Thanks for the mention here.

At the time, I thought it was a great idea to let my readers know I’d be away. Hindsight’s a wonderful thing though. ;)

As for unsubscribing to a blog for lack of posts – I rarely do this. I completely understand time constraints and would rather wait for a quality post than read “filler”. In fact, I am more likely to unsubscribe if the blog is posting frequent “filler” material.

Thank you to Isabella (comment #8) for enjoying my “apology” post. I was participating in NaBloPoMo and had to post something that day. But typically I do not like to read or write apology posts. If the blogger plans an absence they can certainly share that info – no apology needed.

Btw, here’s one of the cutest “apology” posts I’ve seen in a long time: http://neenmachine.com/2007/11.....-equation/

I’m very glad that all of you like occasional off-topic posts.

Aaron, I agree with you that it’s up to the individual to decide what to write about. Every blog is different with a unique audience, and in most cases the blogger knows his/her readers the best.

Brian, isn’t it something that we got so addicted to blogging that it’s hard not to think about it. Yes, we might not have much time for it sometimes, but even I always think about possible topics for my future posts.

Randa, I also enjoyed reading the entries to David’s meme, although I did not participate myself due to personal reasons. But I do feel that I’m transparent enough with my readers through writing and off-topic posts to show who is the face behind Inspiration Bit.

Joey, you said it all in “That connection is normally made by the person not the content.” Whenever I discover a new blog, the first page I click on is the About page, trying to find out as much as possible about the author before reading his/her blog. The next step is to see when and if I get a reply to my new comment. That’s when I see if I connected to the blog or not.
I also sometimes think that I should start another blog, where I can write on other topics that I don’t find very suitable for Inspiration Bit. Keep me posted, please, when you launch that other blog.

Isabella, did you just coin that phrase: “PR robot”? I love it ;-) Why don’t you switch to another RSS reader? Have you tried Google Reader?

Lauren, that’s why I asked all those questions about the off-topic posts. With Inspiration Bit it’s not hard to go off-topic sometimes, yet still make it relative to the blog’s theme (which is not strictly defined). With blogs like yours it’s much more challenging. Although, as a reader, I do like reading your more personal posts and they didn’t feel for me out of place. But then it’s different with me, I’ve known you before you launched your blog.
I think writing an occasional off-topic even on blogs like yours is still okay. You could write them on Sundays, or you could even write them whenever you feel like it. At least, you can try and see how it goes.

The way I imagined by blog was that it would be strictly on-topic content; the go-to place for graphic design principles and practices (a la Copyblogger for writing). I turned down several memes in my early days because they were on topics like “Best Blogging Tips” and other completely unrelated subjects (I did email the people who tagged me an explained my reasonings. They were all very understanding and said no big deal).

Now I wonder though, would it be ok to post on non-graphic design things? Brian Gardner’s bloggy tag a while ago started an interesting conversation on my blog, of course that was at least a bit on topic. I think I’ve had the most comments on off topic things, like my first post and that meme. Hmm, maybe people really do like to get to know the writer behind the blog and don’t mind the occasional off-topic post.

Perhaps a good solution would be to write “bonus” articles on the blog’s off days. Like for me, I post M, W, F, but maybe I could do off topic articles on the weekends or Tuesday and Thursday. I do find myself wishing I could write for non-graphic design writing projects, contests and memes. I just don’t want to turn away readers! I guess I’m afraid if I post something off topic, they will think “This isn’t useful! This isn’t why I subscribed! Goodbye!”

What do you think?

The only problem I’ve seen with infrequent blog posts is that some readers only show posts from the last X days (I think it’s three in My Yahoo) and I have to say that when I don’t see the name of a post in a reader, I’m not interested in clicking.

I think the “apology” topic is similar to the first point. If you want to apologize, make it interesting and relate it to something meaningful and I’m fine.

Off topic posts are fine with me. If they become frequent and are not even related loosely then eventually I will unsubscribe. I have ran into a few that met my trash bin for abusing the topic. My blog is pretty tight in its subject matter and I have so many other interests. So, I will be starting another blog soon that will be much broader and allow me to write about anything that has to do with me and the internet.

As for apologizing for lack of posting, I am flexible on this one. I have let one of my blogs go silent and I have resisted the temptation to post a “I’m sorry but I am trying to work through some stuff” message. I do have a problem with bloggers that could make a category for these posts because they stop and start so much.