IS IT TIME TO TURN OUT THE LIGHTS?

Where is everybody? Have you deserted me?

I couldn’t help but notice the decreasing amount of comments lately and, since that’s the only way I can tell you’re reading my stuff, I have to assume people aren’t reading it like they used to. At first I thought this was caused by the reduction in frequency of my posts, but I put a stop to that quite a while ago.

So what is it? Have my tirades grown tiresome? Do I no longer bring up interesting topics? Have you moved on to, as they say in the workplace when someone quits in disgust, new adventures?

Maybe it’s a combination of all three. It saddens me to think that. I put a lot of work into this thing and have always attempted to entertain in the process of getting my thoughts out. It saddens me to think my three and a half year blogging experience is over.

Of course, when I write “over” I don’t mean it with the ringing sense of finality it implies. I do, after all, have a “professional” blog bearing my real name and a few other blogs to which I contribute. But this was the first and, let’s be honest here, best of them. Sure it’s now called “Redux” and I started it over last year, but those who have been reading Organized Chaos from the beginning remember the original one.

So what is it? I know I lost some people when I deleted the old blog, people I couldn’t locate via email. Newer readers seemed to be more fair-weather, stopping by briefly before fading again into the background of the so-called blogosphere. Thus my core readership, my “vultures” as I good-naturedly dubbed them in the early days, became even more important. With them now disappearing, I don’t think I have the energy, patience or time to recruit new ones.

Maybe it’s me, then. I don’t really seek out new blogs and new civilizations these days. I do comment on the blogs of my regular readers but that’s about it.

Some of those bloggers are MIA lately. They have lives and responsibilities and other pesky nuisances that prevent them from enjoying themselves. I understand. Only an idiot wouldn’t.

So what is it? Is it the subtle shift in tone? I was once told that the angrier, more miserable Scribe was more interesting. That kind’ve hurts. It implies that I was some kind of sideshow freak whose pain provided amusement. Now that I don’t seem so unhappy, the trained monkey is being ignored.

Honestly, I don’t know why I’ve been deserted. Unlike some, I’m not planning to stop blogging. This is something I’ve come to need, both as a writer and as a person who often feels unnoticed because of his real-life demeanor. But I might de-emphasize this blog’s importance. Maybe it’s time to move to those new adventures like the bitter ex-employees.

I wish I could say that filled me with anything resembling positive feelings. But I miss the days when a post of mine would receive so much response that the comments could reach 30 or more in a single day. These days I’m lucky to get six for the week.

What will happen when even those people stop reading?