Snickerdoodles: It’s like Hen Scratches and A La Carte mixed. If you don’t understand, don’t worry…
I was accused of using X-ray language (I’m misspelling it on purpose) in order to drive up the visitors to my Lingamish blog. For the record, I used the word “sex” in a post title. And I also mentioned “sexual reproduction.” Hardly constitutes X-ray language! But it is true that I was spicing things up for the sake of waking readers from their summer slumber. It worked. Over the three days following that post visits and links to my blog went nuts. What does this tell us about the appetite of the average blog reader? They delight in the sensational and the obscene. Any serious writing I do tends to get noticed only slightly. Therefore the temptation to be sensationalistic is very strong. That’s why I have a goal on my blog to each week write:
- Something smart.
- Something stupid.
- Something else.
If it wasn’t for #1 I couldn’t justify the investment of time in this enterprise. If it wasn’t for #2 I wouldn’t have the huge readership that I do. And #3 gives me a little wiggle room when I’m not sure if I’m being smart or stupid. OK, “huge” is hyperbole, but you know that, right?
Speaking of lingametrics, I celebrated my quadricentennial at Lingamish. Pages have been viewed about 45,000 times since last August. Akismet has caught something like 17,000 SPAM comments since I started. Get a life, weirdos, I don’t want any of your little pills!
I have a personal policy of never writing something that I wouldn’t let my kids read. In general, I make that my guide for sites I visit frequently as well. Occasionally I will make reference to a blogger and then discover that he or she is including some salacious stuff. Down the toilet for you, potty mouth!
Here are some ways I try to keep myself accountable for what I write and look at on the Web:
- I talk about what I’m doing on the Web with my wife and children.
- I keep the door open on my study so anyone can look over my shoulder and see what I’m seeing.
- I know that my parents, colleagues and several pastors read my blog and that helps me to behave myself (mostly).
After more than a decade on the Internet I have never been exposed to pornography. Does that make me the last Internet virgin? I will confess that there have been things a click away that I could have followed and got myself into trouble. One nice thing about being in the slowest corner of the online world is that I can’t stream video and I usually view sites without graphics of any kind just to speed things up. God save me from being entrapped by the junk that is out there!
My most frequent sin related to the Internet is simply being a bad steward of my time. I am an idea hamster. I can think up half-baked ideas endlessly. Also, I am an information junkie. I am endlessly fascinated with other people’s ideas. Perfect mix for Internet addiction! I try to fast from blogging on Sunday. Doesn’t always happen! But I try.
Crazily enough, I keep talking about summer but here on this side of “the border” (read “equator”) it’s the dead of winter. Yesterday I noticed that I was wearing four layers of clothing trying to stay warm. The temperature never dips below 10C in the house (50F for my fellow Americans) but with an uninsulated house and a cement floor it feels pretty chilly.
Prayer for the world has been picked up by Eclexia and I have two other bloggers who will be posting a series of four weekly prayer guides for a part of the world that they are passionate about. How about you? Do you have photos of some of the peoples of the world that you could share that would help people to learn more and pray better? Please contact me or check out the info on Prayer for the world.
I’m also praying about something like My Doxology where I would lift up God in some way on a weekly basis. I haven’t quite figured this one out but I’d like to put Jesus Christ first on my blog just like he is in my life.
This morning I was listening to an insipid mix of worship songs and finally got disgusted and switched to All That You Can’t Leave Behind by U2. Is that back-sliding or simply a cry of Ichabod? There is something disturbing about listening to canned “worship.” On the other hand, the surest sign of middle age is listening to U2 and thinking it makes you hip. Walk on.
