A response to this and this and this and this.

The infamous Lingamish’s IX Commandments of Blogging are now lost to posterity. Only two fragments have been found:

II Entertain

People read your blog when they should be working. They think about your blog while they’re commuting to work. But only if you’re not boring. Entertain them. Use hyperbole. Be outlandish. And opinionated. Make me laugh. Make me cry. Touch my emotions or tick me off and I’ll come back for more. Entertain me or I will ignore you. And being ignored is the most painful form of blog death. Burnout is the best.

VIII: Balance

Blogging is an obsessive activity performed by obsessive people. It consumes our life and we’re glad. But when you start thinking about blogging at inappropriate times, like when you’re kissing your wife, or your kid wants to sit on your lap but the laptop got there first, then it’s time to pull back. Or when you find that you do things so you can blog about them. Or you’re blogging about blogging. Face up to it, chump. You are a loser with a capital L and it’s time to take a break. Start setting time limits. Or refuse to blog on Sundays. Get some balance. I know. I’m perpetually imbalanced. But on the other hand if you’re not obsessed with what you’re doing, why are you doing it?