I have a lot of fun with the A to Z Challenge every year... yet each April finds me increasingly frustrated, as well.
Not so much with the challenge itself - it’s the participants who frustrate me. Which is, of course, the one factor the organizers can’t do much about. Nine years of coordinating the modest participation of the Cookie Exchange have taught me that you can’t force people to follow your guidelines - you just cross your fingers and prepare to herd turtles - especially once your numbers climb above twenty…
Yet the Challenge had over 600 bloggers on the list this year.
600
Even with a team of six trying to oversee it all, that’s still an average of {turtle-level x 3.5} participants per organizer. Just the thought makes me break out into a cold sweat, so I have a great deal of sympathy for what they go through.
But that still doesn’t diminish my frustration with my fellow participants. Over the last couple of years, I have found them to be increasingly cavalier about visiting and commenting other blogs. I did a statistical breakdown of the (what I consider to be) appalling lack of sportsmanship, but it comes out sounding like such a whine that I’ll skip it, and just say that I found the interaction component of the Challenge to be very disappointing - and my blog statistics support that.
Overall, that is. There were certainly a few people who were in there, exercising due diligence and playing the game according to the rules. (And I was very glad to see them, so if you were one of those participants, Thank You!)
Of course, 600 is a daunting number, large enough to make it extremely difficult to visit everyone. Not to mention how the vast number of visits required made it difficult for a return visit to any one blog that I found especially appealing. I ended up having to bookmark a number of blogs to revisit next month, when I can browse at leisure.
Also (speaking as #400-something on the Master List myself,) it’s quite likely that the people in the first 100 or so of the list may well have had a much happier visitation experience than I did. I had tried to even that playing field by randomizing a list of 650 and using that for my visit-order - but that was a bit of geekery that I strongly doubt would strike anyone else as a fun way to handle the difficulty.
I did enjoy the return to a single master list, which allowed me to stay in bed five minutes longer, free from worry over posting a daily link before I left for work... But on the other hand, those daily lists were quite helpful in weeding out the people who signed up and then never posted anything A-Z. (A surprisingly large number of forgetful bloggers out there, she coughs.) Both methods have their good points.
Perhaps a compromise between master and daily lists might be to have different sign up sheets for different theme categories? I realize it’s not exactly in the spirit of the adventure… but neither is blowing off your fellow participants. And perhaps if the list was in smaller chunks, which one could work through as interest dictates, more people might be visited?
Or, I don’t know…
Hire Bowerick Wowbagger to prod people on the list?
Call in Cousin Vinny if Bowerick is unsuccessful?
Bribe people with warm chocolate chip cookies?
It’s just not an easy problem to solve.
Despite my collegial disappointment, however, I still enjoyed the Challenge and will likely continue to play along if they do it again - but I do it simply for the fun of thinking up A-Z’s.
If blog growth is your goal, well... I wouldn't quit your day job just yet.
17 comments:
*raises glass*
Here, Here!
(Now, did you say something about warm chocolate chip cookies?)
Since i have reached a saturation point (i really cannot follow any more blogs for simple lack of time), my visits around were mostly one time things and that’s sad, even to me. There are just more great words published out there (books, blogs, etc.) than can be read, and i’m to the point where i have to choose.
I do agree that I love the single list. And the fact that it was on a downloadable spreadsheet that I could manipulate how I wanted made it so much easier to work with.
My purpose for participating has changed over the years. I am not looking for higher numbers as I was in the past. About five years ago, my readership was quite high. Life happened, my writing slowed and my audience left. I honestly don't even want it back.
I think a lot of the way people participate comes down to their own personal reason for joining. As I said, I am not looking for a new audience anymore. I participate as a personal challenge to myself. It kept me in my chair each day and made me write. Which is a habit I am trying to develop. As far as visiting other blogs, I highly edited the Master List I downloaded. I immediately deleted any blog listed as poetry, parenting, gaming, and a few others. So, I never visited those blogs. I just don't care to read about those topics.
The little things that irritate me and the people who do not make it easy to find their blog. They include a link on the Master List that takes me to a site that has 15 links and it takes some searching to discover which link takes me to their blog. Why not include the link that takes me straight to your writing? I don't understand that.
The other is the people who comment on my blog (Thank you), but don't leave a link telling me how to get to theirs. Clicking on a person's name often takes me to a Blogger profile page that has SIX different blogs listed and I have to find the one that is still active.
If there are participants, then there will always be people who just don't do it right or don't understand the internet well enough to make it easy for people. I don't see a solution. But I will be participating again next year.
I just posted my summary post. Basically I downloaded the list and went through it according to my interests. I agree that MANY bloggers apparently don't visit back. I visited 6-10 blogs each day, plus hitting up my regular blogs (not everyday). Of the new commenters who visited my blog, they were ALL only commenting back because I left them a comment and a link. But not all that I visited returned the favor.
Meh. It didn't really get me down. I'm not in this for business, and I only want a community of people who really enjoy each other's writings. Like YOU!
One of the many reasons why I was one-and-done with the A-Z challenge was time. Primarily, a complete lack thereof. I found it quite difficult to visit more than 5 blogs on the list in a given day, and often they weren't the same 5 each day.
The main factor is time. It takes a lot of time to prepare posts for this annual adventure (usually you have to start late February/early March to create your posts). And it takes a lot of time to visit/comment on participating blogs, and quite frankly, this annual event really works if you're a newbie or semi-newbie of some kind and want to build your readership. It really doesn't work if you're an old timer.
Thank you for visiting my reflections post. I do find reflections posts interesting as it does give a bit of insight as too how it went overall. I have done a fair few A to Z's and tend to be very chilled about visitors these days.
And where you are on the master list does matter I have previously got in really early and also deliberately left it until the last minute which has had me in the first 10 or at 2000 plus. There are a group who love the A to Z and support each other through it. But it can make it feel a bit cliquey so new folk get disheartened, although plainly some just add there names to the list to gain visitors with no intention of really getting involved. That happened a lot a few years ago which is why you would find about 2000 blogs on the list.
I love the A to Z but I do it because I love the concept and its great discipline to undertake it. I do try and visit blogs but if I comment I like to leave an interesting comment so I can't comment on all of them or I would go mad and never get to sleep. I did once visit the entire list of 2000 within the month of April . . . I will not try that again.
I do however always reply to comments and visit the blogs of those who comment to say thanks and time permitting add a few words of wisdom or madness
What I found the best way to get blog growth and visitors is is posting every day. I did that for nearly three years and at its height the blog had 80,000 page views a month. But once I stopped, (it was too time consuming) page views fell like a brick off a cliff.
Well I will runaway now as I'm making bread and the cats are prowling about demanding food.
Pesky Cats
Rob Z Tobor
I had no clue this concept was so centralized. I thought it was just a Jz (and a few others') whimsical way to pass the month.
Hi Jz - I hear you ... I got frustrated because of the strictures of 'having' to do things ... I don't do FB - and don't see why I should be forced to.
When I first started ... it was suggested we started to visit and comment on the next 5 blogs after my own number ... made sense - everyone got a fair share then.
Yes a lot of people don't bother to do the Challenge, having signed up ... and a great many don't bother to comment, even if one comments on their blog.
The other thing is the difficulty finding blogs that are interesting ... I don't necessarily want to close off a topic that bloggers write about - sometimes, yes.
One year I downloaded the list - 1200 that year I think ... and Blogger was playing up - so it was a nightmare ... but it took up way too much time ... I've just gone my own way - except now ... I'm not sure I want to participate, even though I enjoy the Challenge.
It was all much friendlier for those first years ... no dictats, lots of welcome and interaction ...
So I agree with you ... but I'd love some warm chocolate chip cookies sent somehow!! It's teatime here ... and a biscuit or two would be delicious ... cheers Hilary
Mrs F-
Thank you!
(*insert dramatic bow*)
I did say something about cookies… I’d better get on that, huh?
;-D
mm-
Well, I saw your comments scattered about out there, so I know you did your best in the time at your disposal. And you are absolutely correct that there is such a thing as saturation. I didn’t mean that everyone needs to visit everyone, but I just think many could have exerted a little more effort.
B-
Agreed - it’s the fun of the challenge that keeps me coming back. I will admit, I didn’t eliminate anybody on the basis of what they said their blogs were about, because people often bust out and try different things for the challenge, so I wanted to give them a chance. But it's always tempting, so I understand the so doing.
And oh boy yes, was I exasperated by the links to pages that made you dig to find the A-Z.
This is not a clever marketing technique, people!
R-
Hmmm… I think our blogs must be living in alternate universes, cuz I can’t find your summary post. Perhaps tomorrow the currents of time will have aligned…
I didn’t really let it get me down, either. I’m not doing this to win friends and influence people. I just like to write and hope to find some people who also like to write, and we can all sit around, reading each other’s writing. (And thank you!)
However, it does tick me off on general principles.
(My inner 7-year old ringleader is stomping her foot in irritation.) ;-p
GB-
I was laughing a little while reading this, because it reminded me of the first year I wrote A-Z posts. I heard about the challenge late, didn’t know where to sign up or what the rules were, so I did it off-grid, flying by the seat of my pants and literally writing the post for each and every letter either the night before or the morning of… I’m surprised my hair ever grew back, I pulled so much of it out!
You’re right - it’s a huge investment of time. :-)
RobZ-
Yes! to only leaving interesting, or at least pertinent, comments. They are much more fun to give and receive. I also think it’s only fair to answer comments, but that seems to be a more contentious topic overall, so I try not to wave my arms about too wildly over that.
Your bread looked delicious…
Trade you some for a warm chocolate chip cookie?
D-
Nope - I’d love to take the credit but I absolutely can’t.
And your comment made me realize I hadn’t made the image in my sidebar a clickable link, the way I’d intended to.
Whoopsie!
H-
I too am Facebook-free, so I get that.
Nor do I twit or ‘gram.
(As a former beau once said, “You are the most Luddite tech on the planet!”)
I did find it friendlier when I first started… but I still make a new friend or two each time… and I think as long as that continues to happen, I’ll continue to put my name on the list. Because after all, without the challenge, you and I would never be hanging out, eating warm chocolate chips and drinking tea!
I'm kind of like Hilary... when I started the A to Z Challenge many many years ago, it was requested that you read a couple of blogs above and below your number or randomly... Another thing they used to do was remove your name if you didn't blog by a certain time. For me it was actually more of a challenge to then get my post in and also to watch myself move up in the numbers. I still have links to a lot of the blogs that I found through A to Z over the years... it's been harder to do the challenge in recent years, and this was the first time in a long time I did it... would I do it again, yes! Just like I try to do the NaBloPoMo every November and created my own Birthday Music Shuffle every July... blogging is for me, while it's nice to have an audience, it's great to go back and re-read earlier posts... like an online journal I share with the world... cheers!
CDS-
There definitely is a journal-type component to all this, isn't there?
I'm with you, I've found a lot of good blogs over the years... altho' me discovering "a great new read!" seems to be the kiss of death for that person's postings. It's like, "If she finds us, we will stop."
(Please do not feel the need to prove this true!)
Thanks for coming by!
My summary was unpublished! But it wasn't labeled as draft, either. Drat. Glad you called my attention to that. Anyway, we are well in synch. I'm a rule follower and if you didn't follow the AtoZ rules - DELETE!
Read it quick, cuz tomorrow's Fiction Friday again!
R-
erm... still not seein' it, chica.
Not trying to raise your stress level, just letting you know I'm not deliberately ignoring you!
I think that's what gets me down about A to Z, too many people never return the visit. But I was lazy this year and didn't include my blog link, so that could be me. (But in prior years, same thing, so maybe not...)
One year, Birgit I think, said she chose who she visited via who was commenting on others' blogs. So, maybe she found someone off the master list, and then she found others via that person's comments. That's how she found me, I think. Perhaps that's the way to go--finding those that are participating via comments.
L-
I think it's not lazy when you've already determined the extra effort adds little to the returns. That was my experience, too.
I like the "comment on commenters" idea...
I totally get what you mean about some people being in it for themselves and not getting the community side of it. I commented on every blog on the master list (not that I would expect people to do that, that was a personal challenge I set myself) and I received fewer comments than I ever have on the challenge.
I don't really do it for the comments - I do it because I enjoy it and it's nice to set myself a challenge, but fair's fair. I'll be doing the challenge again next year, but I highly doubt I'll be going through the full list again haha
Debbie
RM-
Oh, brava to you for commenting on all!
I visited the vast majority of them (~550) but didn't come up with as nearly as many comments as visits.
(Sometimes the post, sometimes my brain...)
And I agree - I'm not doing it to win a popularity contest but fair is fair - at least try!
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