Pet Peevies (Or You May Say Pettiness!)
These are my top ten pet peeves regarding knitting bloggers. I perceived some condensation and/or criticism by the early adaptors to newbies like me. These bloggers appear to be guilty some of the complaints they make about new bloggers. Since people learn by adapting or modeling other’s behavior, in the manner of the early knitring bloggers, I am expressing my peeves (some call theirs “rules”). None of these comments are directed to an individual blog or person, but a collection of impressions. My apologies in advance if you feel personally affronted, as that is not my intention. In no particular order:
1. Poorly written blogs make people appear illiterate (which cannot be true if you knit or use a computer). Writing a blob in all lower case is the worst along with lack of attention to punctuation, grammar, spelling, etc. If composing the text difficult for you, try this idea. Use a word processor as an aid, then cut and paste the text to your blog. This is not foolproof, but may be an aid. Note that a recent University of Pittsburgh study and related articles do not recommend total reliance on spellcheck/grammar check, but it is a starting point. Use of a hard-copy or web dictionary and thesaurus has been useful to me.
2. Sex, politics and religion – just as these topics cause indigestion at dinner, they can end up being equally unappealing written on a public blog.
3. Children, except for children wearing knits and knitting. Start a baby blog if needed, but please relate the kid stuff to the knitting stuff
4. Not enough cat pictures! Cats and knitting go together like … well, they are an ultimate pairing. Dogs are acceptable as are other species such as bunnies, lambs, lamas, etc.
5. Stick to the topic. I look through days of blogging for any knitting reference. At least say something to the effect of “no knitting news today, but here is…” Then I can move on more quickly.
6. The web ring logo placement --- it would be a lot easier to surf the ring if the logo were in a convenient, logical place, that is, near the top, in plain site, not just an obscure graphic, etc. This would be especially convenient as not all bloggers can post daily and it would be nice to skip through.
7. Explicatives. Just poor taste. Swearing reminds me of truck drivers, not knitters. Swear words also are better orally because they lose steam when written.
8. Criticism of others whether it be their blog, knitting, writing or anything WITHOUT pointing out the positive and favorable. Everyone has things they are good at and others they are weak at and balance is a great leveler.
9. Not enough knitting pictures. There is a great expense to taking photos and storing them on a server. Try to get a significant person in your life to give a digital gift for a birthday or gift! Or at least ask for a cash contribution to the cause. Or sell just a couple knit items for this expansion (you can go back to being a purist later). It means a lot to me to see your knitting-in-progress. Where there is a will, there is a way, especially for knitters!
10. Please keep references to illness, death, and injury simple and factual. My sympathies are with you, but please do not be graphic or go into extended detail. (Especially the cold and flu references, ugh) Blogging is an escape from the knitty-gritty of life!
Thank you for your patience and understanding. Feel free to return to the fun stuff of knitting! I will try to limit my tirades in the future, but appreciate the self-indulgent factor of these blogs. It is mine, mine, all mine!! Great things, blogs. And knitting blogs are the coolest of them all.
posted by Nora 12:26 PM