I don't usually do the meta-blog thing but...

I sympathise with Christopher Baus’ frustrations…

I think that’s probably just par for the course; I like to tell myself that I gave up blogging for anyone else but me ages ago, I’m probably fibbing.

Arguably my most successful blog posting was this one about accessing bluetooth on XP via Winsock… Or perhaps it was this one, also about bluetooth on XP. Or, maybe, this one, about, well, you guessed it. I’m no bluetooth guru, I’m not even especially focussed on it, I just had an itch, scratched it and posted my findings… Other people are interested, there’s not a great deal of information available about doing what I was doing and suddenly those postings are a focus for discussions about XP bluetooth programming…

I’d prefer that I had as much of an impression with my (mostly ignored) posts on practical testing, or my ramblings about C++ socket code on windows, or even my skiing and skating stuff… But that’s not how it seems to work, you can’t force people to talk to you about topics that you find interesting - I should know, I’ve been a geek long enough to recognise the vacant looks I get as soon as the conversation turns to stuff I find interesting and I get my teeth into a subject…

I guess this is where the “I blog for myself” bit comes in. Most of the stuff I post I’d like people to pull apart, to tell me I’m wrong, help me to learn, make me think… I’m looking for a “rent a guru”. Unfortunately, most of the time it doesn’t happen; most of the time it’s me who ends up pulling me apart, telling me I’m wrong, etc… The end result is the same, I learn things, and it’s just that the process doesn’t always need as much external stimuli as I expect it should…

I’m pleased that I’ve spouted so much “content” here. It’s useful in my consultancy roles as I have a ready source of pithy comments that I can point people at and cannibalise for management reports, etc. However, I’ve come to realise that the posts that I spend a lot of time over tend to be the ones that are ignored - or, perhaps, the ones that are just used as is with no questions asked… It’s the ones I just chuck together before bed after too much wine that cause what little stir I get…