For the last few months I’ve noticed that I get a ping from the msnbot/1.0 roughly every couple of minutes. It’s really messing up my statistics. In addition, it is taking from my bandwidth allowance; that’s minor because I am not even near my monthly limit (I rarely get beyond single digit percentage.)

I want to be indexed in a timely manner, just like the next guy, but when my “last 300 visitors” stats is 90% MSN bot, I think it is a little too much. Comparatively, I get a visit from the yahoo and google bots once every couple of weeks. I could edit the robots.txt to ban the bot, but there is no need as it is not doing any real damage.

I could not find anything on the web to explain this onslaught of pings, anybody has seen one? Perhaps someone at MSN likes my weblog.

I’ve been blogging for about 6 months now and wanted to share my experiences and what I have learned about this medium thus far. It might even be useful for other greenhorn bloggers.

Original? I often start a draft and while writing it debate whether I am bringing something new to the table. My intention is to be original and not recycle headlines or repeat common wisdom. However, realistically, most things have been said in one form or another. If I think my point is not strong or the “original is marginal” I chuck the draft. Otherwise, I post it and then look for what other people had to say about it. I never knowingly present ideas that are not solely my own; if they are not, I give credit.

Controversy. Controversial post spark a discussion which is the essence of the “blogosphere.” The right balance, however, is to create a place for civilized discourse while not being blatantly offensive to any of the readers. I try to maintain that balance by not yielding to spontaneous ranting that might not suit this medium or reflect poorly on me with time. I try to consider each cpleted post for a while and sometimes let others read it before I publish it.

Length. People don’t read long posts, so I try to keep them short. In most cases I don’t write everything I can or want to say for the sake of brevity. I am not en expert (yet!) with an audience craving for my new insights, so I feel like every post should be regarded as an elevator pitch. The goal is to have people come back for more and be intrigued enough to start a discussion.

Frequency. It seems that people read only the most recent entries when they come upon the weblog. I think that the frequency should be proportional to the traffic in order to maximize the exposure of each post. At this time, I believe that a new entry every 2-3 days is optimal. It also depends on the content; some posts are duds and others are more popular. I am always surprised by my inability to guess the popularity in advance.

Time. I found that it takes me at least an hour to complete each post. It is more than I expected originally (hey, it looks easy, right?) but quality takes time and I won’t settle for mediocrity.

Thread. This weblog is a mishmash of topics with little connection between them; they reflect my thoughts at the time. The common thread is therefore, me.

Read and comment on other people’s weblogs. Thats the best way to increase traffic on your weblog if you have one. In turn, other authors will visit your weblog and there is good potential for “cross-traffic” and making new aquentances.

Linking to other people’s posts increases traffic and gives credit where it is due.

Overall, I enjoy blogging tremendously and I intend to continue posting for as long as I have time to do so and still be original. I also appreciate comments; it is always a delight to get remarks from people because it means they actualy read something I wrote.

If you read my weblog, like it, hate it or have anything to say, please speak up.

My most viewed post, btw, is #33, “the solitaire effect”.

Thanks for reading.
saar.