Are we just repeating ourselves?Filed Under: General
Have you noticed the slowdown of the WordPress blog scene?
When I started this blog it was as an outlet for my plugin generator. I wasn’t really big into WordPress then and created it because I was looking for the next project to use my time for. Like so many others I found the calling and launched headlong into tutorials, plugins and even a theme.
As I started subscribing to more and more WordPress blogs I began to notice that they all seemed to have started up around about a certain time; within 6 months of mine, more or less. I think that explained the mass of posts.
At the time every blog had a WordPress tip, tutorial, or bit of news every other day. It was overwhelming.
Now thought I’m noticing that the few blogs out there still catering to beginners and doing tutorials are repeating content I have seen at least once, if not more, times on other blogs.
I am finding that I don’t want to post more tutorials. There isn’t much to write them about that hasn’t already been done, and even then most of them should be on the codex really anyway.
So, has everything that needs to be written, except for news and gossip about new features, been done now? Is there anything of WordPress left to blog about?
- Permalink
- Andrew Rickmann
- 18 Jun 2008 6:19 PM
- Comments (13)
June 18th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Owning a WordPress blog myself, I’ve felt the same way as you before. Most blogs about WordPress simply blog about other people’s tutorials, tips, and news. Now there’s nothing wrong about that, but it gets boring to see the same old stuff.
Now I’m not saying I don’t post about other people’s stuff on WPCandy, but that’s not all we post. If you look through our archives, we have a ton of uniques articles that I or any contributing authors have wrote.
June 18th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Didn’t some else already write this POST? JK…
I agree the posting subjects seem to be in the “LOOP”, I, however, hope that with each iteration they are getting better or more clear or changed in one way or another. Tutorials and Codex information would be better served in a wiki environment … for cross referencing etc.
June 18th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
This is why I mostly write about my own plugins and themes as they’re not documented, - If I ever write about WP in general, it’s just because I didn’t find in Google or at WP Codex.
June 18th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I’ve been dry myself when it comes to writing WordPress tutorials lately. There isn’t much that hasn’t already been said. But then again, WordPress is continually evolving and people will always find new ways to use it. This leaves *some* room for new born tutorials. That said, I’m a bit glad that my blog focuses more on being a Web 2.0 webmaster than just WordPress itself.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I myself, as a WordPress blogger, I have slowed down my posting… and I’m having a pretty hard time finding ideas por new posts. Heck, I’ve just written a tutorial on wordpress-subersion and that exists already on the Codex, and probably a lot of other blogs… However as a tutorial reader I like to have multiple perspectives on the same subject.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
When every WordPress blog is using the cleanest, most advanced and beautiful themes; running the best, carefully coded plugins; isn’t repeating anyone else’s mistakes; and there are no more helpful features to be added to WordPress or ways to make it better; then yes, there’s nothing to blog about anymore.
Until then, blog.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
I don’t think we are repeating ourselves but rather clarifying things for WordPress newbie bloggers. If they weren’t here the first time to find out about something, then they will probably find out either when someone talks about it again or when they search the archives.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
These are some interesting interpretations of the same situation. I try not to blog about something unless I have new facts to add to it but it is possible to do it better, and for sure a lot of people won’t know that things exist, and so won’t be able to search for them to find the old stuff.
This does tend to reinforce my feeling though that although we can write about the same things better, and there is value in it, that there isn’t really that much new to say until WordPress itself changes.
June 18th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
“REDUNDANT” - Now there’s a word I can use over and over again….
Copy & paste Michael Springers’ comment above here
June 18th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
I think as long as we’re learning something new and then share it with others, even it that has been written about on other blogs, I don’t see there’s anything wrong about it, especially if we write it from a different, personal perspective.
There’s always a chance that if you yourself has just discovered about it, many others haven’t heard about it either.
June 19th, 2008 at 2:12 am
Personally, my posts are a record of my project’s progress, therefore, many things I write about will already have been written somewhere, sometime, somehow. It’s simple the nature of my blog.
Obviously I throw in filler content here and there which has no doubt been previously discussed elsewhere, and in these cases I concur with Michael Springer (7) and inspirationbit (10).
Keep up the good work by the way. I’m always watching, listening and learning.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:13 am
I also don’t see anything wrong with repetition. This isn’t a criticism of anyone. A blogger needs to do what is best for their blog, but it does feel as though we are running out of topics.
I also seem to mostly be writing about my own projects at the moment as well.
It wouldn’t suprise me if we started seeing a decline in WordPress related blogs, or at least that a few will branch out into other areas.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Like someone once said “There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.” Personally I think the duplication of ideas is quite useful. How many times do you google something only to find the fifth or sixth link to be the one that explains the subject so it makes sense to you?