sit idle for regular prolonged periods; I have limited surfing time due to real life commitments, and I want to spend it looking at blogs with new content.

2) Post stuff I like. Everyone will "like" different things, so I'd never suggest tailoring your blog to a specific person or group of people, but you can post as frequently as you like and if I am just not interested in your posts I'm not going to want to visit regularly. If I don't want to visit regularly, I'm not going to put you on my blog list.

The REPO blog is an example of this. It's got some regular posts, but many of them are interviews with corp members. These seem quite popular, and I've seen a fair number of blogs do this, but it's just not something that interests me. I'm just as disinterested in other people as I assume other people are disinterested in me.

3) Post stuff that makes me better at EVE. Related to point 2), I write this blog to help improve my game. I like other blogs that help me improve my game. Suleiman can get away with posting every few weeks because he's a superb pvper and fc, and his posts are full of very, very useful information. Wensley may not be on my blog roll, but I still check in every month or so because he occasionally posts something made of solid gold. FNG manages to be both prolific and useful; some of his posts on rockets and Khanid ships still inform the way I fly, and he heavily influenced the early choices I made in the game, despite the fact that we fly in very different ways.

4) Post stuff that's relevant. Another rewording of points 2) and 3), it explains why there are so few metagame blogs on my blog roll. While probably fascinating to a certain set of EVE players, it got old for me pretty quick. Null sec sounds exciting the first few times, but you quickly realise that it's just the same thing happening over and over again with different tickers slapped on the pilots (in fairness, they probably feel the same way about my own activities). And it makes zero difference to my life in game. Jester is the one exception, but then Jester is in a league of his own. If he runs for a CSM seat again, expect this blog to carry promotional posts supporting Jester's election. It will mean missing out on his dissections of CCP, but the guy has clearly earned it.


Do I care if I am on Taurean's blog list?

Probably not, frankly. While more successful than I expected, I'm hardly considered one of the great and the good by the mainstream EVE blogging community; you are unlikely to find me in the EVE blog pack any time soon. If exposure is your main aim, the blog pack should be your main goal. As such, REPO should probably focus on impressing Rixx from Evoganda, the current keeper of the blog pack.

Looking back on my rules, I suppose they boil down to "post lots of stuff I like". It's not rocket science, but perhaps it will be of use to some new EVE bloggers out there.