I started blogging in 2002. Prior to that, I’d operated a website for about six years, but what grabbed me about blogging was the speed and the responsiveness - the way blogs picked up on what other blogs posted, and responded almost in real time. I wanted to jump right into the midst of this crackling synergy（火花四溅的协作） between blogs. So I did.
The blogging circuit I joined was only one corner of an ever-growing blogosphere. Even within music, my blog’s primary focus, there was a whole other - and larger - network of MP3 blogs. Still, my particular neighbourhood was bustling（繁华） all through the 2000s.
Today, there are still plenty of active music blogs I enjoy reading. But, what’s changed - what’s gone - is inter-blog communication. The argumentative back and forth, the pass-the-baton discussions that rippled across the scene, the spats（争吵） and the feuds（不和） - there are things of the past.
If community persists（仍然存在）, it’s on the level of any individual blog’s comment box. I prize the unusual perspectives and weired erudition（学识） of my regular commenters, while wondering why so few of them operate their own blogs.
It’s easy to pinpoint what caused the fall-off: social media. There are other rival（竞对） repositories of bloggy informality（非正式的）, such as podcasts. Just generally, there are more views - and there is more news - bombarding（袭击） us than ever. No wonder the blogs have been shunted（使分流） to the side.
I miss the inter-blog chatter（交流） of the 2000s, but in truth, connectivity was only ever part of the appeal（吸引力）. I’d do this even if no one read it. Blogging for me, is the perfect format. No restrictions when it comes to length or brevity: a post can be a considered and meticulously composed 3,000-word essay, or a spurted（喷发） splat（啪嗒声） of speculation（猜测） or whimsy（奇思异想）.
No rules about structure or consistency（一致性） of tone. A blogpost can be half-baked（计划不完善的） and barely proved: I feel zero responsibility to “do my research” before pontificating（武断地说话）. Purely for my pleasure, I do often go deep.
But it’s nearer the truth to say that some posts are outcomes of rambles（漫步） across the archives of the internet, byproducts（副产品） of the odd information trawled（搜索） up and the lateral（横向的、侧面的） connections created.
“Ramble” is the right word. When blogging, I can meander(随意徜徉), take shortcuts and trespass（侵权行为） in fields where I don’t belong. Because I am not pitching（扔出） an idea to a publication or presenting（展示） my credentials（资历） as an authority（许可）, I am able to tackle（探讨） subjects outside my expertise（专业知识）.
In recent months, I’ve been ruminating（深思） about Wiki-Fear and the sticky way /that /upsetting information attaches（附着） itself /to favourite artists and their music and so on.
As those examples show, one of the great things about blogging, for a professional journalist（专业记者）, is that you can write about topics that aren’t topical（热点话题）. You are unshackled（不受束缚的） from schedules. An old record or TV programme you’ve stumbled on（偶遇）, or simply remembered, is fair game.
And blogging should be the opposite of work. But if it’s not compelled（强制）, blogging is compulsive:（不能自拔地）an itch（渴望） I have to scratch（划、挠）. And for every post published, there are five that never get beyond（超越）notepad scrawls（草稿） in the back of my mind.
I’m heartened（欣慰的） that some of the younger generation have caught the bug（指年轻一代已经被激发兴趣或投入某种活动）. I can’t imagine stopping blogging - even once there are just a few of us still standing.