Paedantic Basterd

Perhaps you're not cut out for the life of the journalist. We can all tell you in here that this is all effort and little acknowledgement, and if someone tells you they're reading, it's a pleasant surprise. Write for yourself. The readers will follow. This forum isn't just a soapbox for attention.

Surell

Them songs is what's up, needs more You're Living All Over Me though, or "What Else is New;" more Dino Jr. in general.

Your coke story was incredibly compelling and human, almost a more romantic (not necessarily correct) version of things my girlfriend went through.

Your writing is good, btw. I can't write like this because i live in a hermit crab's shell and tell the kids (who are probably my age or older) to get off my beach.

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Trollheart

I think Pedestrian has hit it on the head. These journals are primarily music journals, and people read them (usually) for information and above all entertainment. Your posts so far have not really provided anything like that, and in general they come across --- especially your last post --- as wanting to unload on people. That's fine, if you know them, but strangers are not going to be all that interested in your personal problems. Don't mean to be harsh here, but it's the truth: if you don't provide anything interesting then people will not come back. Despite the quote, it's not enough to say "If you build it, they will come." A music journal has to have substance, something to make people come BACK. Something to hold the interest.

If you want to continue, I would suggest getting some sort of article sorted on a band, album, gig, music genre, anything. But just giving us your life history --- and the problems and pitfalls of that life --- is not going to result in too many views, or at least, not many repeated ones. I'm not saying make it all happy-happy: concentrate on some real doomy bands if that's how you feel. But do something to bring people to read --- and keep reading --- your journal.

Otherwise, as Pedestrian says, maybe you're trying to use this forum for the wrong activity, and you might be as well giving it up as a bad job.

Don't know if that helps....

TH

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

starrynight

Well the journals here don't have to be about music. But it's true that most people really aren't interested in someone else's personal problems, that's the rather unpleasant world we live in.

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non-cliquey member of every music forum I participate on

Trollheart

They don't have to be about music, no, but really, if you come across a website called "Music Banter", it's not unreasonable to expect there to be, well, banter about music.

Naturally, in an ideal world we'd all want to share our problems, have them shared and supported, but there are ways to do that. As I said, it's the method --- he doesn't even choose a name: what is this? Prince mark two? --- he uses that elicits, I believe, this largely negative and ultimately uncaring response. It's tough to take a look inside someone's heart or soul, especially when they're saying look how dark it is in here, but not offering you a torch, or even carrying one themselves. Hard to want to keep going forward under those conditions.

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starrynight

Well there is quite a large off-topic section at musicbanter too. Though the journals are put in what is more a music section really....

I don't think someone's name here really matters. On the internet few people use their real names, people like the anonymity and the freedom that gives. It means if anything we feel free to be ourselves even more. In the end we are all different. I don't talk about my personal life, I'm here to talk about music. But other people will be different. It's fair enough if you are here to talk about music (like me), I was just talking about out there in the real world more. I can see how there might be an assumption though that someone might have responded to this blog on here, though it hadn't been going long perhaps and the journal section isn't probably as much viewed as some think it would be.

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Trollheart

Yeah, I would definitely agree about responses. I also think "the unnameable one", as I'll have to call him, wanted or expected replies way too soon. I mean, I was writing in my journal a long time before anyone replied (other than Jackhammer, and that was mostly just to say welcome back), and yes, I did throw out a few more-than-casual "comments welcome" pleas --- most of which fell on deaf ears --- but I wasn't discouraged. All I had to do was check the views. People don't keep reading if they're not interested, so at the amount of views I'm getting I guess I must be doing something right. Hopefully.

Anyway, that's how I look at it. But if you expect instant responses (and by instant, I mean within a month or two of posting) you're usually going to be very disappointed, unless you happen to hit a chord with one or more members. Generally, people probably skim through the journals, perhaps settling on one or two they like, and check in when there's new stuff, but it seems in 9 out of 10 cases they don't reply, and that's ok, as long as people are reading.

I think to start a journal, particularly in what I see as a difficult and different way as this one is, and think replies are going to come flooding in, is asking a little too much of MB members or anyone else. It takes time, and really, if you're impatient then this is not the place to be. For myself, I know I started my journal in order to be able to convey my love of my particular music and to enable me to review albums I liked, or don't. Over time, this has expanded massively into a whole slew of special sections, recurring features and pieces. Hopefully there's something in there now that most people like, or will at least read.

So the moral is, it's a slow hard slog, but you won't get instant gratification from your journal. It's more about what you put into it, and how others see that, even if they don't comment. Personally, I use mine for me primarily; writing up the music I like and occasionally slagging off that which I don't, and trying to maybe educate people about bands they may not know of. With the amount of people here into bands I have never even heard of, I think it's nice to be able to concentrate on more mainstream stuff, while still having the odd quirky bit here or there.

Anyway, before this turns into another plug for my own journal, (whaddya mean, too late?) I'll leave it at that. Just to clarify though: I only commented on the name because there WAS no name. You can call yourself King Turtle 90 or Musiclover or Downinthedumps or anything, I just find it odd that the author chose a straight line as his name. Perhaps that's oddly appropriate, I don't know.

Once again, my comments are probably less than useless, but there they are now, immortalised for all time.

And now I go back to whatever it is I do....

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018