The following quotation from motley got me thinking about blogging: "I am off up to the British grassland Society Research Conference to day. I will put up a report on my blog on return".

I would like to read his/her summary but will not. Given that a blog is a diary+, I simply do not have the time to go surfing around individual reports in the blogosphere. I would rather items of interest be put on the forum where they are readily available and open to comment and question.

Somehow, I think that blogs are a bit self indulgent and encourage the writer to assume that, the time he/she spends writing is somewhat more important than the equivalent time spent by each reader.

I believe a number of you write blogs, and sometimes wish that all of us were privy to the exciting things you currently say in the 'privacy' of the blog.

What do others think?

To blog or not to blog? That is the question.

Blogs are largely a medium for someone to be "someone" - in line with Thatcher's exhortations but not with well found,mature individuals. Some can be "educational", some can be a rallying point, but they will all be  memorials to the author's ego.

I have to agree with both of you.  The first time I met our esteemed Isabel, she asked me if I'd thought of writing a blog and I said that I didn't think I'd got the time.  Afterwards I thought that it might be an interesting exercise, but then I thought that if I did one regularly it would probably turn into the kind of looming deadline situation which is only OK if you're getting paid for it.

Then I thought to myself, what does it say about me if I think anyone else would be interested in reading the ramblings of this particular angry old man?  At least if you have a rant by starting a thread on the forum you get some measure of whether anyone else gives a toss by the number of people adding comments.  I seldom get time to look at the blogs on FWi, but when I do It seems that few people leave comments.

Mind you, last week I was sorely tempted by the amount of publicity given to the phase out of the humble 60 watt bulb, but I decided to email my MP instead as she's so keen to hear from me and can't resist putting unsolicited carbon (in the form of paper and ink) through my letter box each week.  Then another thing got my goat (metaphorically) today so I think I'll start a new thread about it.

As always I think it is horses for courses (sorry for the cliche). Personally I like the cut and thrust of a forum and the way that threads can pivot and change. A forum becomes a discussion on a particular topic because of the addition of other people' posts.

 In contrast, when someone is blogging them the posting or the content becomes the main purpose, not necessarily the comments on the bottom.

For me one of the advantages that blogs do have over forum is one of organisation. Everything is there in a chronological order and in a more focused way. If you look at View from the other sides blog for example there is a great record of his trials and tribulations in getting going in farming.

I'm easy one way or the other. Some people like blogs and others don't. I just wnat to make sure we can offer people the choice.

Jacobus:

Afterwards I thought that it might be an interesting exercise, but then I thought that if I did one regularly it would probably turn into the kind of looming deadline situation which is only OK if you're getting paid for it.

I know what you mean. I do however write a monthly column for our local Parish Magazine and have sometimes wondered if that is the kind of thing that 'Bloggers' would find of interest. I did once send an example to Isabel and asked her to judge, but as she didn't come back to me so I guess she must have dozed off mid-way through and forgotten to reply.

I can't remember receiving it (although I remember discussing it). Probably my fault - I get up to 100 emails a day which I try and deal with as they come in, but sometimes I put them to one for 'later' and the 'later' never happens....

I have never, and never will, read anyone's "blog". I agree that ANYONE (and I use capitals purely for emphasise, and not to shout. Do you believe me?) that writes such a thing, should really become at the very least a County Councillor, forget the local stuff, and preferably an MEP, where they can spout away all and every day and no-one bothers to listen. It is a very big ego trip for the individual concerned to have a blog. It took me a long time to find out what the word was supposed to mean.

At the same time, I have to admit to having, over the last 30 years, transformed information going back to the 1950s in the form of various pieces of paper, notes in diaries, pages torn from magazines, photocopies and innumerable pieces of memories in my head, into a book about my travels around the world, particularly farming and gardening experiences in Northumberland, Australia, Scotland and Portugal. The difference is that I have never sought to convey this information to the general public. It was written for my son's benefit so that in the event of some horrible catastrophe like running out of oil and global warning (which he should see coming anyway given his line of expertise) he should be able to survive. I daresay that someday I will succumb and pay for it to be published, but I have little faith that sufficient people will be interested in my life to actually buy the thing. On the other hand there is a fair bit of info that could be useful to wannabe agriculturalist too, so should I grow an ego? Sounds a wee bit like being pregnant, and not a pleasant thought. 

Hi Peter,  i remember you sent me an instalment of your parish writings and it was very good, even if it was above my intelligence! Credit where credit is due if you want my humble opinion!
Anyway back to the topic in question, i like to read what other folks are doing, as have you ever noticed that when your driving down the road your always looking over your neighburs hedge? Well in a way for me its the same.
I was going to write a blog of my time in Ukraine recently and my drive of 1846miles there of the various farming activities going on but with Her Ladyship wittling on and the bleary eyes induced by Vodka it would seem very dull ( vodka over there in her town Hlukhiv is 55p a bottle!), but with a good inspired writer a blog can be very good.
Self indulgement it may be at times but it can make good reading!

With all the superior intelligence about in the forums, and answering statements that other similar people make, its all way above my educations skills to be able to contribute a great deal to it.

There are people about less superior, and less well educated who like to read about people's way of life. Learning from your own mistakes, is another form of the reasoning why we were taught History at school, (look at all the programs on about the second world war emphasising that we should not repeat mistakes made then) and where we are told about other peoples travels and experiences in distant lands, that is interesting, and if that comes along in the form of a blog, well I'm all for that.

Television is a great log blog in my opinion, and we all know where the off switch is, or the delete button as the case may be, it's all about choices, what suits one does not suit another.

old mcdonald:

At the same time, I have to admit to having, over the last 30 years, transformed information going back to the 1950s in the form of various pieces of paper, notes in diaries, pages torn from magazines, photocopies and innumerable pieces of memories in my head, into a book about my travels around the world, particularly farming and gardening experiences in Northumberland, Australia, Scotland and Portugal. The difference is that I have never sought to convey this information to the general public. It was written for my son's benefit so that in the event of some horrible catastrophe like running out of oil and global warning (which he should see coming anyway given his line of expertise) he should be able to survive. I daresay that someday I will succumb and pay for it to be published, but I have little faith that sufficient people will be interested in my life to actually buy the thing. On the other hand there is a fair bit of info that could be useful to wannabe agriculturalist too, so should I grow an ego? Sounds a wee bit like being pregnant, and not a pleasant thought. 

On any other page this would deem to be a blog

I have blogged alot, and never done it out of arrogance even if it seems that way to some.  Generally I blog when what I have to say wouldn't generate much response as a forum post because there isn't much to say about it, like my last blog about the cool weather holding our crop developement to a standstill(even as I write this an unexpected rain is promising another day of zero progress forward on our soybeans).  I like both the forum and the blogs for the same reason, it gives me a glimpse into the lives of other people who farm. I blog to give a glimpse of life on a regular working Kansas farm.  Not that everything I write is going to be interesting to everyone,but it might be to a handful of people.  Farmers Weekly has given us all the means to interact with each other on a global basis and I am going to do it as long as I am able. 

I enjoy Fretaws blog particularly because he is about the same age as my dad,and writes about how things use to be.  Having heard stories from my dad and others his age about farming over here years ago, it is fascinating to read what things were like over there during the same time frame. 

Isabel Davies:

For me one of the advantages that blogs do have over forum is one of organisation. Everything is there in a chronological order and in a more focused way. If you look at View from the other sides blog for example there is a great record of his trials and tribulations in getting going in farming.

I do agree with Isabel.  I enjoy the forums for responses, pose a question and somebody has a view or an answer very quickly and off the debate goes.

As I have mentioned in one of my recent blogs, I am amazed that people are interested in my attempts to become a farmer!   When I first started writing the blog it was almost a personal comment page.  Ranting somewhat at those insisting we should have younger blood in the industry and those preventing younger blood from entering the industry.  But as I realised that people actually read the blogs, I am amazed, I toned down my rants and it became a story.  There are not many comments true, an average of only 2 per blog.  It would be nice to know more of your thoughts but I've had over 17,000 hits to my pages.  A figure that quite frankly astounds me.  So someone is interested!

I also enjoy the blogs of others, Owd Fred, his stories and prose of days gone by are an interesting lesson of how the industry has changed.  Matty's Blog tells us his story from childhood, (he'll hit me for that), to learning his trade within the industry one of our future leading farmers I'm sure.  Kansas tells us how farming is different over there, but essentially the same!

The forums are fantastic for chatting amongst each other, farmers living far apart, this gives another opportunity other than Market Day or the Ag Shows. 

The Blogs tell a story, one which you might connect with or just find interesting, in a nosey kind of way. 

Can I thank VFTOS for explaining what I think better than I did....

Thanks for the information fretaw. I shall endeavour to avoid giving so much explanation in future.

I've heard it said that the only people who read blogs are the bloggers themselves, but that can't be true.

I haven't blogged for a while as Flutefriend (elsewhere), which I did mainly as a therapeutic outlet for my acknowledged pedantry; but when I did, I discovered that there were plenty of other old farts out there in the blogosphere only too ready to agree with much of what I wrote.

Peter Wells:

I would like to read his/her summary but will not

I don't blame you at all. I have not done justice to this thread by reading it, though I often look at something and then start flying a kite (or should that be a red one?).

 I have often wondered about how information is shared on FWi. The threads cannot do justice to more in-depth reporting of shows, conferences, visits and the like. I therefore started out putting up on the blog here ( I hate the word blog). FW cannot report and write up on everything.

How do we share more detailed information as opposed to the debate on the many and various threads?

I am afraid that I do not have the copy writers skill and wonder how you can do justice in a 50 or 100 words (about as much as you can bang up on a thread) to conference on grassland were 18 posters and over 20 theatre presentations are made over 2 days. Though an esteemed member of the farm focus fraternity (Mr. Downes) attended, one of only two farmers! It is little wonder that some farmers do stay ahead and others fall behind (it is not what you go to get, it is what you get from going).

Though the other farmer, who chaired a session did come out with a classic (and to my mind typical farmer attitude to education - I say typical not all). He introduced the speaker from the west coast of the principality close to where kites rant. He said: "Here is Mick....., who has worked for 37 yrs at Aberystwyth, where I went as a student, it was when I left that I had to teach myself farming, as they had taught me nothing" ( How to make friends, eh).

I think it important that we report on these conferences to a wider community, where? Maybe it is not important (just me full of self-importance, but then I know that already).

 Dr. Roberts used this from FW (see below) at the Grassland Research Conference and had a good rant about Ms Philips world view, saying that trade off is the only way we are going to have environment and food, and I agree.

"I hate the word balance, because it suggests a trade-off – that you can either have food production or a better environment but not both. It’s not about balance, it is about integration.

There will be no food if we don’t have a high-quality environment, or clean water, or soil micro-organisms. So the sense that they are something separate perplexes me and I think farmers know they are not something separate too.

We totally and utterly believe that our schemes have to go hand in hand with viable commercial agriculture. We all know that when farmers earn money, they spend money. And because they have a long term perspective they plough that money back into their land and land management."

viewfromtheothersideofthefence:

Matty's Blog tells us his story from childhood, (he'll hit me for that

I'm a big boy!!!!!