Blogorrhea

On Biblio-Blogging: Jim Davila suggests replacing the misleading "biblioblogger" with "Bible Blogger," while Jim West suggests instead "Bible Scholar Blogger." I confess myself dissatisfied with both. "Bible Blogger" has overtones to me of "Bible Thumper," "Bible Believer," and "Bible Christian" -- all worthy entities, no doubt, but with more of the odor of the Sunday School than most would wish to admit to. "Bible Scholar Blogger" is more accurate, no doubt, but cumbersome.

I would suggest instead a simple one-letter change to biblioblogger and make it bibliablogger: τὰ βιβλία, with which we are all concerned.

How To Blog: I've been reading over at Blograrama the article "Top Ten Mistakes to Avoid When Blogging." So far so good -- I think. I haven't (yet) posted any libelous material, haven't been involved in blogging spam (as far as I know), haven't (knowingly) ignored comments, and so on. But No. 1, "No Theme to Your Blog," is more difficult. There are thematic blogs I like, such as Paleojudaica and the NTGateway Weblog. But there are others with no theme at all to them that I read regularly; I just like the voice I hear in them, like Ann Althouse or Jenell Paris. And even the theme blogs are not impersonal; the ones I named, and others I regularly read, have a voice behind them; more subdued, but still discernible and real.

"Ralph" is not a theme blog, but it's not my diary, either. There are things that interest me that I have a strong itch to write about, and I find that a blog is a good way to scratch that itch. I promise you, though, that I will never blog about either politics or sports. I'm interested in both at times, but I have nothing to say about them that I think might be of general interest.

Another mistake, "Writing Way Too Much," is more difficult. They say most people like a quick read. That's probably true, but if I come across a long post on a subject that interests me, I'll read it all; plus, sometimes, a really good writer will make me care about whatever they want to say, however long it takes to say it. But there is such a thing as writing too much (what I call blogorrhea). Personally, I like a mixture of short and long. There are blogs, like Instapundit, that are just all links with a minimum of Voice. I want the Voice, even if quiet, understated, and shy.

(What's the opposite of blogorrhea? Blogstipation? Writer's Blog-k?)

I'll shut up now, speaking of writing too much.

UPDATE: I did think up blogorrhea, but I wasn't the first. I got 6000+ hits when I googled the word. This heads the list.

UPDATE II: Responses to "bibliablogger" from the Coding Humanist, Hypotyposeis, and Paleojudaica.

UPDATE III: More from Jim West here and Tim Bulkeley here. As Mao once said, "Let a thousand flowers bloom."