Blog-alking

So what is the etiquette on blog-stalking (or “blog-alking” for short – stalking sounds so harsh)? I have a handful of friends who have blogs that I read on a regular basis. A few of these friends post “Blogrolls” /a list of other blogs they’re reading or following. So for instance, lets say I’m checking out La Vida Leipprandt’s blog, she has a “Give these Blog some Love” column and I can quickly find 10 other blogs to read. But these blogs are from people I don’t know. They’re La Vida’s friends. But some of them have great blogs and I really enjoy reading them. And from there it can spiral such that I end up reading a blog from a step-friend twice removed on my great aunt’s side. Is this wrong?



Part of me feels like I’m secretively reading all about this strangers life, which in reality, I am. But when you start a blog, one of the reasons must be an underlying desire for other people to read what you’re writing. Otherwise, wouldn’t you just keep a diary or a private blog? For me, I wanted to start a blog to keep “physically distant” friends and family invovled in my life’s happenings, and also as a creative outlet. And now that I know some people follow along, I’m more encouraged to keep writing. Over 120 people have viewed my blog profile (which I admit could use some finessing), so who are these people? I know of 10-20 people who read along on a somewhat regular basis, but who are the other 100 people? Friends of friends?  And surely there are other people who don't view the profile of each blog they stumble across, I certainly don't.


But with blog-alking, what are the rules? When you blog-alk, do you leave a trail? Is it OK to comment on some random person’s blog post? Do most people do this? Or do you just silently read and move on? I’m a quiet blog-alker, preferring not to leave any evidence of my stay. But as a blogger myself, I’d love to know that/if I have some blog-alkers. So maybe I should re-think my blog-alking.


My favorite Blog-alking story happened a few months ago when a couple of friends and I went to a cookbook signing of a great bloggess, PW. Four of us went together and ran into our friend Ali from Two Onesies. And Ali was there with some other friends, so we were all chatting while we waited our turn to meet PW. My friend, who we’ll call “Anonymous Blog-alker” turned to me, after Ali’s friend (“Europe Blogger” – she had a blog about living abroad) left for a few minutes, and said, “I swear I think I know that girl from somewhere.” And then it hit her, she’d been following Europe Blogger’s blog. They’d never met in real life, but “Anonymous Blog-alker” knew all about Europe Blogger and her life. Europe Blogger returned to our little group and totally out of the blue said something about blog-alking. I sat there smiling and laughing to myself as I watched Anonymous Blog-alker’s face turn a little pink. But I couldn’t believe it when she actually admitted to blog-alking Europe Blogger, who luckily didn’t seem freaked out. That’s the thing, blog-alking is a part of blogging, so we should all just admit we do it. My name is Mrs. Swan, and I’m a blog-alker.