The Cart Driver » Metablogging http://thecartdriver.com Scamp's anime blog Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:35:15 +0000 en hourly 1 Now it’s time to start paying attentionhttp://thecartdriver.com/now-its-time-to-start-paying-attention/ http://thecartdriver.com/now-its-time-to-start-paying-attention/#comments Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:17:56 +0000 Scamp http://thecartdriver.com/?p=9388 I wonder how many of the people who read my blog are paying attention to The Aniblog Tourney. I’m guessing there’s a load of you who visited when I first mentioned it, then quickly lost interest. Well now it’s time to start paying attention. As the tourney enters Round 3, most of the deadwood has been cut and what we’re left with is 32 high quality blogs duking it out for the top spot. For the readers of the tourney, this is the ideal position to be in. Remember the main aim of the tourney is for readers to find new anime blogs they might not have read before. There’s a lot better chance of your finding a good quality anime blog now that we’ve reached Round 3.

And since you’re visiting that site anyway, would you mind giving me a vote in my match-up? I’m up against the number 1 seed, the might of the Sea Slugs team. Now since I was the one who created the tourney it would be a total disaster if I somehow managed to beat them (oh great, more conspiracy theories flying at how the tourney was all one big scheme to drive traffic to my blog). I’m looking for something respectable, like a 52% — 48% loss, maybe taking the lead with a day left in the polls just to give them a scare.

Oh, and while you’re at it, vote in the other poll too. I really mean it when I say that there’s some real high quality blogs on display today.

Finally, since losing to Sea Slugs requires you to submit fanart of their mascot, I hired Stella to do it for me. Presenting Nama-ko~!

22 comment(s) for this post:

Write a comment

  1. meflorainemefloraine:
    2010-Jun-02 Aw, good job, Stella! She’s so proud of her work. ;)I am definitely excited for these match-ups. Writing up this round was fun. Da da da~
  2. Eugen R.Eugen R.:
    2010-Jun-02 Good jobbu, Stella. Looks exactly like Nama-ko.On an unrelated note, mef’s avatar on this theme looks simply love ♥ (there you go, my ego)
  3. Baka-RaptorBaka-Raptor:
    2010-Jun-02 Is Nama-ko the one on the right?
  4. blindabilityblindability:
    2010-Jun-02 Wait, why is Stella drawing a picture FOR you? Shouldn’t you be drawing a picture for HER (because Stella owns all)? Unless, of course, you were raised in some other militia orphanage that trumps Sister’s little Monster here…
  5. adminScamp:
    2010-Jun-02 Because endless copypasting is fun!
  6. adminScamp:
    2010-Jun-02 I’ve always liked the bigger avatars this theme gives you. No longer do the avatars look like colorful blobs
  7. adminScamp:
    2010-Jun-02 Don’t you dare compare Stella to Nama-ko. Stella kicks ass and drinks cups of tea. Nama-ko has chips in her hair. Clearly one is better than the other
  8. adminScamp:
    2010-Jun-02 I tricked her into drawing it. Obviously she wouldn’t draw it for me if I asked her directly
  9. AoriiAorii:
    2010-Jun-02 Lol great screencap moment; I didn’t even think of the possibilities it offers xD *steals*
  10. fathomlessbluefathomlessblue:
    2010-Jun-02 That picture needs to be made into a new banner for the ss site. I’d probably laugh so hard i’d suffer a hernia but it’d be worth it.
  11. fathomlessbluefathomlessblue:
    2010-Jun-02 Also is it a coincidence that you’ve given Nama-ko shark eyes? xD
  12. adminScamp:
    2010-Jun-02 Screencap? That never happened in the anime. I got Stella to do that for me
  13. adminScamp:
    2010-Jun-02 The shark eyes are there because I am Stella isn’t very good at drawing. Although I’d love if this pic came up on the banner. Maybe as an April Fools?
  14. ShinmaruShinmaru:
    2010-Jun-03 I’m still not sure who I want to vote for yet, but having Stella on your side helps. She’s scary!
  15. losttylostty:
    2010-Jun-03 I see how it is! I’m just deadwood to the world! And to think I still voted for you x) I think I might have to go cry some dragon-tears.…
  16. meflorainemefloraine:
    2010-Jun-03 No, that part wasn’t fun. But seeing the match-ups was fun!
  17. adminScamp:
    2010-Jun-03 Yup. All deadwood knocked out already. Like Behind the Nihon Review and Blogsuki. Clearly only deadwood ;)
  18. adminScamp:
    2010-Jun-03 Vote for me or Stella will rip out your eye…oh wait
  19. kluxoriouskluxorious:
    2010-Jun-04 I voted for you and lemme thank the AniTourney for introducing some new interesting reading material for me. At least there’s some good that comes out of it.
  20. steelboundsteelbound:
    2010-Jun-04 Your blog is one of blogs I discovered and liked because of this tournament so you get my vote.Today’s match-up reminded me that there’s 33 blogs in this round not 32 ;)
  21. adminScamp:
    2010-Jun-04 Well that was the main aim. We’ll improve on it when we run it again in two years time. Yup, heard it first here. Two years time is when I plan to run the tourney again
  22. adminScamp:
    2010-Jun-04 Oh yah, 33 blogs. Would have been 34 if I continued my fuck up from the last round. Sorry about all that. That was all my mistake :(But hey, I got a new reader so all’s cool~!
]]> http://thecartdriver.com/now-its-time-to-start-paying-attention/feed/ 22 How it will all endhttp://thecartdriver.com/how-it-will-all-end/ http://thecartdriver.com/how-it-will-all-end/#comments Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:18:23 +0000 Scamp http://thecartdriver.com/?p=8164 Now that I’ve had time to sit back and watch the aniblog tourney play out to a certain degree, I feel I can make some reasonable predictions on how this will pan out. First, there’s the issue of how many people will show up, which I shall now demonstrate using this poorly drawn graph.

There’s the original burst in hits as the tourney hits the scene, followed by a sharp drop as those who never really had much interest in the tourney in the first place stop visiting. The core audience of the tourney will make up most of the hits, mainly consisting of bloggers and those who read anime blogs on a regular enough basis to already be fairly in tune with anime blogs in general. There will also be a few people who show up randomly but these will make up a small percentage of the people visiting. Also, these people might be slightly put off by the number of blogs present along with the lower quality of those blogs on display. Hence the extra hits these blogs are getting are mainly coming from those inside the sphere already. An echo-chamber, circle wank, whatever you want to call it, is what’s happening. Not that the other blogs competing in the first round aren’t getting readers from outside the sphere. The tourney has gotten hits from places well outside the sphere, but it’s mainly an echo-chamber.

However the important thing here is that (sorry if I hurt some feelings here) the tourney is genuinely voting forward the better blogs. Not those that are most known inside the sphere or those with big reputations, but on the genuine quality of the blogs in question. Many will point to the fact that it’s mainly been on first impressions, which I’ll get to later. With the second round beginning and the bigger name blogs competing, more people will start showing up because of how interesting the match ups are. It’s already clear that the more interesting the match up on that week is, the more people pay attention. The Colony Drop post is tribute to that, which is why I kinda want them to win. A lot of these people aren’t actually visiting the sites in question or even voting in the other poll, but enough are for it to make a difference. And again, the genuinely good blogs should continue to advance. Case point here would be Mecha-Guignol, a relatively unknown blogger whose popularity has suddenly increased thanks to the tourney. Just look at how much more comments he’s got on his latest post compared to the older ones. Ah, I remember when there was only about 5 people who ever commented on that blog~

The important point here is that the randomers visiting the tourney will now be faced with rounds with genuinely good blogs competing. Better yet, a lot of these blogs have been voted up on first impressions, which means the randomers with the typical Internet interest span of maybe 20 seconds will be impressed quickly. And they will too start to visit these blogs and become readers. And this shall continue as the rounds progress. More people will start to follow the tourney as the rounds progress because the quality of the blogs on display will also increase. What people tend to forget is how few people actively search out anime blogs to read. Those who follow none will start to read those who ranked in the semis and the final. Those who only read the big ones will start to follow some of the other high quality ones that have progressed further. Basically, if you’re someone reading this post and feel rather overwhelmed by the tourney, it might be better to wait for some of the later rounds.

I said it on the opening post. This tourney is to promote good blogs who aren’t maybe getting the attention they deserve. So far, people are voting up the blogs they genuinely think are better. The only problem I can see thus far is that blogs that may appeal to a specific audience are losing out, which is just something that is an inherent flaw with democracy anyway. I personally like to err on the side of originality when voting in the tourney (for example, I voted both Colony Drop and Anime Instrumentality because they both cover things almost no other blogs do). I really hope people do continue to vote for the actual blogs themselves and not based on friendships, random twitter campaigns or reputation that they were once a good blogger.

As for the question people really care about; who is going to win the thing, I’ve noticed a certain tendency to vote against episodic blogs, although pretty much all the big guns in the episodic blogging world got byes in the first round. Those thinking Random Curiosity will steamroll the thing are totally underestimating the backlash people will have to these types of blogs. I am a betting man though, so my guess would be for Sea Slugs to win the whole thing (they’re number one seed for a reason). I think it largely depends on how good the most recent posts are on the editorial blogs are when they are featured. What do you guys think?

::Note:: this is the optimistic view. The pessimistic view is that almost everyone stops caring after the first round and it becomes a total circle jerk between a select few

23 comment(s) for this post:

Write a comment

  1. JanetteJanette:
    2010-Apr-26 My bet is on Psgels.
  2. meflorainemefloraine:
    2010-Apr-26 I hope the optimistic view happens. If the pessimistic occurs, it will be no fun.Editorials ftw!
  3. RakuenRakuen:
    2010-Apr-26 I want to pull for 2DT to go all the way to the finals, but he’ll have to go through Sea Slugs first. It’d be an interesting matchup for sure.
  4. JoojoobeesJoojoobees:
    2010-Apr-27 I’m enjoying the tourney. If I may be forgiven the strange comparison: it is kind of like one of those read the Bible in a year plans. Someone might think it would be interesting to have read the whole thing, but it looks so intimidating, when you think of reading the whole thing. But the tourney structures the reading, so that I only have to read at most 4 new blogs a day to explore quite a wide variety of blogs. Then I keep reading only the ones I liked.Prior to this my reading was driven exclusively by blogs that discussed series I was watching at the time. As a result, the tourney is giving me a manageable way to expand my familiarity with the ani-blogosphere.
  5. KabitzinKabitzin:
    2010-Apr-27 If enough of RC’s readers know it is in the tournament, I think RC will win comfortably. Still, getting the voters out is important!
  6. kadian1364kadian1364:
    2010-Apr-27 Well, episodic blogs have to contend with the fact that they all cover the exact same content and generally read similarly too. Looking at the same “Maid-sama ep 3″ post gets tiring real soon.But if any of the top seed “mobilize their base”, they’ll buzzsaw through the brackets.
  7. zzeroparticlezzeroparticle:
    2010-Apr-27 I’m inclined to agree that should the top seeds leverage their popularity, the contest will slide into a zone of predictability with really no upsets to look out for.For what it’s worth, I’m just glad to be able to discover new stuff to add to ye olde feedreader. I came in expecting to find 2–3 new blogs but have come out with more than that. If nothing else, that’s a success in terms of getting me new reading material.
  8. RPRP:
    2010-Apr-27
    For what it’s worth, I’m just glad to be able to dis­cover new stuff to add to ye olde feedreader. I came in expect­ing to find 2–3 new blogs but have come out with more than that. If noth­ing else, that’s a suc­cess in terms of get­ting me new read­ing material.
    This.I can’t tell you how many blogs that I came across as we were creating the list of 96 where I thought, “hey I remember this blog, why am I not following it?” or “geez, I never knew this blog existed, but they’ve got good stuff”.The blog tourney isn’t big enough where a blog is suddenly going to go from nobody to American Idol, but if each contest brings about a few new readers/commenters to each blog, its reach will hopefully cascade from there, and really good things can happen.
  9. CaranielCaraniel:
    2010-Apr-27 I’ve been enjoying discovering blogs I hadn’t heard of before — my reader has grown significantly since the start of the tourney.I’ve also noticed an increase in traffic to my own blog, which is most welcome (as is the feedback.…..still trying to work out how to incorporate that though :P )
  10. AoriiAorii:
    2010-Apr-27 I’m rooting on 2DTThe backlash against episodics does a good job of countering the fact episodics simply have bigger fanbases, whereas it’s very difficult to attract hits with editorials and other in-depth posts; I think it’s quite fair.@“I really hope people do continue to vote for the actual blogs themselves and not based on friendships, random twitter campaigns or reputation that they were once a good blogger.” Just like design/content/style, the blogger is part of the blog, so I think it’s fairgained to make decisions based on what you think of the blogger: especially when it comes to open/close-minded-ness and promotion/bashing.
  11. adminScamp:
    2010-Apr-27 huh, my first two commenters are fellow staff members on the tourney~If you’re finding a handful of new blogs to read then hurrah~ the tourney is a success, at least for you it is.As for the big seeds mobelising their fanbase, we’ll have to wait and see if that happens. I’ve seen it happen twice so far in the tourney. Hanners got a chunk of extra votes but he was winning the tie anyway. Plus this number wasn’t actually a massive amount even though he made a post about it. The other was Colony Drop and that’s resulted in as many votes against it. Who’s to bet someone will form anti-episodic petitions.Strangely I don’t think I’ve added any new blogs to my reader. The main reason for this is probably because I set this up. If I didn’t know a blog existed then they’re probably not in this tourneyAlso if 2DT gets by Tenka Seiha he should come across Ogiue Maniax and in that match up I want OM to win. So screw you guys, Ogiue Maniax FTW!
  12. CanneCanne:
    2010-Apr-27 My match against Colony Drop has the total vote of almost 400! That’s really nice because lots of people also came across my blog in the last few days. If this trend keeps on going, I think we are in the win-win situation here :)
  13. lelangirlelangir:
    2010-Apr-27 I don’t really think the tourny as you’ve set up in bracket form, at the end, is any causal indicator of who is the ‘best’. If you mixed up the pairings, would it have turned the same? Many of these blogs seem like apples and oranges; something that Ryan commented, that it should be broken down into categories. I wouldn’t read 2DT over Hanners since they’re two totally different things, etc. It’s a good PR machine though.
  14. JanetteJanette:
    2010-Apr-28 It’s cause we love you Scamp. :)
  15. BassBass:
    2010-Apr-28 The second round is where things are gonna get down.Can’t wait for all the big guns to bare knuckles.
  16. YiYi:
    2010-Apr-28 “I said it on the open ing post. This tourney is to promote good blogs who aren’t maybe get ting the atten tion they deserve.”It’s certainly exposed me to several other good blogs that I never really followed too closely.Someone mentioned something about the big seeds mobilizing their base (Random C, Seaslugs… etc.). If they do, the goal of promoting good blogs become even more concrete. The vast majority of anime watchers rarely follow other blogs beside the biggest names. They read the blogs that rank high on google. If this can get even a percentage of anime fans to start reading blogs that rarely gets traffic from outside the blogosphere, that’d be fantastic.
  17. PoroPoro:
    2010-Apr-29 RAMBLINGS OF DARKMIRAGE FTW!! oh wait not on the list.… fail.
  18. adminScamp:
    2010-Apr-29 @CanneThat Colony Drop match of yours has been interesting to say the least. But hey, at least people are visiting the blogs in quesiton@lelangirActually I think Ryan said specifically not to break down into categories but eh, it’s too late for that now either way. Besides, comparing one episodic to another is boring. Comparing Hanners to 2DT is interesting. At least, that’s how I see it.@YiThere’s certainly an element of truth in that. Sea Slugs, THAT and Kuorgane have all made posts about the tourney and have gotten somewhere in the realm of 200–400 hits from them. Now lets say some other people start ‘anti-episodic’ tirades, which is happening to a small extent on the tourney anyway, we might see something interesting happen.@PoroHe’s made like, 2 posts this year.
  19. PietelPietel:
    2010-Apr-30 –I think it largely depends on how good the most recent posts are on the editorial blogs when they are featured.–This is an interesting point. Every blogger in the tourney is very aware of this fact. The growing audience for the tournament will put increasing pressure on the participating blogs to write more and better. I’m already excited for the future posts we’ll be seeing.
  20. KitsuneKitsune:
    2010-May-01 You mentioned several times “genuinely good blogs”. What is a genuinely good blog?I find it interesting that you mention quality, given the main criterion outlined in one of the first posts: “The criteria on which you should decide the winner is which would you prefer to read. If you could only read one or the other, which would it be.” A blog might be high-quality, whatever your definition is, but you might not want to read this blog because it is not relevant to your interests.Nevertheless, the tournament itself does achieve it’s main purpose: exposure of anime blogs.
  21. adminScamp:
    2010-May-02 @PietelI think we might see it far more in round 2 as people start to hope to gain that extra edge over their competition while in Round 1 many people were just waiting to see what happens@KitsuneWhat I meant by that is that people aren’t voting based off friendships and reputation, well, most people aren’t, but on the actual design and writing capabilities.
  22. Reaching the second round: a discussion on the match’s complexity and controversy « Canne's anime review blogReaching the second round: a discussion on the match’s complexity and controversy « Canne’s anime review blog:
    2010-May-03 […] Drop’s popularity drew large number of people into this particular match (Scamp had similar thought on this matter). But due to its radical style of writing, not everyone ended up voting for it and […]
  23. On the Aniblog Tournament Round 2: Fisticuffs at dawn » chaostangentOn the Aniblog Tournament Round 2: Fisticuffs at dawn » chaostangent:
    2010-May-20 […] state of affairs is often called an echo cham­ber, or many more derog­at­ory phrases, for the reason that it invites a mind­set that is […]
]]> http://thecartdriver.com/how-it-will-all-end/feed/ 23 Let the games beginhttp://thecartdriver.com/let-the-games-begin/ http://thecartdriver.com/let-the-games-begin/#comments Sat, 17 Apr 2010 19:57:50 +0000 Scamp http://thecartdriver.com/?p=8081 The Aniblog Tourney has opened for business. Want to know what it’s all about? Click on the link then~!

7 comment(s) for this post:

Write a comment

  1. AniBlog Tourny! « Black and Blue SocksAniBlog Tourny! « Black and Blue Socks:
    2010-Apr-17 […] 17, 2010 by Janette For those of you who don’t know, Scamp decided we weren’t competitive enough in the blogsphere, and getting too close and touchy feely, […]
  2. JanetteJanette:
    2010-Apr-17 I hope, if you read my post, you don’t mind the gentle ribbing.May the games start!
  3. BassBass:
    2010-Apr-18 LMAO I’m shocked to be on the list and I’m even more shocked that I’m facing you.Oh well, first round knockout ain’t bad if you’re still young XD
  4. GloGlo:
    2010-Apr-18 This is probably the most exciting thing to happen in blog history (at least since I’ve been around).
  5. chiichii:
    2010-Apr-18 I’m still kinda baffled by this lol
  6. CanneCanne:
    2010-Apr-18 I’m extremely excited already! (who put me against the famous COLONYDROP, anyway…I’m doomed)
  7. CaranielCaraniel:
    2010-Apr-18 Haha! I’m up against Hinano — I haven’t a snowballs! :lol:
]]> http://thecartdriver.com/let-the-games-begin/feed/ 7 Interblog debate posthttp://thecartdriver.com/interblog-debate-post/ http://thecartdriver.com/interblog-debate-post/#comments Thu, 25 Mar 2010 10:55:18 +0000 Scamp http://thecartdriver.com/?p=7773 I disagree on pretty much every matter regarding anime with EO from THAT. So we’ve decided the most obvious solution to our differences is to argue in public! The first matter up for debate is whether Professional Streaming sites like Crunchyroll are the future of online anime. So pop on over and read the posts in question.

Of course, we all know whose side you’re going to be on, right~?

4 comment(s) for this post:

Write a comment

  1. KisekiKiseki:
    2010-Mar-25 I suppose it will become “the future,” but fansubs won’t die down until weeaboobs become the vast majority 90% of the overseas animu community. CR pisses me off too much for me to support those bastards, anyway. = 7 =
  2. ExecutiveOtakuExecutiveOtaku:
    2010-Mar-25 Hehe, I like your totally unbiased images. Sorry about the sort of lame looking poll, WP-Polls aren’t working for some unfathomable reason. Seems like another bug left over from the move.
  3. PoroPoro:
    2010-Mar-26 Yay Debate!!! Ah ^_____^ *spaces out and daydreams about the American debate system* Good good.
  4. Jan SuzukawaJan Suzukawa:
    2010-Mar-27 Well, Scamp, as your fellow legal viewer on Crunchyroll, I voted for our side. ;) Hope Crunchyroll gets Hakuouki this spring…
]]> http://thecartdriver.com/interblog-debate-post/feed/ 4 Because we love newcomers to the scenehttp://thecartdriver.com/because-we-love-newcomers-to-the-scene/ http://thecartdriver.com/because-we-love-newcomers-to-the-scene/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 12:52:39 +0000 Scamp http://thecartdriver.com/?p=7300

I was invited by Executive Otaku over at THAT Anime Blog to join a bunch of other established bloggers in giving out advice to new bloggers, so pop on over for a read. Remember that we were also total newbies at one point, totally baffled by the workings of WordPress and in my case, not knowing the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.net, incapable of getting any sort of substantial comments from anyone other than my co-authors. It’s also interesting to have this post in conjunction with my two-year death meta post recently. Bloggers keep dying and those established bloggers gradually fade away, retreating into GRSI (aka: Shinigami realm for anime bloggers) so we always need new bloggers into the fold.

Totally unrelated note: Seeing Hetalia on Chartfags amazing chart made me realise how long it’s been since I’ve written a Hetalia episodic post. In case you were wondering, I fully intend to get straight back into that show when it airs again. It’s only two weeks away now.

1 comment(s) for this post:

Write a comment

  1. emerging writeremerging writer:
    2010-Feb-14 You can’t just drop innot know­ing the dif­fer­ence between Wordpress.com and Wordpress.netwithout giving us a clue.And BTW Nessum Dorma means “None shall sleep” which is kinda cool with everyone ether-ed out, no?
]]> http://thecartdriver.com/because-we-love-newcomers-to-the-scene/feed/ 1 The two-year death and history repeating itself in the aniblogspherehttp://thecartdriver.com/the-two-year-death-and-history-repeating-itself-in-the-aniblogsphere/ http://thecartdriver.com/the-two-year-death-and-history-repeating-itself-in-the-aniblogsphere/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:29:32 +0000 Scamp http://thecartdriver.com/?p=7227 Your average anime blog do not live for very long.

I’m finding it difficult to find a starting point for this post so I’m going to simply start from where my interest in this topic sprung from. Recently, I had been flicking down through my blogroll, my reader and some other generally popular blogs and found out that a rather surprising number of them haven’t been around for that long (at least, from those who actually had a link to their archives) Want some examples?

Eye Sedso Dec 08 Mikotoism Mar 09 Ogiue Maniax Nov 07 Rabbitpoets Oct 08 Drastic My Anime Blog Feb 07 Atarashii Prelude Apr 07 Hanners’ Anime ‘Blog Jan 08 Tenka Seiha Jan 07? (couldn’t find anything from 06 anyway) Memories of Eternity Sep 08 We Remember Love Oct 08 The Scrumptious Anime Blog Feb 07.

There seems to be a cut-off point around about the start of 07 and I could find very few anime blogs that existed before that. But what’s far more interesting is to look at the names of those blogs that have been around for even longer. See if you can spot a trend in them.

Star Crossed, Random Curiosity, Kurogane, Sea Slugs THAT, Blogsuki…

“Aha~” you say. “They’re all episodic blogs!”. No, you’re missing the point. There are plenty of episodic blogs out there that die out just as regularly as editorial blogs. The word you’re looking for (thanks to Canon (Apr 07 in case you were wondering) for this) is Independence. You get the feeling that the likes of psgels, Omni, Kurogane and Jason Miao would continue to do what they’re doing until the end of time no matter what outside influences there are. What’s interesting is that some of their earlier posts show a more open (vulnerable?) side to them but they have now become these figureheads rather than one-of-the-ladz. Sea Slugs and THAT have stayed alive through the ability to go through a ‘rebirth’ without ever actually dying thanks to their team tendencies. Think about ti for a second: Who really runs THAT now? The original founder, Impz, has stopped posting, as has the other oldies like Extrange and Lelangir.

For non-episodics: Omonomono, Baka-Raptor, Karmaburn, Batezi, Anime Diet, Hashihime. Again, you’re looking at a certain degree of independence from the likes of Baka-Raptor, Hashihime and Karmaburn along with the ‘team blog’ revival trait of Anime Diet. Like how Kabitzin bucks the trend with Sea Slugs, so does Omonomono and Batezi but again you are seeing a slightly similar trait.

For your average anime blog though, the lifespan rarely goes beyond 3 years. In fact, the two year mark appears to be one the typical landmarks set to end you anime blogging career, immortalised by Subculture anime blog in what I consider to be the single greatest end to an anime blog ever (a trend Shameful Otaku Secret followed). Even to take a quick look at some recently deceased blogs, Kritik der Animationskraft lasted 14 months and Simplicity lasted 19 months. Mono no Aware seems to suggest he’s dead, right on the two year mark. There’s a few more too whose names I’ve forgotten but it certainly seems to be the trend. Even looking back through some of the oldest bloggers blogrolls, typically filled with dead blogs, there’s that usual 2 year killing point, give or take several months. Want a great example? Read this post on RIUVA. A post I’m quite glad I stumbled across (also serving to remind me what a good blog RIUVA used to be), it gives a brief history of anime blogging but also give a list of links of great anime blogs. How many of them died around the 3 year mark? The post was made December 06.
.
More info! (I did a lot of trawling about on the interwebs for this post) We have bloggers hitting that 2 year anniversary and feeling pretty jaded. Jinx (Jun 07) tried to leave but couldn’t. Ghostlightning posted this worrying comment about feeling like the community passing him by (and he’s been around even less time than I have!). Many blogs might not die but experience that horrible slow death, like Basugasubakuhatsu. Even bloody Chartfag is taking longer with each chart.
.
This posts intention is not to provide advice on how to keep your blog alive. How the hell would I know anyway? According to my statistics, I’m going to die within the next year, followed shortly by Rabbitpoets and Eye Sedso. But it’s certainly scary how history repeats itself. You know how many people seem to be complaining at the saturation of anime blogs. How the feed on Animenano is packed full of the same old same old (just to prove my point and my epic researching abilities, here’s even more links for you to click on. Heck, you even have Colony Drop, a blog dedicated to that very fact). Have any of you newfags heard of the drama that erupted on the first anime blog aggregator, blogsuki (the link is, unfortunately, dead. Which is a real shame because I still don’t know the full story). It was over the sheer amount of episodic blogs rehashing the same Haruhi episode over and over. Yup, three years ago they had that very same discussion. Links? Bluemist anime blog has something on anime blog saturation dated Nov 06, and to make it even more ironic he talks about how his passion for blogging dying. At this point he had been around for 2 and a half years. If anime blogs were saturated then, what do we have now?
.
History is repeating itself. As a generation comes and goes, they make the same mistakes and same judgements that the previous generation makes. There’s a three year generation gap that anime blogs conform to. Those who last longer than two years start seeing those who started alongside them drop off to be replaced by newbies, making them feel disenchanted. Those that stay on are normally those relatively unaffected by change. As much as I’d like to convince you that I won’t be affected by this two-year bug, I’m sure those now-dead bloggers thought they’d also continue on for longer. As much as I hate the idea that anime blogs are a slightly insular community, I’ve found myself similarly inside this community on twitter and whatnot. Heck, even this post is directed directly at other people in the aniblogpshere. And if those who were born around the same time as me all died, I can’t deny that it would kill a certain level of enthusiasm.
.
Don’t really have a fully-formed point to this post. I just did too much reading not to post about this. All I can say is learn from history. A history of the aniblogsphere would be nice. I’ve certainly learned a lot from my trawls.
.
::Edit:: Irony of ironies, as soon as a post this, RIUVA posts something about the total lack of updates

53 comment(s) for this post:

Write a comment

  1. SheentakuSheentaku:
    2010-Feb-08 A really great post. This is one of the reasons I have not started blogging as I know id just let it die.
  2. meflorainemefloraine:
    2010-Feb-08 Hmm, it’s certainly an interesting thing, and one I’d noticed as well. One of those things that people mention every now and then but don’t really write about. I was going to make a more substantial comment here, but I can’t word it well, so I’ll leave it at that.
  3. AoriiAorii:
    2010-Feb-08 I mean, can you really claim that XX years from now, you’ll still be interested and as devoted to anime? Or any of your other hobbies? Especially after you go through college’s thesis years, or get a job, or start a family? Personally I just see a blog as another period in life, especially for the pure-anime-bloggers. Maybe the pseudo-personal anime /rant blogs would last longer. Not to mention, investing too much into a blog too quickly seems to be a surefired way to burn out faster…In the end, does it really matter? Do people take up a hobby or game knowing that they’ll run along with it until the end of time? Have fun with it in the meantime is all that matter IMO.
  4. GargronGargron:
    2010-Feb-08 You didn’t mention me. I’m pretty much an oldfag too. I think I have my fourth year in the interwebz runnin’ and although mentioning something like ‘giving up’ and all a few times, I never really did it. Mostly because I thought my co-bloggers would take my place, but they never really did, so I went on and… Well. Team-blogs are like that, I guess.
  5. adminScamp:
    2010-Feb-08 @SheentakuAnd also possibly one of the reasons why some people shouldn’t start? Mind you, you never really know until you start blogging how long you’ll last@mefloraineNooooo, don’t mind the wording. I’ll try decipher any babble of nonsense somehow!@AoriiI dunno, I think there’s a certain level of profesionalism you need to be an anime blogger. Same way one has to put a lot of work into to enjoy a sport, so you also have to do to be a good anime blogger and enjoy it. Blogging is as much of a hobby as playing for your local soccer team is. You could piss about but then your team would never get anywhere and you wouldn’t have quite as much fun. Train properly and you’ll have a succesful team which is more fun.Actually that metaphor works in more ways than one. Some people aren’t cut out for the hard training and don’t feel the extra effort is worth it. More often than not, these people stop playing soccer pretty quickly when other life things happen. I guess it all depends on how seriously you take it.tl;dr Anime Blogging is SRS BSNSS!!!@GargronSo that means you started blogging at age 12? Exception to the rule then, although about 25% of bloggers are exceptions to the rule in some form or another. You don’t quite follow the standerd pattern ofcollege age blogging
  6. ghostlightningghostlightning:
    2010-Feb-08 It gets pretty lonely at times, which impacts motivation. I can tell you where it hurts me specifically: losing my best commenters (who happened to be my favorite writers).Sure, I get to exchange with them on twitter, or even chat with them over on gtalk — which is really great, but the kind of blog posts I do require a lot of effort, and not having my most clever commenters around anymore sucks.It impacts the overall comment count, and the quality of the discussion.Given that discussion is what I seek in every post, my quality of life takes a hit. Quality of life? Yes. What I get out of this hobby wherein I put in so much of myself of, is diminished.I think I’ll last until October this year no problem, but it’ll be hard not to feel how there wouldn’t be a better time to quit.
  7. chiichii:
    2010-Feb-08 the thing is with blogs in general (not just anime) it’s generally the same issue. People stop or loose interest in about that amount of time (2 years) and there are even more than generally don’t last past 2 months. I for the most part don’t see a problem with that. People come and go. it’s life. Sure it’s sad to see someone you talked with a lot over those 2 years go but there will always be someone around the corner wanting to be heard.I personally should have started up a blog YEARS ago but only did it recently because I didn’t really have enough confidence i suppose. I plan to keep on going as long as i can keep typing as i do not see my interest level dropping anytime soon if ever. If i do stop before then you can totally wag a “i told you so” in my face :PI really enjoyed reading chikorita157’s post about “innovation” because I like to think that I am doing something different from everyone else even if some of it is the same. Generally though we all are doing the same thing, it’s just different views. I do agree with news posts though… I never saw the point in making a post about something that the major anime sites already do considering for the most part that the bloggers news post will just be a link to those major anime sites story on the subject.anywho i’m rambling here. excellent post! lots of great blog info to keep me busy reading for a good while ^_^
  8. GargronGargron:
    2010-Feb-08 @5camp Yes, I did. Hehe. Oh lord, when I think back, how immature I was… Disgusting. But it has taken me where I am now, and I like where I am. I’d just wished for more comments, for clever commenters like Pontifus on the Steampunk post, and that the ones who comment check for replies. In fact, I like @Ghostlightning seek discussions.@Ghostlightning I think I already told you once your posts are difficult to comment on… Though if you’d ask me why, I’d fall in a confused silence.
  9. uberVU - social commentsuberVU — social comments:
    2010-Feb-08 Social comments and analytics for this post…This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sheentaku: RT @5camp http://tinyurl.com/yje4org…
  10. adminScamp:
    2010-Feb-08 @ghostlightningThat’s a depressing comment.…If you’re going to die though, go out with style. That two-year end post by Subculture has a certain beauty to it, as does Shameful Otaku Secret.The alternative is to change. Commenters come and go. Since I moved here I’ve gotten a lot more commenters, part of which is down to a slight change in style. Evolve or die.@chiiChange FTW! Or so I’d like to say, but I can’t deny I’d be sad to see the end of those blogs that started around the same time as me. As much as I bash the oldfags, including the oldfags of the blogsphere, I can’t deny the possibility I’ll end up the same way.I actually thought chikorita157’s post was a load of absolute nonsense and commented on it expressing that very opinion. There’s plenty of blogs providing something totally different, although I do find myself wondering what it is I do differently…@Gargronlol, clever commenters. I don’t quite seek discussions quite as much as I seek a response. Discussion suggests that even through the post and your reply comment that you were unable to clear up anything they brought up. I don’t think blogs are the place for discussions. That would be live-chat
  11. ExecutiveOtakuExecutiveOtaku:
    2010-Feb-08 Very interesting post, props for doing the research on it. Generations seems so short in blogging, and the pattern you noticed seems to be exactly so. Even being fairly new, I sometimes think about how long I’ll keep going. I’d like to think that I’d never really stop, but I have to acknowledge the fact that many people leave after about two years. I guess in a way it’s good to keep in mind as a way to stay with blogging, to have a realistic picture of it so that you don’t overburden yourself and burn out. The real test for me will probably come after I graduate and actually have a real schedule to work around.Team blogs continue on due to new writers, but at least for me having other bloggers that you write with and interact with provides extra motivation. While it is true that one should blog primarily for the personal enjoyment, I think that there should be an element of obligation felt by the blogger. I really enjoy my blogging and have a lot of fun doing it, but on occasion it’s that obligation to the readers and to the reputation of THAT which propels me to stop slacking off and get writing. Motivations are different for everyone, so this is just my perspective.@ GhostlightningHope my invitation didn’t lead to somber thoughts, heh. I really enjoy your work, I wish I had gotten more into the blogging community and found your site earlier.
  12. Michael is LoHPMichael is LoHP:
    2010-Feb-08 @ ghostlightningWhile I was still active, I found that there would always come new good commenters. Someone who had never commented at LoHP would come along and just blow me away. I also found that commenters would usually stay for a certain period, and then disappear only for new voices to appear in their place. Of course, this could be my own fault for not keeping them coming back for more.@ scampHonestly, I’m not sure why so many blogs die out in this fashion. Beyond my own reasons (which seem a bit unique), it seems most people stagnate in growth and take that as a sign to exit… maybe. That’s just a guess I’ll throw out there. My own reasons weren’t really time or growth related: I wanted to do something different, that something different requires a lot of time and work, and for the time being that effort needs to go elsewhere… even if I have been cheating away time to work on the new site.
  13. NovaJinxNovaJinx:
    2010-Feb-08 An interesting post indeed. What I can say is that once blogs cross the magical 2-year-mark, they seem to have become tough skinned enough to keep going. I can remember Kurogane recently saying (in an IRC discussion) that he intends to outlast every other blog out there. After my silly trick last fall, I feel the same way. I’ve come this far, I feel I’ve found my style and my key audience; I might as well keep on going, because I do enjoy of what I do. In my case, meeting up with my Asian colleagues (including Kuro) in real life gave me an immense boost of motivation (considering that I’m European). I don’t know exactly why; maybe it showed me how far blogging has taken me. In any case, after my Asia trip I feel like I can keep on going as long as it takes.
  14. RPRP:
    2010-Feb-09 OH NOES! MY DEMISE I CAN SEE IT! :-pIt’s funny, I always think of a Nightwing quote from the old Batman cartoons where he says: “Things changed! I changed! The games over, Batman! I quit.” when it comes to topics like this. It seems oddly fitting.Sadly, the cycle is what it is — unavoidable. I don’t think anyone ever starts with the intention to quit, but it’s like relationships that last a couple months, or a job you leave after a year or two. You never start things expecting to end it. But things change. People change. And priorities shift. It’s sad to see old faces go, but the world is a huge place, and soon, another face pops up. I hate to say we’re interchangeable pieces, but I guess that’s exactly what I’m saying :-)Even I wonder how long I’ll stay in this game. I think I may have caused myself undue anxiety in my anniversary post by mentioning that I wanted to stick with blogging “for the long haul.” Not that I don’t, but the last thing I ever want to do is have blogging become a chore I feel like I have to do, than something I want to do. And that statement seemed like an albatross in the making. Plus, how can I know? What if I end up getting a new job that takes up all my time? What if I strike up a serious relationship with a certain special lady? I’d like to think I could continue unabated, and I certainly think I could to some degree, but even the optimist in me would admit that I’d devote less time to it.But I think it’s always interesting to reminisce about things like these, not because anyone has any answers, but because I think in the back of our minds, we’re all thinking similar things.On a completely separate note, that Kamina x Simon picture is really disturbing for some reason.
  15. Sorrow-kunSorrow-kun:
    2010-Feb-09 I have my own thoughts on this issue, but this is one of those rare cases where I prefer to keep them to myself. But, just to address some of the comments, I wouldn’t be so quick to put team blogs on a pedestal, because we all remember how spectacularly Oi Hayaku! fizzled. (Oh yeah, and even though I wasn’t really paying attention at the time, the reason I know about the blogsuki drama is because of the legendary lolikitsune).I will say this though. If your blog is going to die, then the Totali way is the ultimate way to do it. Don’t leave your readers hanging on months of inactivity and then quietly amble off into obscurity. Kill it, and make it spectacular. A strong sense of finality and certainty is the least your readers deserve after loyally following you for so long.
  16. ShinmaruShinmaru:
    2010-Feb-09 Haha, I think I am one of those rare birds who started blogging after I finished college. Granted, I was jobless when I began, but hey. I’m pretty lucky in that my current job has the perfect hours for blogging. (Afternoon and evening work, hooray!)I’ve actually been anime blogging for a little more than a year now, although I started the “real” blog a scant six months ago. There have been a couple of times where I’ve come perilously close to burnout, but what keeps me going is striking a balance between anime and everything else. Anime is the hobby I am most passionate about, but it doesn’t consume my life. If I did nothing but watch anime all day, I’d probably hate it, haha. I watch anime, movies, read, lay about like a bum, etc. My anime consumption is about an hour or two a day, which suits me just fine.As long as I am not burned out on anime, I won’t be burned out on blogging, I think. I write because I want to write; I like sharing my thoughts with others, and writing helps me understand more about a series in general because it forces me to think more about it. I would have enjoyed Durarara anyway, for instance, but I like it 10 times more because I am about it each week. There’s always an interesting series to write about, and often an interesting angle to take with individual episodes. Seeking those angles is fun for me. I was a journalism student in college (and still work in journalism), so I approach blogging like that — what are the angles? What’s the story behind the story? Writing with that in mind won’t stop being fun for me.If life eventually gets in the way of blogging, then that’s what happens. I’d rather not worry about that. It’s much more fun to concentrate on what I can do now and squeeze every drop of enjoyment out of it.
  17. Baka-RaptorBaka-Raptor:
    2010-Feb-09 I’m not dying any time soon, unless I literally die or become otherwise incapacitated. If I quit, all my brilliant insight and analysis will go unheard. People who quit blogging either don’t care about becoming irrelevant or were never relevant in the first place.
  18. JanetteJanette:
    2010-Feb-09 While I don’t think I’ll be blogging forever, I hope to keep it up for as long as I can while I’m still an independent young adult without any idea to where her life is going. Mainly, I love the community of the anime blogsphere, though when they die out…What’s scary is in May, I’ll hit my two year mark for being a blogger. And still be in high school. Gah! So I guess I have six more years or so.Interesting read altogether though. Kudos!
  19. 77:
    2010-Feb-09 I sometimes wonder if frequency of posts play a role if any at all on the blogger’s lifespan. Most of these bloggers update quite often. Perhaps there’s something that gets exhausted the more you blog?
  20. GloGlo:
    2010-Feb-09 HA! I laugh in the face of death! My ISSS may become a piece of shit, and no longer garner views or support (oh fuck! that already happened!), but I’ll never stop posting, because I can’t take a hint!Take that death!Great post, and I am probably the only one who clicked every link. (literally, I did it).
  21. GargronGargron:
    2010-Feb-09 I guess, never say ‘I’m not going to fade out soon’, since that’s what bloggers do soon after. That’s some sort of a mystical thing or something. Or psychology. Or the gods’ odd sense of humour.
  22. ghostlightningghostlightning:
    2010-Feb-09 @GargronIt will have to remain a mystery then ~@ScampI don’t think my subjects and style are to your tastes (nothing wrong with that at all), but pay close attention and you’ll see that I experimented with a wide range of ‘templates’ and styles (even episodic ones). Changing isn’t a problem.But yes, going out with a bang is the way to go.@Sorrow-kunOH! died because Riex pulled the plug — his life got in the way (he’s in the Air Force now). We actually had a fair bunch of planned projects in the pipeline. Speaking for myself, some of the templates I use in WRL were initially planned for OH! (e.g. use of slideshows, self-insert ‘interviews’ with characters, etc.).@Michael LoHPOh I’ve come to meet new great commenters (I actually archive their comments in http://welovecomments.wordpress.com/ (hat tip to Scamp who gave me the idea to accept submissions from outside WRL).However, I miss the old guys (Owen, Iknight, coburn, lelangir, Omisyth, Lbrevis, otou-san, lolikitsune, etc), who I never get to discuss my posts with anymore (kinda awkward for me to bring it up during conversations).If their comments aren’t always being insightful or informative, they nonetheless lead to fun discussions anyway.@ExecutiveOtakuThank you very much. Who knows had T.H.A.T. accepted my application around August ’08 I’d still be there and we’d be doing team posts. LOL I picked your blog to join because of the Macross love obviously.Instead I vowed to out-fag Crusader, who’s still a favorite comrade and has been a friend of WRL from the very start despite his foul mouth and haterade at me.
  23. Sorrow-kunSorrow-kun:
    2010-Feb-09 @ghostlightning This is the straight answer about OH! that I’ve been after for ages but no one has seemingly wanted to give me. That’s cleared up a lot of the misconceptions I had about what happened. Looking from the outside and going from what other people were saying, I was under the impression that the whole thing just fizzled, and that the writers just became more interested in writing for their own blogs than in keeping OH! going.
  24. LandonLandon:
    2010-Feb-09 I started blogging last October.I started reading other blogs last October. After I started blogging.So I have no idea how the aniblogisquare works. But I know how the internet and internet communities work. I guess we can call the anibiodome a big internet community.I’ve been a part of a small internet writing community for eleven years. A few people, like myself, have stuck with it for the duration (or at least stick close enough to it to be considered a part of the community even if they aren’t “active”). Most people last a few years at most and go on their way to other stuff.It’s just the nature of the internet as far as I can tell. I chalk it up to the fact that there isn’t as much of a tactile, personal connection to the community like you get from a group of people you meet in real life. It’s easier to just move on and not feel as attached to something when it’s just a bunch of poorly-spelled text and screenshots on your computer monitor. Some people still have it in them to say “adios, bitches” when it comes to a real life group of people, but it usually takes more than malaise and disinterest to get someone to totally break away from a group of real life peeps. Even if real life crap gets in the way, if it’s someone that you know face to face you at least try to make time to hook up with them and hang out.So yeah, Damn you Internet! for making it far too easy for people to just go “poof.“
  25. adminScamp:
    2010-Feb-09 It’s at times like these I need those layered commenting systems. Putting this into all one comment is going to look pretty silly@ExecutiveOtakuYeah I really had to take a step back and look honestly whether I would really be around this time next year. A year is a hell of a long time and god only knows what will happen to me in that period of time. As far as I can tell I’m probably still be around for the next 2 and a half years, judging by the tendancy of bloggers to drop out only after they leave college, but we’ll have to see.@Michael is LoHPAh damn, I was meant to use your blog as an example for this post but totally forgot. I hope to see you back eventually, I only started reading your blog regularly in its last 3 months of its life.The ‘new commenters’ thing is even more noticable when you’re an episodic blogger. Some of the people who followed my Hetalia posts stick around, some haven’t. There’ll always be new people visiting the blog because of the natural circle of new readers and new anime fans.@NovaJinxI think 3 years is probably a better cut-off point to decide whether they are truly around for the long haul. Plus I’m glad you came back because I literally started reading your blog with the first post you made after you came back (I think it was Bakemonogatari related)What reminds me of how far I’ve come is seeing how much I’ve improved. The idea of this closed community in the aniblogsphere is something I’m not a fan of so a selfish and personal gain can be more important…wow I sound like a jackass.…@RP“What if I strike up a ser­i­ous rela­tion­ship with a cer­tain spe­cial lady?”Or certain special man. Hey, you never know what the future might bring~I was actually going to reference that anniversary post to show what each blogger would like to think they’d do (I had a lot of links I didn’t use to try keep the post relatively short). I actually think that’s the right thing to do because I think a blogger needs ambition. Blogs that are happy in the place they are in get dissilusioned thanks to the inevitable change. I’m always looking for ways to move forward and improve. That hitcounter is arguably a bigger driving force than anything else. Which is a bit sad but hey, it keeps me posting regularly.One reason I’d like to continue is to see this cycle myself. I’m awfully miffed the link to that blogsuki rant was dead and I’d love to see these changes in the blogsphere myself, in much the same way I’m glad I was around for the Endless Eight saga.@Sorrow-kunI’ve said it several times before, but Totali’s death has a perfect beauty to it that I think any blogger should want to emulate if they were ever to die out. In fact, the way Shameful Otaku Secret died on the two-year mark makes me wonder whether this will become a trend. It would certainly be better than that horrible slow deathOi Hayaku and team blogs though…hmmm. If there was a similar blog to Oi Hayaku except with a purpose to produce posts that I wouldn’t ever write on here then I’d be interested in seeing one kick up again. But I’ll leave that thought aside for now@ShinmaruI’m not entirely sure where you’d put the start on my blogging career. My archives say July 08 and that’s certainly when I started at Bokutachi but I was reading blogs for 3 months before that and tried some other blogging things out (that I’d prefer never to go back to thank you very much). But then again, I didn’t get involved in the community until about a year later.But burning out on anime and burning out on blogging are entirely different things I think. I could certainly see me burning out on blogging and still being just as obsessed with anime as I always was.@Baka-RaptorDidn’t care about being irrelevant? More like stopped caring about being relevant. No blogger starts out with the intention of being some small bit-part blogger. We all secretly wish we had legions of fans hanging onto our every word. Lose that wish and you lose your fire for blogging.But yeah, if I quit the world would be a sadder place because nobody would hear anymore of my whining about oldfags. I have still plenty more whining to do..and thoughtfull ideas as well I guess@JanetteOddly enough, I’ve still yet to see any blogger die out that makes me depressed when they do so. I used to love RIUVA but even when they slowed down it never really bothered me. Besides, there’s always more out there to read.@7When it comes to Omni and psgels, there’s some sort of personal drive that keeps them posting as much as they do that means they will never ‘burn-out’. But those types of bloggers are few and far between (in fact, they’re probably the only two) and otherwise it’s a person by person basis.@GloI finally found out while researching this post what ISSS stood for (second post you made I think?)Anywho, I did put in an awful lot of links there and I’m sure I scared some people off with them all. The most important one in there is the RIUVA link to the ‘history of the blogsphere’ thing so everyone click on that!@ghostlightning*cough* yeah sorry about that but remembering love is the total opposite to what I like. An alternative name to this blog could be ‘We look forward to loving’. There’s an entire category devoted to hype building and I considered putting in a sub-category on oldfaggery.There’s probably at least one of the comments in here worthy of a ‘welovecomments’ notification now that I think of it…@LandonPlenty of people start blogging before reading any anime blogs. I was reading for about 3 months but I only read Star Crossed and Sea Slugs so it didn’t really count. It’s probably not the ideal way but hey~I can’t really comment on how the rest of the internet works because I’m not nerdy enough to have ever done anything else on the internet beyond anime and social networking (and even that I barely pay any attention to) but blogging does seem to need greater perseverance to continue at it, hence the quicker deaths.One scary thing about the internet is if someone does go poof, you’ll never actually know what happenend to them. For all you know they could have really died or something. Having this personal gravatar, name and blog does go someway to reducing this anonimity on the internet but it’s still a long way from being real life
  26. RP on the Demise of One’s Own Anime Blogging « The Ghosts of DiscussionsRP on the Demise of One’s Own Anime Blogging « The Ghosts of Discussions:
    2010-Feb-09 […] RP on the Demise of One’s Own Anime Blogging Original Post: The two-year death and history repeating itself in the aniblogsphere […]
  27. YumekaYumeka:
    2010-Feb-09 I started my blog in October 2006, and in the past eight months or so, I’ve been posting more than ever before. So perhaps I may become one of the long-lasting ones. However, I wasn’t able to post much from late 2007 to mid-2009 because of college, so I’ve been making up for lost time since then by posting at least a few times a week.I only recently started paying close attention to the aniblogsphere so I didn’t notice much of the changes and events that happened in early years. I rarely do episodic posts and mostly stick to writing about whatever anime-related topic I feel like, whether it’s my first impression of new shows, reviews of completed shows, essays/rambling about certain topics, etc,. Keeping up a blog consistently for years on end is an admirable feat and I commend anyone who’s able to do it.
  28. Don’t Get Me Started - aloe, dreamDon’t Get Me Started — aloe, dream:
    2010-Feb-09 […] caught wind of Scamp’s nice sprout via ghostlightning’s Ghosts of Discussion, but having previously theorized on the aspect of […]
  29. MihaMiha:
    2010-Feb-09 I started my first English anime blog in late 2007. I opened the fourth in December. Apart from blog names and mission statements, closing them down hasn’t changed me as a fan. I’ll just say it now: I think it’s fucking pathetic to read bloggers that have quit blogging and quit anime simultaneously. I say pathetic because that just says to me that they weren’t there for anime but for their indulgence in the scene, especially if all they can sum up in their farewell posts is how life is more grand than this pitiful past hobby of theirs. Guys, piss off and never come back. Thanks.
  30. TheBigNTheBigN:
    2010-Feb-09 I think it’s less people starting at the same time and falling off, but rather people around the same stages of life. For example, I started DMAB in my senior year of college, and I’m currently going through my third year of med school, which increasingly limits the time I have available to watch anime, let alone blog about it. Doesn’t mean that I’m stopping anytime soon though. :P
  31. bluemistbluemist:
    2010-Feb-09 I caught this in my referral stats, and comments days too late. It means either I’m dead or the aniblogsphere is too big for me to handle. I still pick the former, but seeing that my 3-year old post is still relevant to a discussion makes me wonder.I’ve been here for more than 5 years now (had an older anime blog) and let me tell you that the only way to not die is to die once (do unannounced hiatus/breaks), then pretend to live again (post in burst mode over a period of time).Kidding aside, I don’t have any particular contribution to the discussion, except that this very comment means that I’m still here. Maybe that counts as something. Make some meaning out of it guys.
  32. adminScamp:
    2010-Feb-09 @YumekaI also didn’t pay attention to the community until pretty recently also. It wasn’t until probably this summer with me getting Google Reader, hopping on Animenano (we got all our hits from Animeblogger back then), but most of all actually commenting on other anime blogs that got me involved a bit more. At the moment I’m having more fun than I ever had before.Slightly off-topic here but in thinking about that I’ve realised the slight difference between the long-term bloggers and the younger ones. Most noticably in the comments. Ever noticed what Baka-Raptor calls his comments? ‘People who love sucking up to me’. Or how about reading the comments on Star Crossed? Insteda of commenting like equals, they’re truly figureheads that are considered above the commenters.…sorry, that wasn’t really repying to your comment but it’s an interesting thought anyway so I hope you think so too~@MihaYeah, there was a post on Mistakes of Youth about that (normally don’t like him but this post was very well done). One thing I’ve only really noticed recently is those that still watch anime but don’t blog. Therefore they become part of the community but only as commenters. It’s just with these people I wish they would actually do some commenting and not think they’re above these new bloggers when they don’t write at all themselves(you had your rage so give me this one)@TheBigNThere are more exceptions to the rule then there are those who conform to it. Every case is different and to try fit people into this system you’ve created is an insult to the unpredictability of human life. Leaving university certainly seems to be a huge factor in blogging slowdown and if people often stop blogging after 2–3 years its a natural thinking process that these people started blogging in college.Actually with all these comments and more reading I’ve been doing, what I’ve been noticing that the most common trend people have when they start blogging is that they don’t have an awful lot to do at the time so they find something to do. How many people start blogging while on their internship?@bluemistActually this post was only made yesterday. It’s just so amazing that it’s gotten all these comments already~Big ego-d statements aside, the death and rebirth is a hard thing to track even if the blog does have an archive (really fucking frustrating when they don’t). Plus people move about and you never know what they were doing before that and so on (how long have JP Hinanao been around for anyway?). But I can’t actually think of any major blog that went through a significant break of < 6 months and came back to post extremely regularly. It’s a hard thing to track unless you’ve actually been around to watch it happen.
  33. RPRP:
    2010-Feb-09
    Or cer­tain spe­cial man. Hey, you never know what the future might bring~
    Only if it’s Hideyoshi.
    One scary thing about the inter­net is if someone does go poof, you’ll never actu­ally know what happen­end to them. For all you know they could have really died or some­thing.
    I’ve wondered about this too. How would you ever know? If I ever quit or take a hiatus, I’ll surely announce it. If you don’t see any posts from me over a month with no notice, please hold a virtual funeral for me.
  34. Sorrow-kunSorrow-kun:
    2010-Feb-10 @Scamp
    It’s at times like these I need those layered com­ment­ing sys­tems. Put­ting this into all one com­ment is going to look pretty silly
    And here I was thinking you were one of the rare people who understood why the linear commenting scheme is unquestionably superior to threaded comments (when people use them properly).
    If there was a sim­ilar blog to Oi Hayaku except with a pur­pose to pro­duce posts that I wouldn’t ever write on here then I’d be inter­ested in see­ing one kick up again.
    But then the question is, what wouldn’t you write on here, seeing as this is your own blog and you’re essentially the boss? Team blogs give a good opportunity to do collaborative posts and networking and what not. But, to play devil’s advocate here (completely, since I’m really a proponent of team sites) what else can you do on team blogs that you can’t do on your own site?I (like to think I) know the answer, but I’m just curious in your take.
  35. moritheilmoritheil:
    2010-Feb-10 Meta blog post is META.
  36. TheBigNTheBigN:
    2010-Feb-10 “There are more excep­tions to the rule then there are those who con­form to it. Every case is dif­fer­ent and to try fit people into this sys­tem you’ve cre­ated is an insult to the unpre­dict­ab­il­ity of human life.”I wouldn’t say it’s a system I’d created. I’d say it’s another way to look at things. Of course situations are different for everyone, since that’s how life is. But I do notice that a lot of bloggers are around similar ages/stages of life. Does that mean they’re all doing the same thing? Nope. :P
  37. adminScamp:
    2010-Feb-10 @Sorrow-kunLook at that reply comment though. It’s over 1000 words long. I had to sleep and go to university and when I come back I only have that option.Even being the strongly opinionated person I usually am, I don’t have any strong opinions for team blogging. Different posts simply means collab posts. What you need is someone telling them what to write rather than leaving them to their own devices. Like that post thats coming up on THAT soon (except preferably about anime and not anime blogs. There’s only so much meta I’m willing to write)@moritheilMeta isn’t my forte for a bizzilion reasons so this is a once off post. Still, people seem to like it so *borat voice* ‘great success’@TheBigNI just re-read my reply to you and realised what a nonsense comment I wrote…so I can’t come up to a reply to your comment when I don’t really know what I was talking about in the first place :(
  38. CanneCanne:
    2010-Feb-10 Brilliant post and sorry for the late comment. I believe a blog dies when the blogger hits life’s turning point like finishing school and going into college or getting new job. I started blogging 2 yrs and 3 months ago but I wasn’t always active during those time. 2008 was when I reach my final year in med school and I post like…once a month or none in two months. Right now I’m pretty active cause I have more time but in the approaching summer, I’ll be busy again. Nevertheless, I’ll somehow manage to keep my blog alive. It’s my only escape :)
  39. fangzhaofangzhao:
    2010-Feb-11 After reading this, I was going to make a post titled “This blog will die on March 10th, 2010,” but I couldn’t do it! It’s just not the same when you’re commenting (well, mostly because none of my comments have much depth in the first place) and not blogging.Damn my attachment to blogging…!
  40. adminScamp:
    2010-Feb-11 @CanneYeah, that’s one thing I’ve noticed thanks to the comments. People start blogging when they have a lot of free time and stop when that free time is gone. Hence, 2 years sounds about right for that swap@fangzhaoYou mean March 2011. Hey, that means I’ll be dead this July. I should start preparing
  41. lelangirlelangir:
    2010-Feb-11 Hmm I did not know I was considered a THAT ‘oldie’ (I thought I was a newfag when I joined), but I guess it’s all relative…I first started blogging in April 2008 so I’m pushing 2 years, which really isn’t that long, but it’s enough to achieve some sort of veteran status, IMO. If you’re 3+ years old you’re oldfag, anything beyond that, an ancient temple elder.
  42. Three Years Old, And Still Chugging Along « Drastic My Anime BlogThree Years Old, And Still Chugging Along « Drastic My Anime Blog:
    2010-Feb-11 […] wanted to start by referencing this, and joke about saying “This Is It!”, but I thought it silly, and decided not to. […]
  43. MikeMike:
    2010-Feb-11 Wow, this post brings back memories of bloggers since departed…and some reflection of why we’ve lasted a relatively long time. Yes, some of it is because we do constantly bring in new fresh blood, and also because of the commitment of most of us in the core team to continue putting out new material.I’d say, though, that an even bigger reason is that we’re not just an anime blog writing about episodes or editorials. The podcast is as old as the site itself, and is tons of fun to record. The convention reporting is something that we do which relatively few other bloggers do, as well as the panels we’ve helped run in the past couple of years. A lot of those activities keep us producing stuff even if most of us aren’t exactly in the mood to blog about a particular show; it helps keep us connected to fan culture not just online but also in meatspace.In fact, this year we want to expand even more and think about ways to earn some change in the process. Anime blogs don’t have to be only about one thing, and I’m really looking forward to the future of Anime Diet.
  44. MikeMike:
    2010-Feb-12 Another aspect, too, is that I know most of the staff in person in real life–they’re my friends. I believe Landon brought up the difficulties of Internet community, how there’s a lack of tactile interaction in many cases. Because Anime Diet was kind of composed of an organic connection between friends, that probably helped its longevity out a lot too.
  45. digitalboydigitalboy:
    2010-Feb-12 wow, this post captured everything I’ve been bitching and crying about on Twitter since the blogs started dying!It’s true, I think anime blogs die in waves. I’ve only been around since the beginning of 2007 as well, but I don’t intent to go anywhere. As they say, ‘I’m a ten year man.‘
  46. adminScamp:
    2010-Feb-12 @lelangirSeriously? You’ve only been around 3 months longer than I have. See, it’s things like that that got me to start writing this post. There’s barely anyone whose been around longer than that@MikeYour first comment can be summed up in one word: Ambition. It’s how many people get relaxed in one spot and get dissilusioned when things move on. However the real-life contacts is something I’ve never seen before in anime blogs. Actually Novajinx mentioned meeting other bloggers helped fuel his ambition to continue on. Hmmm…maybe I should meet up with some english bloggers sometime@digitalboyMeh, so long as awesome blogs like Unmei Kaihen and Mecha Guignol keep appearing I’ll be happy even if blogs like Ogiue Maniax die…oh shit, I’ve jinxed it now!
  47. KuroganeKurogane:
    2010-Feb-13 That’s a really great meta post for the current cycle. I’m actually expecting a big dropoff of bloggers this year with the record lack of shows and also the two-year cycle thing.The reason I’ve lasted so long is probably because blogging and anime are embellished very closely in my mind. When i started in to anime around 2000, I was closely following the first-ever crop of anime bloggers, such as hayama, Jefflawson, Momotato and so on that the act of watching anime meant I would be also reading the blogger’s writings about it and learning new things that I wouldn’t have noticed at just one watch.As time passed and I started my own blog at 2005, it’s gone from “reading about anime” to “writing about anime” and as I slowly grew to felt comfortable about blogging, it’s pretty much become a habit i cannot kill off.I shan’t make any promises, but I do hope to go on blogging for as long as I can watch anime and are willing to go to the hassle of doing a post. I still think it’s a chore to do a post everytime, but hey, it’s because of that I really appreciate the comments I get in return.
  48. ShanceShance:
    2010-Feb-13 It’s just a matter of continuity, fandom and determination. To think that some of the hard-hitting blogs out there die memorable deaths (either the slowly-but-surely method, or the extravagant KILL EVERYTHING method), it’s kind of sad. I mean, if we are truly fans, we should ‘stay alive’ regardless of how long we put ourselves in hiatus. Like you said about THAT doing ‘rebirths’, bloggers just have to rekindle their spirits and continue ROW ROW FIGHTIN THE POWAR. And as one who manages a blog alone, I’m truly excited to take on the challenge.
  49. adminScamp:
    2010-Feb-13 @KuroganeSo you’ve been around 8+ years? Holy shit, although that’s probably what more bloggers should do anyway. Start off by reading blogs before writing yourself, although 4 years is probably procrastinating a bit too long.hayama, Jef­flawson, MomotatoI actually know who all these people are thanks to my researching for this post. Learning about historical figures in the aniblogsphere, bizarre really@ShanceI don’t entirely agree with that. Trying to stay alive when you don’t have the enthusiasm anymore just results in some sort of half-arsed blog that never updates. If you reach that stage I’d say the best option is to die extravegantly and then follow a few blogs and just be a commenter. There’s a certain appeal to just being a commenter and you contrinute far more than having a dead blog would
  50. KuroganeKurogane:
    2010-Feb-14
    Start off by reading blogs before writing your self, although 4 years is probably procrastinating a bit too long.
    Haha, i wouldn’t put it as procastination. When I started, there wasn’t wordpress and everyone who blogged probably wrote in raw HTML and updated their frontpages manually. It was only after the start of blogging platforms did I feel like doing one. I started on blogspot.com before moving to Animeblogger.net courtesy of Maestro.
    I actu ally know who all these people are thanks to my research ing for this post. Learn ing about his tor ical fig­ures in the anib log sphere, bizarre really
    Oh wow, now you’re making me feel really old with those lines.
  51. RakuenRakuen:
    2010-Feb-16 Seems I’m a bit late to the party here, in more ways than one.I started blogging way back in May of 2008, mostly as a lark. Janette, the same one who commented above, introduced me to it as she had just started recently as well. The blog she joined still needed more writers and I figured, “Well, why the hell not?” I submitted a review on King of Bandit Jing (which I now feel was very underwhelming), got accepted, and there I was. I had no experience in the aniblogsphere, except that I could write at a proficient English level.I am one of those bloggers that fizzled out quickly. Nice to meet you. Part of that I might attribute to my poor choice of series. I picked up Wagaya no Oinari-sama, which I ended up dropping after six episodes because I just couldn’t bear to watch anymore. I also picked up Himitsu, which had a train-wreck of a sub release schedule. So, I found myself just starting out with nothing to write. I tried to keep it going with various posts, convention reports and the like, but I just couldn’t do it.Besides that though, my life really opened up right after I began blogging. I started really getting out there in the world and having new experiences. Some of that was great: I got into wakeboarding, met many new people, and found my first job. In other aspects, well, people change and personalities clash. And sometimes, you end up getting news that you never thought you’d hear in a million years, and I mean that in a bad way.Combined, it killed me as a blogger. Sure, I still posted on occasion, but I hardly call making a post once every two weeks to a month as “active”. I became complacent, figuring that other writers still contributed to the blog, so I didn’t need to devote the time to it.Well, sometimes life throws you a curveball, and events suddenly left me needing to step up to the task. I started by completely overhauling the blogs organization system. I found I enjoyed the task, as mind numbing as it was. I then resolved that I’d take a series or two and stick through it for the entire run. We’re now at the start of week 7 this season and I’ve managed to keep up that resolve. I also actually started reading other blogs, though only two so far, this and BnB.Whereas before it felt like a chore, now I’m actually enjoying myself. I find writing to be a cathartic process too. I don’t see it as a rebirth, but rather, as starting completely from the beginning. I ran two panels on blogging at Ohayocon a few weeks ago with my team leader, and in that interim I already feel woefully under qualified for the task. I’ve actually thought about the future, and how long I could keep going. If nothing else, I would like to at least find one series to follow and blog each season.I’m not entirely sure where I was going with this wall of text. Perhaps it’s just a view of the whole process. Someone who has been around, someone who has fizzled, and someone who just started, all wrapped into one weird package. I hope it’s at least been interesting.
  52. It’s not a hiatus, it’s a vacation! (and not an April Fool’s joke) | Blogging about Anime | Rabbit PoetsIt’s not a hiatus, it’s a vacation! (and not an April Fool’s joke) | Blogging about Anime | Rabbit Poets:
    2010-Jul-20 […] indefinite vacation. You know, it’s been 18 months apparently, so I’m getting close to the croaking age anyway. It’s been a good […]
  53. Emperor JEmperor J:
    2010-Aug-21 I guess in a way, being horribly unsuccessful at this blogging enterprise probably keeps me going. I probably did everything wrong in starting mine as it was definitely 95% whim/5% planning. There’s still some part of me that wants redemption for having started up though, which is a large part of why I keep going. Not quite 2 years yet, but I still have some concerns for beyond March 2011.
]]> http://thecartdriver.com/the-two-year-death-and-history-repeating-itself-in-the-aniblogsphere/feed/ 53 Random Snapshot of AnimeNanohttp://thecartdriver.com/random-snapshot-of-animenano/ http://thecartdriver.com/random-snapshot-of-animenano/#comments Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:30:26 +0000 Scamp http://thecartdriver.com/?p=6927 In one of my many trawls across the blogsphere, I found myself flicking back through old posts on Daijoubu to read mildly humorous posts involving dangos until I came across this smart idea. Take the latest 20 posts on Animenano and read them all, giving you a quick insight into the anime world. Normally when I go on Nano, I might click on one or two links per every 5 pages. This is mainly because I’ve subscribed to the good ones in google reader but also there’s that often spoken grievance that there’s so many poor blogs on Nano. How many of you say that but never read a huge proportion of these blogs? So lets give them all a chance for a change. At least this time there’s no Sankaku clogging up the feed.

So first up is NyanNyan blogging Black Jack episode 21. Err…there’s not much to say when someone is blogging an older series that you’ve never seen. It’s a Tezuka manga adaptation and judging by the screencaps it’s actually pretty new. I hate to admit it but I’ve never seen or read any of the God of Mangas’works. Can’t say much about her blogging of the episode though. 2 paragraphs of rehashing what we’ve seen in the episode followed by on sentence of her own thoughts on the episode. Still, it can’t be easy to go through blogging something like that through 21 episodes so props to her anyway.

Next up, Alafista. Merchandise photoshoot blogs bore me and this is just another one of those posts that says ‘hey, I saw this. Aint it cool?’. Actually to be fair, those Nanoha PSP cases do look pretty cool, even though I’ve never seen the show and don’t have any real intention of ever watching it. Mahou Shojo rubs me the wrong way.

Omohide is reviewing Eve no Jikan? Whoo~ I love that show. (off topic rant: Why use the Japanese name when there’s the perfectly good and more logical Time of Eve? It’s like people who call it Higashi no Eden when Eden of the East works far better. And don’t get my started on the Japanese name of Haruhi, urgh). It’s a straight-up review and he certainly likes the show. His only problem was it was too short? They did hint at a second season at the end. I dunno but straight up reviews on blogs bug me. Why not just post your review on MAL? It gets a bigger audience.

Shadows of Eternity has a post title that I couldn’t work out what it contained from the title. My guess was a review of the winter anime in a positive light? Nope, it’s someone talking about their bandwidth being poor on a beach with a Haruhi novel. It’s nothing more than a diary entry. Not exactly the most exciting, informative, funny or useful post in the world shall we say.

The guy from the Banzai effect is visitng a cafe and he’s armed with plenty of figurenes and a camera! Let’s just say I’m looking forward to the OEG’s visit to this site.

Nendo snow adventure…it’s kinda funny to note that this site looks very similar to Banzai effect. It even has that same effect on my screen, making it jerk as it’s weighed down by adverts and other stuff on the sidebar. Maybe they’re there to distract the reader from the total lack of readable content?

Hyper Parfait is one of the 5482305 blogs out there reviewing the second episode of Durarara. Actually she’s done a pretty fine job of it too, although a bit tl;dr. I normally associate Hyper Parfait with fangirling but that’s mainly because I see her Hetalia posts. It appears she’s read the books already but she refrained from any spoilers but what made her post stand out was the thoughts on the suicide in the episode. I’m always wary of taking what anime says about Japan as facts but suicide is a pretty serious problem there. She points out that an awful lot of old people commit suicide too, which kinda surprised me, but it’s youths that get media attention. Pretty good post all round.

Animemiz has managed to round up a group of people on twitter to give advice on how to review manga. Short, simple and smart, quite a good post actually. I like the person who reccomends using metaphors because that makes the review stand out. Omohide probably should’ve done that. His review did lack a bit of life and didn’t really say anything that wasn’t said before.

Random Curiousity is reviewing FMA:B episode 40. ARGH, SPOILERS!!! I never end up reading RandomC because they always review the episode long before I get the chance to watch it. All I can say is I saw the phrase ‘much better than last weeks, very compelling’. Looking forward to watching it and then reading Sea Slugs or Unmei Kaihen instead because their posts appear after I’ve watched it.

Metanorn with characters songs? Yawn, oh wait, it’s Hetalia! That means it has funny lyrics! Oh wait, no translation of the lyrics…

Star Crossed is blogging Letter Bee. I dropped this a few episodes back but does it get any better? Nope, it’s still in corny, badly written fillers. Psgels doesn’t seem too unhappy with the series but his review tells me all I needed to know. Letter Bee can remain in that dropped bin.

Not Cliche has some intersting stats on Modern Warfare 2 and its advertisement budget. The thing is, what the hell is this doing on Nano? Nothing to do with anime whatsoever. Stupid post~

Ah Fuzakenna, the blog that everyone seems to like. We’ve got another one hopping on the Durarara episode 2 bandwagon. He spends the entire post comparing it to Boogiepop, which was lost on me who hasn’t watched that yet. It’s mildly interesting, talking about the psychology of myths and stuff, but reads at times like that cursed academic journal style that too many bloggers fall into. Next thing you know his post titles will include the word ‘musings’ and uses the phrase ‘post-modernism’ and actually means it.

Lustrous Realm appears to be yet another person smitten by the beauty of Mikoto. Apparently the Railgun opening is awesome. I thought it was crap but I also think Chobits is one of the best anime of all time so what do I know.

Metanorn again, this time with the Fairy Tail soundtrack. It’s just a list of the songs and a download link. Cool for Fairy Tail fans I suppose.

Sunny side up gives us a barrage of the latest manga chapters. Everything is centre aligned and therefore impossible to read without your head exploding so I’m not trying.

The Null Set is offering a bunch of awards to anime, who I’m sure are all delighted to receive these awards. You can see the guy has clear favourites from the season. Erin, Railgun and Cross Game appear to be his favourites. Actually Cross Game kept coming second, which sums up Cross Game some what. Cross Game would get the award for ‘show that never exells in anything but does well in everything’.

Project Genesis. Never heard of it but they’re posting something related to Pokemon and that’s always cool. Someone decided to sub over Pokemon with their own humorous subs. The opening is actually pretty darn funny bit the rest is a bit meh. Actually no, I laughed out loud at the ‘a green pokeball? That’s rare, everyone seems to prefer the standard red and white version. Which probably explains why nobody can catch the legendaries’. Ah Pokemon~

Notdotq is doing its usual business of satarizing the blogsphere. It actually starts of pretty funny with the ‘best of the year’ bit but then falls into name dropping. ‘Cuz referencing is funny! According to baka-raptor it isn’t. OH LOOK, I MENTIONED BAKA-RAPTOR! YOU READ HIS BLOG AND KNOW THE NAME, THEREFORE IT’S FUNNY!

Finally Zone Otaku, which looks exactly like Banzai Effect and all those other otaku blogs. Bring on the OEG OH LOOK, I MENTIONED THE OEG. YOU KNOW THAT BLOG AND THEREFORE THAT’S FUNNY!

Urgh…I actually started this post with the intention of proving that Nano wasn’t full of crap. I was here to say ‘hey look, there’s some really interesting stuff out there if you just click on the links for a change’. But I’ve reached the end of this post feeling totally burned out. Maybe I just picked the wrong day. Any other bloggers out there are invited to provide their own snapshots of nano to see if you pick a better day than me.

18 comment(s) for this post:

Write a comment

  1. Eugen R.Eugen R.:
    2010-Jan-17 It really is a nice idea and I’ll probably pick it up too. Though, AniNano is indeed so full of crap… -.-
  2. Baka-RaptorBaka-Raptor:
    2010-Jan-17 Referencing Baka-Raptor is only funny if you add a link.
  3. adminScamp:
    2010-Jan-17 @Eugen R.I’m going to be optimistic and say I just picked it at a bad time or something. I wish you luck@Baka-RaptorHaven’t you heard? The audience for anime blogs is only other anime bloggers who already know all these names and therefore don’t need to be linked! Anyone who doesn’t get the instant reference to a random post on any blog needs to level up or stop reading anime blogs.link added anyway~
  4. GargronGargron:
    2010-Jan-17 @ScampI sadly have to sign there. It’s very rare non-bloggers read anime blogs. Because of that, many ‘promotion’ problems begin their existence: if everyone has a blog, they’d rather promote it than somebody else’s, thus e.g. we get a bunch of Digg submissions with only one vote, of the submitter himself. Etcetera.
  5. Sorrow-kunSorrow-kun:
    2010-Jan-18 @Gargron That’s an interesting idea, and it’s probably the reality. Maybe anime bloggers need to start offering something more rewarding to their readers than just an opinion.
  6. adminScamp:
    2010-Jan-18 @GargronYeah, I really don’t like that. It goes against the entire reason I started blogging and the reason I continue blogging. I didn’t start writing to join this community, as much fun as it is and all. I’m blogging for people to start reading this blog out of some sort of fluke, following this, following links, posting comments and generally joining in anime fandom on the internet. It’s what the Cart Driver is about, people who never joined online discussion before suddenly leaping in to argue with those who’ve been around forever.Mind you, getting fluke new readers is difficult when I’m currently not showing up on any google search beyond ‘the cart driver’…@Sorrow-kunIf you keep reading this blog I’ll give you a cookie~Seriously though, I’m not sure what else we can offer. Humour? Screencaps? I’ve got a top commenters widget which gives them their name in lights
  7. fangzhaofangzhao:
    2010-Jan-18 That’s a pretty good list you read, actually. Usually whenever I click on a random link on Nano, I go to some shit news site.If I did this, I’d get 19 Sankaku Complex posts and 1 Dannychoo post. It would be the day that Dannychoo registers for Nano. I’m just that unlucky.
  8. CanneCanne:
    2010-Jan-18 That’s really interesting, what you did. I don’t use Nano too often because, similar to you, I usually browse through my yahoo feed reader. Anyway, I think it’s the same anywhere that bad stuffs outnumber good stuff :)
  9. adminScamp:
    2010-Jan-18 @fangzhaoGo for it! Honestly I think I might have caught Nano on a bad day. I’m actually tempted to do it again myself which is why I asked at the end for others to try this. Why suffer yourself when you can make others do it for you!@CanneYahoo? Hisssss~ Google reader FTW!
  10. Sapphire PyroSapphire Pyro:
    2010-Jan-18 Whoa~ This looks fun~ I wanna do it but hhhmm … I dunno when I’ll have the time to read that much.(I like Anime Nano for the lack of Sankaku x_x those images are too dangerous x_x even at home ‘coz my momz might see. gah)Anyway, I don’t care if DRRR!! is overblogged, I’m madly in love with it xD haha!“although a bit tl;dr” –> you mean the typos and the wrong grammar? Haha! *really lazy to recheck/proofread posts*“She points out that an awful lot of old people com­mit sui­cide too, which kinda sur­prised me,” –> surprised me as well, but it’s true. Forgot where I read it *lost the article link* but yeah, it’s the youth that gets the media attention.
  11. super ratssuper rats:
    2010-Jan-19 Not a bad experiment. I intend to do it, but that doesn’t always happen. :)I don’t consider one possibly interesting post per page all that bad considering the different interests. It would be candy and unicorns if every post rocked, but we all have different interests so I never expect to be interested by a lot of it, which doesn’t make it post awful, just not relevant to me. It takes 10 seconds to read the post titles? Doesn’t take long to check it. Find it faster to scan that than Google Reader to be honest, but I probably need to better organize my Google Reader and somehow get to it in fewer clicks.Even though I collect figures, I don’t click any of the figure news posts because they tell me everything I need to know right there in the title and if it doesn’t register in my head, there’s three or four more with the same headline to reinforce the news. I guess since I don’t expect to read everything, nano sort of gives me the bold-text, keywords, snapshot of what’s airing and being released or talked about.
  12. adminScamp:
    2010-Jan-19 @Sapphire PyroHeck, even I’m blogging DRRR!! I’m hoping some of the others will lose heart when they discover the never-ending schedule of episodic blogging.@super ratsThe thing is people don’t click on links to posts that might actually be interesting. If I went by that page normally I wouldn’t have clicked on any of the links (I’ve read enough Durarara posts already). I was meant to prove that there are good blogs so long as you just read them but didn’t quite work out like that
  13. RPRP:
    2010-Jan-23 @ Gargron, Scamp: So I have to dispute the statement that it’s rare that non-bloggers read anime blogs. I think you’re overestimating the size and attention of anime bloggers.From what I’ve seen in google analytics, at any given time about 65–70% of visits to my site are new visitors and the other chunk being the “regulars”. Now those “regulars” in total make up about half the traffic. But at the same time, I’d argue that a significant percentage of those “regulars” are not anime bloggers. There’s no way for me to quantify that, but based on the population of anime bloggers and the total number of regular visits I get, it’s something I feel safe in assuming.I don’t think there’s anything unique with my blog, so I’d imagine the numbers would be pretty similar for you (well, maybe not you Scamp, since the Cart Driver is newer and probably hasn’t picked up too much search traffic yet, but eventually I think you’ll land around there).
  14. adminScamp:
    2010-Jan-23 @RPYeah, back at Bokutachi most of the readers weren’t subscribers or bloggers and that’s the way I think it should be. That’s why I never write with the idea that it’s only bloggers who are reading the post. However Cart Driver isn’t getting any total newcomers at the moment. I’m just gonna have to write away and hope the hits start accumulating sooner rather than later
  15. lolikitsunelolikitsune:
    2010-May-27 Interesting… those are the 20 “latest” posts on Anime Nano? I’m pretty sure lolikappa’s post was from January. But oh wellz, it gives you the chance to imitate us (there you go—satirizing other anime blogs!), and imitation is the highest form of praise.You’re coming up in the world, Scamp.Maybe some day you’ll be an autonomous life form. =DD
  16. lolikitsunelolikitsune:
    2010-May-27 P.S. though your attempt to mock my style with your Baka-Raptor-directed comment is cute, it’s ultimately not very helpful. See, some people want to have lots of readers, and they write for a general audience and sometimes amass large groups of followers. That’s your strategy, it would seem, and it’s the strategy of many in the ‘sphere.But you can’t say that that’s my goal, and that I think I can reach it with my reference-laden posts. I know I can’t. And I’m not trying.I have maybe 20 to 30 readers, most of whom have been reading me for over 3 years.And when I don’t post for three or six months, those same people are still there reading any post I write the moment I decide to “come back.” That’s plenty for me. And I write in a way I think will best amuse those people. It’s my way of giving back to them.No shit my strategy doesn’t rake in new readers :P
  17. adminScamp:
    2010-May-27 *psst* look at the post date. You only got the trackback now because I was doing some maintanence
  18. lolikitsunelolikitsune:
    2010-May-27 OHLOLZluv ya bro
]]> http://thecartdriver.com/random-snapshot-of-animenano/feed/ 18 Region block North Americans from illegal streaming sites. Legal issues solved!http://thecartdriver.com/region-block-north-americans-from-illegal-streaming-sites-legal-issues-solved/ http://thecartdriver.com/region-block-north-americans-from-illegal-streaming-sites-legal-issues-solved/#comments Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:19:55 +0000 Scamp http://thecartdriver.com/?p=6912

They are the self-proclaimed saviours of anime. The knights in shining armour charging through the internet, slaying those they deem to be unworthy. No, not the OEG. TAFAP, which isn’t an acronym for a porn site (which is what most sites ending in FAP usually are). They are True Anime Fans Aren’t Pirates and they will have about as much success at taking down piracy on the internet as a pigeon on a pogo-stick has at reaching the moon.

It’s all a bit silly, this website. Totally ignoring the reasons pirates exist in the first place, if the somehow manage to take down one website another 5 will appear in its place. They won’t create a shitstorm, although they might create a slight poo-smelling breeze if they’re lucky. Now that’s not to say I’m all for pirating and everything. I have my Crunchyroll membership and my small but proud collection of anime dvds. But you have to look at the reasons pirating exists in the first place.

Let us take one example why people go to these shady streaming sites: The anime is not available in their country. It may be licensed by Funimation or whoever and they may even have a few episodes streaming online so you can get a taste of the product and aren’t buying blind. But our little example, some 16 year old from Poland, can’t watch Spice and Wolf legally because there is no way she can watch this anime elsewhere. She tried the online streaming but was greeted with the usual video-shaped hole with a helpful little notice telling her she had gotten her geography all wrong.

So here’s my suggestion:All these illegal streaming sites should region block North Americans. Wherever the anime has been licensed and is available legally, region block that area from watching the video. That way, when a Funimation guy comes along to tell you that they own Spice and Wolf, you just ask them to show it to you. They shall be greeted with that black, rectangular hole in their monitor with a small message proclaiming that this video is a bit picky about its viewers. And just like that, no product has been illegally distributed where it was available legally. Problem solved!

(yes, my tongue was quite firmly placed in my cheek for most of this post)

2 comment(s) for this post:

Write a comment

  1. SheentakuSheentaku:
    2010-Jan-16 I totally agree screw region locking!
  2. Eugen R.Eugen R.:
    2010-Jan-16 AGREEMENT! That’s an awesomely awesome idea, I’d say.
]]> http://thecartdriver.com/region-block-north-americans-from-illegal-streaming-sites-legal-issues-solved/feed/ 2 Critique us pleasehttp://thecartdriver.com/critique-us-please/ http://thecartdriver.com/critique-us-please/#comments Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:06:46 +0000 Scamp http://brianandrew.wordpress.com/?p=5097 So it first started with the Otaku Elimination game and the criticism of anime blogs they decided to distribute. While some people seemed to recoil at the possibility of their writing being critiqued (usually from the people whose writing was in dire need of a kick up the hole funnily enough) most of the aniblogsphere embraced the prospect of finally receiving some constructive criticism. However, lets face it, the OEG isn’t exactly giving wonderful advice on how to improve your blog, certainly not while they’re in Danny Choo suck up genocide mode at the moment. So a man dangerously low on hit points decided that the best idea was to simply ask on the blog for constructive criticism. This followed suit over at Anime² (::Edit:: and later over at Mikitoism) so now over to Bokutachi no Blog.

I invite you all to provide us with constructive criticism.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be about me either, it can be for any of the writers on the blog. Although I will say that none of us have any sort of coding skills whatsoever so the layout will have to stay the exact same.

Upcoming is a long, meandering ramble that you can ignore if you would just like to provide critique.

*********************************

I really don’t think this is the ideal way to provide constructive criticism for the blog, or the aniblogsphere in general. You’re instantly limiting your audience to people who obviously already read your blog and hence feel that your writing standard is up to scratch, obviously otherwise they wouldn’t be following you. This instantly limits the array of people providing critique. Then there’s the problem of how difficult it is to provide criticism. Lets say you do have an idea of how a writer could improve. You’ve got to first overcome the huge mental barrier of asking yourself what the hell gives you the right to give critique. This can especially ring true for non-bloggers and lurkers who might feel that, since this guy has been blogging for ages and you haven’t, he clearly knows better than you. Then there’s the difficulty of natural human kindness. I know this is the internet where anonymity reigns true but to say something truly harsh still takes quite an amount of mental strength. Even if you manage to overcome all these mental blockades you then have to deal with the problem of trying to form your critique into coherent english so the writer will understand what he feels you can improve on. This is much easier to do if you were just commenting on the design and layout of the blog but trying to comment one someones writing is insanely difficult and there’s a high chance you might just dive into vague sentences that mean nothing. I know this from personal experience with trying to provide critique on Anime squared. I must have spent 10 minutes deliberating over that comment.

Hence, I believe an Otaku Elimination Game styled blog is the ideal way to go. Lets face it, the OEG at the moment, while certainly fun to watch and has opened my eyes to the extraordinary number of Danny Choo suck ups there are, is hardly that far from a trolling site. But a troll that gets this much attention gets it for a reason. It hits on a nerve. Would Endless Eight have had as much an effect if it wasn’t Haruhi who pulled it? The dvd sales are proving exactly what people predicted, that people would scoop up the same crap, even if every episode was the same. The OEG hit on the fact that there is no form of constructive criticism on the aniblogsphere. People claim that the blogs are the greatest medium for uncensored opinion but there’s a hell of a difference between censorship and someone helping improve your writing skills.

So this OEG style aniblog critiquing blog thing. Ideally, it would have between 10–20 people behind it, preferably not all of them being bloggers already, each with noticeably different tastes, to review the aniblogsphere. Not an elimination game though. That’s nothing more than a competition, which is just a step away from patting the big boys on the back and telling them how marvelous they are. That’s where the Anime  Blog Awards failed. It’s aim was to highlight great blogs that might not get enough attention but I think there’s already plenty of ways these new blogs can be found. Something I’ll do every few weeks is click on the most recently joined blogs on Animenano and take a look at each of them. Plus, isn’t that exactly what the intention of a blogroll is? Telling everyone what blogs you think are worth visiting? So yeah, the OEG styled critique blog. The pros of it are huge. Since these guys are in the are of providing constructive criticism, that pretty much renders all mental blocks obsolete and repeated critiquing will mean they should develop a knack for doing it. Practice makes perfect. The more blogs they review, the better they get at providing constructive criticism. The general quality of the aniblogsphere increases and everyone is happy.

So why don’t you start one then instead of whingeing about it? First, this is not the ideal time to go starting a project like this. The OEG has still only begun and it’s still very much a ‘wait and see’ situation going on. I’d argue that any project like this shouldn’t start until at least next year. The other thing is: I’m Scamp. I’m hardly a behemoth in the aniblog world. Bokutachi no Blog appears on about 10 blogrolls. I’d love to be part of such a project but this post will hardly be the rallying cry. But hopefully we have enough influence to at least put this idea in the back of peoples minds. If the OEG burns out, which I’d say there’s a 50/50 chance they will by the end of the year, then hopefully some bigwig, or maybe a collection of smallwigs, will remember this post and get the project going.

*******************************

tl;dr Just provide critique for now. It’s the system being currently suggested and we’re always open to ways that we could improve the blog.

21 comment(s) for this post:

Write a comment

  1. DAndrewsDAndrews:
    2009-Nov-19 I have got to say, I follow no blog as closely as this one. There is usually much value to what you say and your writing style is informative and entertaining.
  2. Michael is Low on Hit PointsMichael is Low on Hit Points:
    2009-Nov-19 One critique I would like to make — even though you warned against criticizing styling — is to better express who wrote what post, maybe by making the author’s name more prominent in some way. It’s kind of hard for me to give suggestions, as I’m not sure what options you’re given here at WordPress to modify this theme. And you’re not the only blog that has confused me on occasion (why is ghostlightning saying he’s finally picking up a show he’s been blogging for weeks… (protip: he had other authors writing on his blog and I never picked up on that (and he wasn’t the one writing that post))). Personally, I tend to associate a blog with a single person, which I do know is wrong in many cases. Of course, it could just be that I’m the only *genius* in the world who doesn’t check the post meta at the top to see who’s name is on the post… So you can take all of that with a grain of salt.On an even less helpful note, I can only say that I rather like your writing, Scamp. Of course, that might not sound like much coming from the guy who just dropped triple parentheses on you one paragraph above… I’m partial towards non-episodic content, so more general anime writing would tickle my bone. But that’s just my personal bias and opinion.
  3. BrianBrian:
    2009-Nov-19 Frankly, I don’t openly ask for this…
  4. ScampScamp:
    2009-Nov-19 @Michael is Low on Hit PointsHmmm…I think I have an idea for that. On Epic Win anime blog they had a system where at the start of the post they include the writers avatar and their name under it so you can’t possibly miss who is writing the post. You’re not the only one who makes mistakes on who the author is. I’ll see about implementing that idea.As for episodic vs editorial, I’ve found that editorial attracts bloggers and episodic attracts the more everyday fan, the lurkers. I always try to keep a balance between the two.
  5. BrianBrian:
    2009-Nov-19 @Scamp: Editorial attracts both bloggers and fans. Just look at my post on Lelouch DOA status. Some include flamers, casual fans, hardcore fans, and myself, at first. Then I lost interest of the topic. FYI, I do believe Lelouch is dead. However, I do agree we should keep a balance between the two; editorial and episodic. Episodic is a standard for most anime blogs. What we can do (as an extra) is anime news but that would be too much hassle because we need to update ourselves to anime/manga (maybe games) news more frequently and most of the new sources are in Japanese. I’m sure none of us are Japanese literate.
  6. ScampScamp:
    2009-Nov-19 @BrianAh, the comments on that Lelouch post make me grin. There’s always an extra comment every month with someone yelling ‘BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CART DRIVER’. I’m pretty certain that post is the current record holder for the most comments on a single post.As for anime news, I’ve always felt it’s kinda pointles reporting on news. Anything really worth mentioning is reported on ANN and will tell you the exact same information as any other news site. The closest thing we have is my Upcoming Anime page and that’s more for me to act the idiot and blab away about upcoming series.
  7. LobaLoba:
    2009-Nov-19 @Michael is Low on Hit Points: Regarding your point on “better express who wrote what post, maybe by making the author’s name more prominent in some way”, this can be easily solve by including the name of the writer in the title of the post eg. [Brian]Darker than Black Episode 100. What does the rest of the team think?
  8. blindabilityblindability:
    2009-Nov-20 It is a little hard to see who’s written the post unless you’re looking for it. I’m up for anything that works.
  9. Humanity_CatHumanity_Cat:
    2009-Nov-20 Unfortunatly I don’t read enough of the stuff that comes out of this blog to give some proper critique, but one of the best things I’ve noticed about Bokutachi no Blog’s writers (Okay, really Scamp, Brian, and Blindability, sorry, I haven’t really read much of Loba or Kaza’s stuff) is the sense of humor they put into their posts.…for lack of a better wording.I think this is a good idea, but it might not be as…public(?) as the Otaku Elimination Game…which I’m still wary of their ‘critique’ system. But as they said, they never said they would give critique, and hopefully those bloggers who signed up for the Game know that. But I like this, and hopefully it will get some more publicity.
  10. kazakaza:
    2009-Nov-20 Hey Scamp! How’d you do that little picture/name thing in the beginning of the post??
  11. kazakaza:
    2009-Nov-20 Sorry… I’m really horrible at putting and resizing pictures into posts and stuff like that…
  12. LobaLoba:
    2009-Nov-20 Scamp came up with the solution…he probably used paint. If we can get a japanese literate writer, we can probably start fansubbing instead LOL.
  13. ScampScamp:
    2009-Nov-20 Yeah my photoshop demo ran out and I haven’t bothered to get a new one yet so I cobbled that thing together in paint just to see what it looked like. Hence why the picture quality is pretty shit. But if you look at the avatar pictures in the season preview you’ll see that the pictue quality is much better since I used photoshop for those. I’ll make one for everyone if you want when I have photoshop again unless someone else wants to.@Humanity_CatTrrust me when I say I will NEVER drop my sense of humour in my posts. I hate those blogs that look at anime from an academic point of view. Fantastic way to kill the fun so it is. Watch ouf for blogs that use the word ‘musings’ in their post titles
  14. Michael is Low on Hit PointsMichael is Low on Hit Points:
    2009-Nov-21 Tremendous! That’s perfect.
  15. Humanity_CatHumanity_Cat:
    2009-Nov-21 Good. ;) It’s one of the things that keeps me with this blog.
  16. YiYi:
    2009-Nov-21 I haven’t read enough of your posts to give good feedback. Anyways, the idea of an OEG styled blog that gives constructive criticism is a good idea, but would be quite hard to achieve. Anyways, OEG is fun to read and no one should take it too seriously. At the same time, I also believe that self proclaimed critics of blogs will not and should not be taken too seriously either. I think tastes, personal values, and writing styles are way too important for each blogger, and it’d be a shame to suggest changes that change the fundamental basics of a blog. That then reduces the constructive criticism to content, which is again a matter of personal taste, insignificant stuff like spelling, and blog layouts, which many people have an understandably limited affect on. In short, that means that real constructive criticism will either change the essence of each blogger or will have useful suggestions on rather shallow aspects, such as layouts and such. Still, I agree this is still a very nice idea and should be attempted. I have a strong feeling I’m horribly wrong about my views on such a project, and people will be able to get real good feedback.
  17. blindabilityblindability:
    2009-Nov-21 Spelling…? Insignificant? That makes me sad.Actually, I think I’m more sad that proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation have disappeared from the writing scene in credit to “personal styling”.But there’s always room for improvement without stepping on anyone’s toes in regards to literary personality; I received a critique-comment once that I summarize too much and don’t give enough opinion in my reviews. I appreciated that.
  18. YiYi:
    2009-Nov-21 @blindability: And just like that, I now see the project in a new light and have faith in it. I do hope if something like that were ever started, critiques will be careful. I do think that spelling is insignificant overall though, unless it’s horribly distracting.
  19. BrianBrian:
    2009-Nov-21 I have Photoshop. Just email me all your avatars and I’ll email back the photoshop-ed avatar to you guys. But regarding this avatar, do you want to include it on every forth-coming posts?
  20. I’m in your blog, talking about Honey and Clover « Bokutachi no BLOGI’m in your blog, talking about Honey and Clover « Bokutachi no BLOG:
    2009-Nov-22 […] be implementing this system from now on. We started doing this thanks to a suggestion over on the ‘critique us please’ post. Now I know I probably scared a hell of a lot of people off with my big ramble in that post and […]
  21. FaSFaS:
    2009-Dec-06 Honestly I think your blog’s leet as it is…the only thing i think would be cooler is heading over to your own domain. Since I imagine you have a pretty solid fanbase atm, I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard, but money’s the other thing :( Other than that, I think your site’s sweet.
]]> http://thecartdriver.com/critique-us-please/feed/ 21 The Otaku Elimination Game: Brilliantly harsh criticism of anime blogshttp://thecartdriver.com/the-otaku-elimination-game-brilliantly-harsh-criticism-of-anime-blogs/ http://thecartdriver.com/the-otaku-elimination-game-brilliantly-harsh-criticism-of-anime-blogs/#comments Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:46:34 +0000 Scamp http://brianandrew.wordpress.com/?p=4740 It takes a lot of balls to come out and bitch about anime blogs without using generalisations. People will complain about how terrible a vast majority of blogs are without actually ever caring to give any names. Hence when I stumbled across The Otaku Elimination Game I found myself grinning from ear to ear. So if you want to see your favourite, most hated and maybe even your own anime blogs be horribly cut down then by all means pop on over. I do hope that loads of people start following this project they’ve put together because I would love to see some general improvement of the anime blog scene come out of this. And if that doesn’t happen, then at least we’ll draw some amusement from the shit storm that will inevitably be caused by some of the harsh criticisms.

Untitled-1

Bokutachi no Blog isn’t listed as one of the competitors. I’m not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed…

::Edit:: OK, we’ve been put on the list. However beside the blog name they wrote ‘because we can’…

…oh dear…

26 comment(s) for this post:

Write a comment

  1. psgelspsgels:
    2009-Nov-08 An interesting idea, yeah. Constructive criticism is exactly what the current blogosphere needs, and I wonder what that guy’s going to say when he gets to my blog.The danger of course is him abandoning the road of criticism and degenerating into a simple hate blog.
  2. ScampScamp:
    2009-Nov-08 @psgelsI think that if the blog gets enough attention it won’t descend into a hate blog. If it doesn’t then he might start flaming garner attention.
  3. RPRP:
    2009-Nov-08 @psgels: Eh, I wouldn’t exactly call it constructive criticism, more like faux raeg. I mean, who really cares about the usage of the word “otaku”? But whatever, good for some cheap laughs I guess.
  4. SnarkSnark:
    2009-Nov-08 As it is, the blog isn’t far off from a simple hate blog. Still fun to read however.
  5. ScampScamp:
    2009-Nov-08 I hope it doesn’t descend into a complete hate blog. What will be the real test is when it reviews genuinely good anime sites
  6. TJTJ:
    2009-Nov-08 Funny enough, once in a dream I thought of starting something similar… but then realized that I lacked the hate and had better things to do. Quite hilarious to see someone actually starting such a blog-bashing blog.
  7. Humanity_CatHumanity_Cat:
    2009-Nov-08 I’m not sure if I’d call his/their posts constructive criticism, but I think it will be good to wake up bloggers…maybe slightly construcitive criticism, but mostly bashing. *shrugs*Bokutachi no Blog not being on the list either means that they/he (wasn’t it multiple people…?) looked at the blog and decided it wasn’t worth it (bad) or they just haven’t found it yet. ;) You haven’t mentioned ‘otaku’ anywhere, have you? XD
  8. PantherPanther:
    2009-Nov-08 Not surprising I am in the list, I should be eliminated real fast. Hate blog or not I guess it makes for a fun read when it updates, so long as we all take it in good humor. Constructive criticism? Who needs that in the blogosphere! People enjoy the hate!
  9. BrianBrian:
    2009-Nov-08 We’re enrolled FTW! I guess we just have to wait.
  10. Humanity_CatHumanity_Cat:
    2009-Nov-08 o.O Seriously? Well let’s see what happens. ;)
  11. zzeroparticlezzeroparticle:
    2009-Nov-09 You know, one of the things that’s always bugged me is that no one really engages in giving out negative feedback about a blog. It’s my firm belief that one of the best ways to improve is for someone to point out all of your faults so as to give you areas in which you can make corrections and come out of it a better writer. I’m really hoping that through this exercise in criticism, the anime blogosphere will yield more interesting material as a result of this.
  12. ScampScamp:
    2009-Nov-09 @TJI should start writing down the names people are giving the site. I quite like ‘blog-bashing blog’ myself@Humanity_CatI did a quick check to see where I mentioned Otaku. Most of the time the only mentions are me referring to ‘otaku-pandering nonsense’ in anime such as Kampfer or it’s a comment by Executive Otaku. I only found one recent time where I referred to myself as an otaku so I changed it to ‘fellow who just so happens to like anime’@PantherWho doesn’t enjoy the hate!@BrianI know…sorry. I wonder if we’ll get passed the first round?@zzeroparticleFINALLY!!! Someone who trully gets it. That’s where the blessing of anonimity (I so spelt that wrong) comes in. If you have created an internet personality then you don’t want to tarnish it by giving out critism. Everyone knows blogs that could do with shaping up a bit but will only ever give out broad, sweeping statements that achieve nothing. Providing they don’t just generate into a hate blog then something might actually come out of this. Providing people actually listen to what they say.(I’m placing a lot of hope on humankind here. First, I’m hoping that these guys don’t start acting like idiots and do some genuine reviewing. Second, I’m hoping that the blogs that they review have the balls to take on the critism and improve. Am I asking too much of humanity here? I probably am…)
  13. zzeroparticlezzeroparticle:
    2009-Nov-09 Count me in as someone who’s holding a great deal of hope about humanity. I have a vested interesting in knowing 1) if I suck and 2) why I suck so I can make entries that are interesting that people would actually want to read. If nothing else, this feels like the fresh wind come in to drag out the stale air =p
  14. kazakaza:
    2009-Nov-09 Holy crap! What do you think they meant by putting that “because we can” thing?You know, they may just review our blog a whole lot sooner then you think, or they’ll just leave the best for last, hence us being dead last. I hope not.
  15. KabitzinKabitzin:
    2009-Nov-09 It would be interesting if there were some quality criticism (negative or otherwise), but after reading their first round I’m not as enthused. BS ‘eh I don’t know what to say about this’ in the first post is incredibly weak.
  16. ScampScamp:
    2009-Nov-09 @zzeroparticleOh us optimists. Why do we hold such faith in the internet?@kazaWe’ve apparently gotten on their good side with this post. That might actually work against us when the flame us to prove that they don’t have favourites.@KabitzinWith the attention they’ve got they should up their game or risk a complete burnout of interest from the aniblogshpere. True, it is weak, but it’s the idea I’m supporting more than anything. Besides, every writer improves with time and practice.…I hope…
  17. Humanity_CatHumanity_Cat:
    2009-Nov-09 Aha, I was wondering about that too… XD I wish it was biweekly instead of weekly…or like increase it to five or something, or this will be going on for a while…And I’m hoping that while they point out everything in which way is wrong with the blog they offer a hint or something on how to improve it…Just bitching about how much balls your anime blog sucks, while entertaining, gets a little dissaproval from my side (which doesn’t really matter, but)…for me it’s kind of stupid to just bitch about how terrible something is and give nothing that might improve it so it isn’t terrible.…well, maybe for something really bad, but…
  18. fangzhaofangzhao:
    2009-Nov-09 I’ve already made several posts on my blog showing why my blog sucks. I don’t need the opinion of people who don’t read blogs.
  19. fangzhaofangzhao:
    2009-Nov-09 Though honestly, I could write pages and pages myself on why blogs like DC suck massive balls.
  20. CanneCanne:
    2009-Nov-09 I’m not on the list. T_T(crying a river for being overlooked)
  21. ScampScamp:
    2009-Nov-09 @Humanity_CatLooks like you got your words tangled up a bit there…@fangzhaoThe write a post about why these blogs suck. And name them, don’t generalize. If you had done that before, we wouldn’t need this Elimination Game@CanneDon’t worry, they’ve missed some blatantly obvious blogs like blogsuki and Sea Slugs. Heck, they even missed this blog!
  22. BrianBrian:
    2009-Nov-09 I have a feeling they’re gonna check on us soon. Anyhow @Canne should not be worried. Just drop your blog URL to them and I sure they’ll come.To the Otaku Elimination Team, bring it ON!!! FAAAIITTO!
  23. ksfwolfeksfwolfe:
    2009-Nov-10 This is interesting…*strokes imaginary beard thoughtfully*LET THE SLAUGHTER BEGIN
  24. Humanity_CatHumanity_Cat:
    2009-Nov-10 Aha, yeah, probably, I think it was that night I had stayed up for a while…let’s see…Haha! Yeah, sorry about that.….but I’m too lazy to type something else up…so I’ll just wait until the executioner, er the judging team arrives. ;)
  25. kazakaza:
    2009-Nov-10 @ ksfwolfeYUP! THATS RIGHT…But remember… There is no sLAUGHTER without LAUGHTER… XD
  26. CanneCanne:
    2009-Nov-10 @ Brian — I’ve just dropped my URL in that blog like you said. Guess I’ll have to wait and see.
]]> http://thecartdriver.com/the-otaku-elimination-game-brilliantly-harsh-criticism-of-anime-blogs/feed/ 26