I don’t know whether this could be said, giving myself an air confidence or something of that sort. I will however go ahead and say it. What am talking about here, is attracting blog followers. A friend of mine says, the followers you have is directly proportional to the effort you put in visiting different blogs, I don’t know about you but here I go with the words of Schopenhauer when he talks about fame and honour. He writes concerning the difficulty of winning fame thus
….the difficulty of winning fame by any given work stands in reverse ratio to the number of people who are likely to read it; and hence it is so much harder to become famous as the author of a learned work than as a writer who aspires only to amuse.
No am not looking down upon entertainers, just saying
it is hardest of all in the case of philosophical works, because the result at which they aim is rather vague, and at the same time, useless from a material point of view; they appeal chiefly to readers who are working on the same lines themselves.
And those of you atheist bloggers, who write on atheism and philosophy will agree with the above assessment. When I visit my friend archy’s site, all the comments I have seen have been by people I ‘know‘ to be atheists. Maybe some theists visit, as they visit all our blogs and like posts, but I think all of you will agree that apart from the random theist intent on just dissenting for no other reason than that he can, most of those who regularly read and comment on your blogs are likely members of the choir!
Random thoughts 
There are a LOT of spam followers out there. I pay a visit to every follow to see if we have things in common, or something interesting which i’d like to follow. It seems of late that 9 out of 10 are spam. Maddening.
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Oh yes. And some are just advertising agencies.
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I wouldn’t believe anything that bloody Australian John Z tells you. He trolls everywhere!
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Aren’t we due another post from you, already? How many times must I look at the face of that Arab bloke?
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Isn’t he delightful?
Been busy satisfying the Man on busy-things. Started something on Fine Tuning but my knowledge of physics of letting me down. I’m sure, however, that the path through will reveal itself in no time… i have faith.Praise Veles 🙂
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Watch out for Ken Ham’s blurb writer, he may relish the chance to rip it to shreds…
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That is in the back of my head.
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I’m leaving a comment so you don’t confuse me for a theist 🙂
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Haha Tabitha, I know you are the soloist in the choir 😀
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I’m not going to ‘LIKE’ this post, but I will tell that I like it. I was here. Cheers.
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Cheers mate!
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If you try to include several topics, you cast a wider net and you will make a few people think. I don’t know how this works with the topic of atheism, but it is my experience. I don’t mean that you should write a blog with the aim of entertaining. As Miles Davis has put it (I am paraphrasing since I do not remember his exact words), he was not standing on stage to entertain but to educate his audience. This means you have to provide quality content for intelligent people and then present your point.
Otherwise, you are only preaching to the converted, which is pointless.
I think it is also important to try to pick up the people from where they are standing. That means not to attack but to make them think if what they are believing in is so natural as they think. They have been socialized it an environment where certain assumptions go without saying and are never questioned. Find a way to get them out of their balance. If you just attack, you will fail.
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Preaching to the choir might not be pointless; there are times we have been able to get a better understanding of an issue following a discussion with members of the choir.
Two the reason I like the choir, is they don’t expect answers and sometimes they don’t provide any. All you are invited to do is ask more questions, in a sense be skeptical.
Writing on a wide area though attractive for getting numbers would result in a blog without a central theme so that you have different audiences. As it is, for this blog, I have kept within philosophy that is treating religion as a philosophy problem, a little of photography, politics, and architecture. But it remains a secular blog all the way.
And I agree, confrontations do not work any bit.
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Whether personal or online, people tend to congregate with those they perceive as most like themselves. As you mentioned, there are, of course, exceptions. Astute observation. Much love.
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Yes, they say birds of the same feather flock together but once in a while you find a hen among ducks 😀
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That’s why I appreciate you guys so much. You are right there with me! Group hug!
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Big hug my friend! You are equally appreciated.
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I like choirs 😀
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Choirs are great, especially if they sing in harmony 🙂
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I like this article. I read that this was the way to amass followers, and I have enjoyed engaging other bloggers, but I asked myself which I preferred:
A handful of thought-provoking followers, or a slew of public opinionated like-clickers who see their blog as just a big Facebook? Sure I might get a crazy-large number of followers for dropping hit and run comments, but will they really be intent on reading what I share? Not likely.
I’ve been watching follower numbers and comparing them to interaction. It doesn’t seem a weighty enough ration to force me to go trolling the WordPress world to rack up stats. I have to play the exposure game to a point if I want to share my pieces in wider circles, so it links to other social media, but I’m okay with letting the investment grow slowly and steadily.
I’d rather invest time replying to people who prove trustworthy and interesting than waste time replying to a thousand “Great post. Thanks,”
Gimme a handful of awesome over a truckload of ‘meh’ any day.
Oh, and great post. Thanks. 😉
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Thank you and am totally in agreement. A handful of thoughtful followers any day than big Facebook!
The only blogs I follow but may not comment on are photography blogs. I love beautiful photos and my vocabulary is limited 😀 so I may click like or move to the next photo.
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but of course. there are some amazing photographers on the site
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Interesting article, Mak! I have been thinking about the idea of ‘preaching to the choir’ but I think that is actually a good thing. We sharpen our ideas and that makes perfect sense. I don’t really believe it’s possible to convince someone who has an opposite opinion. In all likelihood you will only reinforce their beliefs. If people are to be converted, they will only do so because they think it was their own idea (Fritz Perls). And that goes along the lines Violetwisp described today; little seeds that suddenly start to flower and change everything.
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Thanks mate.
People believe as they do. I read today that belief follows knowledge, that is, you first know then you believe and not the other way round. The difference is whether you hold a true belief.
Speaking to the choir is a good thing.
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Interesting post – provokes reflection. Thank you for sharing, Eric
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Thank you Eric.
Am glad you liked it.
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Late, as allways, but still joining the choir. As an atheist it is refreshing to see what other atheists around the globe think. After all it is only the god question, wich really binds us. Alltough humanism seems to be a big topic to most of us also.
I have a multitopic blog, not to catch more readers, but because it is an outlet for me to write about stuff, I have something to say about. I propably write more in comments of others, than into my own blog these days.
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I have seen your comments on a few blogs and most can be sufficient as a post 😀 so all you need to do on your blog is just send greetings and that will be sufficient. Your comments are superb.
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Thank you very much. So are yours.
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Oh, and thanks for the advice. 🙂
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Theists like myself find it painful to read what you have to say. You see we dialogue with God all the time, & so consider your point of view distasteful to say the least. We however will love you & pray that you will one day allow the love of God to penetrate the shield of cynicism you have erected to stop yourself from humbling yourself to Jehovah the creator of heaven & earth.
Just ask Jesus into your heart & you will be flooded by overwhelming love. I dare you.
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You are free to hold your views, dialogue with your god. I will, however, not apologise for injuring your sensibilities. You can hold unquestioning belief all you want and I will be a sceptic.
Please don’t pray for me
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He dares you to ‘ask Jesus into your heart.’ Lol. Last I heard, your heart was full, but be accomodating; offer Jesus a rib, maybe he’ll use it to make you a wife.
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I don’t know where he got the idea that my heard needs some Jesus helping 🙂
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