Very good question, one that I’ve addressed a lot throughout this blog. But what you are asking invites only more questions.

If it is more important for you to write (or blog) than it is for people to read and respond, keep going and who cares what you write about.

If it is more important for your needs to have people read and respond, then you will have to work seriously on creating an audience, which means you have to focus on a topic (it can be narrow or broad) and do some work to let other people know you exist.

When you have the answer to those two questions, then you will know what it is about blogging that brings you happiness and then keep doing it. Honestly, while many are complimenting my writing, I have written for months with only one comment in response on my blogs, so waiting for comments as a measurement of how you are doing should never be part of your plan. Consider comments as bonuses.

Cornell:

You’ve been around here long enough to know better than to mess with things.

When WordPress.com stripped out all php, javascript, css, styles, and “some tags”, I blew 14 gaskets. I pleaded, I begged, I screamed, and even attempted bribery to no avail. Like our president, when the developers classified these as “security risks”, there was no changing their minds. So I say, use your feedback button for a good reason and keep wearing them down with your whines and maybe we can at least get to be able to color a few words in red or green to attract attention.

Stephen:

Thanks for the kind words. I just do the best I can with what I know and can learn. I consider myself a representative of the ordinary WordPress user. While working on the WordPress Codex and Forum, and helping the development team, I always think about the basics and what it is like for beginners to intermediate users. The power users can figure out a lot of the stuff for themselves, but for most people, this is garbled gook.

To All:

I have to admit that there is a part of me that wishes for more customization and control over WordPress.com blogs, but I have found a greater joy in leaving a lot of the distractions of “the tweak” behind to focus on the really important part of blogging: the writing. I hope that all WordPress.com users will release the need to tweak from their systems and just let the words and images flow, sharing your lives, hopes, dreams, jobs, fears, and expertise with the world around you.

Oh, don’t worry, I’ll still bring forth techie stuff (I’m an addict to all things geek), I just wanted to remind people that the words are what it is all about.

And thanks! Isn’t this fun!

Your writing skill’s, technical analysis and the quality of your posts are brilliant, not to mention extremely informative. I am a Networking and Server Specialist who has worked with the internet for around 10 years, your information is informative precise and is a must read for me and no doubt countless others.

Thanks for your tireless work as it helps us all and the WordPress community.
Stephen
ps. Sorry about that anon@anon post I did about your ‘Best Ever Blog Instructions for Newbies’

Collin

I already did thanks, you’ve been commenting on my blog at http://www.cornellfinch.com

The problem is that WordPress won’t allow PHP into posts or pages in native mode (ie without plugins, which I also can’t find…).

Here’s a question – you are a blogger, and you write a lot about bloggers – with a hook, a specific topic to focus on. I don’t have one of those, and I know that’s part of the reason I don’t get much traffic and almost no response. My writing is more personal, though I wouldn’t consider it an online diary or anything like that. What is your opinion on more personal blogging? How can you make it clear that a site like that isn’t just a typical diary and encourage people to stay and read?

It is so nice to know I have at least one dedicated fan who will speak up when necessary, or not necessary, but knows when to do so. Oh, great wise one!

For information on how I create the tags at the bottoms of my posts, see A Tagging Bookmarklet for WordPress and WordPress.com Users.

If you want a heat map tag cloud, you will need the full version of WordPress and the Ultimate Tag Warrior WordPress Plugin, which is awesome.