Has Blogging Ended?-JetPunk Magazine
First published: Sunday July 14th, 2024
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Has Blogging Ended?-JetPunk Magazine
Last Month
The biggest news last June was the introduction of the playlist feature, which launched on June 5. This allows users to make lists of any quizzes on the site and compile them for anyone to see. Another major event was the launch of user-created questions in the Daily Trivia Challenge. JetPunkers can submit questions for our beloved feature, and the best ones will be chosen by Quizmaster and Stewart.
Content Spotlight
In this issue, we will spotlight a few users and their content. First up is Jtheppy’s Evil Geography by Dimby. Next, we have The Countries Iceberg Part 6.5 by FreeStater and Nickelz, one of my favorite blogs of all time. If you have not yet, please check it out. And lastly, we have Partially Inverted Flags by KiloNova, an amazing new quiz.
Return of the JetPunk Empires
Our biggest story this month is the reboot of the classic Dawn of the JetPunk Empires series. Coming sometime in the next few days, this series may bring us the blog feature’s next Golden Age. The series will be run by McKenzieFam and Geopro.
The New Blogger Paradox
On the Recent User Blogs page, we often have some newer bloggers. These JetPunkers have little to no experience in blogging, and their early blogs are generally not great. Most users’ first blogs celebrate minor milestones, simply announcing their first post, or something completely random. This is not exclusive to current newbies, however. Most of our “blogging legends” started this way, with, no offense, absolutely cringe-worthy content. I am no different. Like many of you, I have, and am still, learning, improving, and adapting. My writing and ideas are still improving as I write this. However, a user’s first post can be the most critical one of all. First of all, it tells readers what to expect. A good first post will make JetPunkers hungry for more. A bad one will make readers lose interest and potentially ignore all future posts by the user. The reception and feedback can also influence the blogger. Positive feedback will make them enjoy the experience and likely continue. Negative feedback will discourage users from posting again. Newer bloggers are critical to the blogging community, as they represent our next generation of JetPunkers who can revive the Golden Age.
Is Blogging Over?
It is unsettling to think about, but I often wonder if blogging will still be around come the next full moon. Even as I write this, I cannot help but worry that before I can post this blog, the blogging feature will disappear. As has been discussed already, new bloggers are being discouraged from continuing their journeys. The quality and quantity of blogs are at an apparent record low, and viewer interest is plummeting. With Return of the JetPunk Empires set to begin soon, this could be a turning point for blogging. Reader interest could increase as more bloggers participate in the series. However, it may be even more critical. If it fails, we may see the end of blogging once and for all. I have had a thought in the back of my mind for a while now. I do not know how many of you are thinking this as well, but I will share it here. I have no idea whether it is correct, but here goes. I do not believe JetPunk wants the blogging feature to exist. You may be shocked, you may be confused, or you may agree with me. Based on certain comments and communication with the site’s administrators, I am getting the feeling that JetPunk wants blogging to end. I have suggested some ways to draw attention to blogging, but my ideas have seemingly been ignored. I once saw a comment saying that JetPunk should link to the RUB via the front page. A response came, saying that it would be pointless as there was little activity in blogging. The reason for the little activity is that almost nobody knows blogging exists, which could easily change. This leads me to believe that Quizmaster and Stewart are happy with the lack of blogging use, but why? I am sure they have a good reason for this, but it is still an intriguing story. My first thoughts are storage, moderation, and website traffic. However, these are already significant problems with the quiz feature. Given the size of the site, I would assume JetPunk has a way to manage all of this. So what is the reason? It could be one of those three, or something completely different. We may never know. But my point is this. Unless we make an effort to improve the quality, quantity, and user interaction of blogs, all the while equally balancing those three factors, blogging may slowly die out either with a bang as the feature is disabled in a single click, or with a whimper as it is slowly forgotten.
Looking Ahead
Looking into the near future of JetPunk, I have a few predictions for the upcoming weeks. The first is the achievement of one billion takes. When we reach the milestone, it will be a historic moment for the community. As I discussed, the future of blogging could very well depend on the Return of the JetPunk Empires. The series could create a new golden age, or end blogging entirely. And that is also up to us, as JetPunkers, to decide. I encourage you to write a blog. There are many guides out there, including one written recently by yours truly. Pick one of your guides and choose something that interests you. Find topics you are passionate about, spend some time improving your writing, and post your work. Remember that, no matter how bad it may be, all good bloggers have to start somewhere.
The Last Word
We hope you have enjoyed this issue of the JetPunk Magazine. I apologize for the long wait. If you had fun reading this or learned something new, please give it a like. See you next time.
I've never heard people say anything about wanting the feature gone—just that it's such an underused part of the site that working on it isn't worth it.
I think another helpful thing would be to get off the pedestal. There are no "legendary bloggers" or "newbie bloggers," just bloggers, plain and simple. Really, the whole demeanor of the page is what brings it down—it feels somewhat childish and even cultish at times, something not really found anywhere else on JetPunk (besides the Interesting Facts page, maybe).
Nonetheless, I do agree blogging is dying. But what can we do? Anyone who would want to write a blog has all the tools, but most people just don't want to. JetPunk is a quiz site, always has been and always will be.
The sense, and assumption, of elitism presented in this blog is itself contributing to the problem, while thinking it is "fixing" it.
As far as blogging goes, I think some of the most popular series are either dead or on very long hiatus. I assume many people would regularly check RUBs for interviews, for instance, or the quiz competitions. As these “institutional” posts have become rare and sporadic, there isn’t much incentive to check RUBs regularly for most users. A newsletter is exactly the type of thing that could keep blogs relevant. Regular material that users will want to check back to see regularly. Then they see other blogs as they come back looking for new editions.
A box just like the shop has would be more than enough.
I don't think the blog section is dying, more like hibernating and waiting for the spring.
And yeah, although I completely understand this feeling, we shouldn't truly talk about a "Golden Age" of the blog section, imho for two main reasons. First because when saying that, you are only talking about the English blog section. Then because it's actually "Golden Ages". When I started blogging in 2020 (God, I feel like if it was yesterday...), several users were talking about the end fof the Golden Age with Malki leaving and stuff like that. And then a new generation of bloggers appeared, some others came back,... So yeah, ups and downs, that's part of the game.
There are several points that contribute to our distaste for blogs though.
1. Some members of the blog community act like a cult of children (this was explained well by FreeStater above). This sense of elitism is a big problem we don't want to advertise.
2. All development that happens on JetPunk has a cost associated. That might be the cost of hosting the web pages, or the cost of our time to actually develop new things. We've tried to branch out from the main quiz section several times with Blogs, Puzzles, Minigames, even Daily Trivia. Every single time the traffic has been so low that it actually makes a loss. There is no financial benefit to anything other than quizzes.
3. Most of the blogs are not interesting or useful for the general public. Sure, some hardcore JetPunkers might like them, but the general public would not.
The bad news is though, it has never managed to do so over the past 5 years of blogging. The closest we have gotten is the French section of blogs, which has sometimes managed to produce high quality blogs, with good consistency, and good engagement in comments. I think English has never come close to that consistent quality or common decency in comments.