It appears that a blog post from back in September has caught the attention of its subject. Check the comments, catch up, then come back …

My initial post about www.ballotdebate.com was born out of curiosity.

As a blogger, my eye was bound to be caught by a bulletin board flyer about a new group blogging site in North Atlanta. It seemed a bit incongruous, this 8″ x 11″ piece of paper with tear-off URLs at the bottom. But I visited the site all the same.

It seemed well-intentioned, the site, if a little preliminary. Categories would surely be helpful and I’m still not sure that ballotdebate.com is the best URL for a collective blogging site for North Atlanta — particularly when “northatlantabloggers.org” is available. Unless you are in a position to actually redefine terms to your will (like Google or Amazon), your URL should be rather descriptive of your content. Or if it is not so directly, then perhaps you’ve a decent story to fall back on.

Blog posts are messages in bottles. While there are those A-list bloggers that can count on a daily readership of thousands, most of us simply cast our thoughts to the wind with a vain hope that someone might just find them interesting and worthy of discussion.

So my posted comments were intended partially as a constructive critique, though I was unsure that anyone at the site in question would take notice. As I’ve said, messages and bottles. So for the most part, it was a starting point of discussion with readers of mine — many in Atlanta — that are in the business of blogging, podcasting and building community. I’m not here to judge anyone’s website, though really … judging worth is something done by every visitor to any website. With so many choices, there is no guarantee that anyone is coming back.

Is mine a personal site? In many ways, I’ve been maintaining the same kind of website for about seven years. Only recently has a term arrived to describe it. So it is a blog. Is it public? Of course it is. All bloggers are driven by ego, at least to some extent. It takes some nerve to believe your random thoughts on movies, music and politics are even worth the time it takes to write them, much less the time it takes a stranger to read them. And yet, the community keeps growing. What we decide post is entirely our own decision. I have my own set of rules about what I will or will not write. Religion? Yes. Politics? Yes. Comic Books? Yes. Work? No. Family? That depends.

So what’s with the ads? I don’t maintain any illusions about the overall popularity of my blog. I write to satisfy my soul and to speak my mind. If my readership grows, then all the better. But I’ve never gone about the business of blogging with dollar signs in my eyes. So to answer the question, I have Google Ads on my site for one simple reason: hosting costs money. I’ve had the Google ads on my blog for about a year or so. I’ve yet to see a single dime, though my account tells me that I’ve had about $23 worth of clickthroughs. But since Google pays out in increments of $100, I’ll be waiting by my mailbox a little while longer. As for BlogAds, I’ve only just restored that link on the sidebar. I’d love to see those get some use, particularly with the mid-term elections coming up, but as with the Google Ads, I’m not holding my breath.

Speaking of elections, I’ve visited ballotdebate.com recently. As there are so few sources of Internet information about my local city council candidates, I’ve found such posts on ballotdebate.com to be quite handy. Of course, when I saw what appeared to be a candidate using a shared blogging platform as a personal campaign stump, I commented my opinion.

I want any local Internet endeavour to succeed, particularly those with a hint of grassroots about them. It is for that reason that I am proud to associate myself with Georgia Podcast Network and (to a lesser extent lately) the Atlanta Metroblog. The links at left connect my readers to some of the best bloggers in the Atlanta area. A lot of them are damned good at trivia, too. And then there is North Fulton Drama Club, a labor of will and love that I will promote without shame and by any means necessary. But really, there is no competition. I just want the best for all involved.

So if it wasn’t clear enough before, I wish our friends at ballotdebate.com all of the luck in the world. And I would encourage them to take full advantage of what the Atlanta blogging community has to offer. Make the rounds, comment on the sites you admire, contact the people that are doing things online that you wish you could do. And I believe there remains a standing offer from Amber at GAPN to record a podcast about your goals and objectives. Take her up on it.