Carl Setzer

I'm not dead! For a couple of years, I've been focusing my blogging on my WordPress site, www.CarlSetzer.com . Please come on over and check out what I've been doing over there. Subscribing and following would also be awesome.

​I love to write. I love blogging. Yet there are challenges. Distributing my focus lowers my effectiveness. That troubles me. And yet, though each site has meaning to me. But each site has costs, economic and otherwise. Every time I focus on one, I can’t focus on another. I haven’t had an objective, much less a strategy on any of my sites. I love to write poetry, about Seattle, about sustainability, geek culture, about so very much. Each site has value to me. I hate the idea of neglecting one at the expense of another. Yet I also hate writing substandard stuff. I prefer to be proud of what I put on the internet. This time in history has so many choices; a blizzard of potentials and possibilities. And I hate letting go of those potentials. Any of them. Yet I know that must be done to achieve ANY of them. How does one choose which baby to let die? Perhaps overly dramatic, but it captured the sentiment I’ve been struggling with.

I've blogged on this site for years. Back when I chose Blogger, it and WordPress were very comparable. I'd messed with it on a hosted site some time before Google acquired Blogger, and when Blogger became part of the Googleverse, it seemed inevitable that it would dominate the blogging space. And I was dead wrong. Blogger's sites are pretty clunky, and very limited. And pretty much the whole world of Blogger is managed by Google. No larger ecosystem of themes, plugins, what-have-you to expand the functionality of the sites. Heck, no world changing themes. Heck, even the best are yawn-inducingly dull. And don't get me started on the clunkiness of the Android app (it would be ironic if the Apple Blogger app was more productive, but I digress). It does NOT like uploading images. Most of the time, the app will freeze, then there'll be a uneditable local file on the my phone. And there are times simple text will do the same thing. Additionally, I love the system that...

I'm thinking of changing the domain of this site. At one point, my domain CarlSetzer.com pointed to this page (which I ported to a WordPress site). I'm trying to decide whether to just bring that back to this site, or whether I should point a different domain here. I own one, ForwardFacing.net that might be a nice fit. I am trying to streamline my life. Does having a bunch of domains over-complicate things? What do you think?

Half this year... We're moving into the middle of the year. Striking to me. I know it's a trope But time seems to pass by Faster... ....Far faster .......Than before With that, I'm thinking of returning to Blogger, at least for a while. Recapturing my roots, I guess. As well as simplifying things. My life became overfull, with so very much slipping. Quality; so very important to me, failing. Quality and Mr. Pirsig, my main take away from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance . Blogger's not as clean as WordPress. There's more work to getting the site just right. I'm curious to see if I can be satisfied. We shall see!

So, I haven't been paying too much attention to my stats of late. Logged into Blogger and lo-and-behold, boom! I don't know what I was expecting. Well, WordPress has badges for follower counts, page views and that sort of thing. Then there all the tiers of YouTube badges. As YouTube is Google property, just like Blogger, perhaps that would've been expected. Anyway, it feels like a big deal. Well, a bit of one at least. Ok, it makes me happy. Hey, follow me on these social media channels! I need the supervision.           

Just read Om Malik's "In 12 years of blogging, the more things change, the more they stay the same" . Though I launched this site nearly 10 years ago, I've been blogging longer. Whether more than 12 years, I'm unsure. His article, though, gave me pause. Lately, I've been distributing my interests across multiple sites. The logic being to ensure content consistency. However, as Om points out, by doing such I run the risk of being just another site. Without the unique blend of content that reflects my interests, that tells my story, things become somewhat sterile and devoid of uniqueness. Blogging's strength is how it brings unique voices forward. Now, what to do with such knowledge. One thing: work on reintegrating my web presence. More postings here, vs all the distributed channels. Also, though, I shall feel free to expand and explore all my interests here. Expanding on the unique perspective that is, well, me. So, forward I go.

Last week I was listening to John Richards of KEXP interview Brett Morgen, creator of Montage of Heck , the new movie about Kurt Cobain. There was a line which struck me: "are you prepared for luck?" Powerful words. I want to incorporate them deeply into my life. They capture a core belief: our ability to take control of our lives. That we are empowered to affect change, to have a positive impact on the world. I deeply believe luck is the intersection of opportunity and preparation. Thus, preparation is critical. It's what we control. It's how we bring change into being. My challenge: to reach past my tendency to fret and worry, focusing instead on preparing for opportunity. To see the potential in life and continuously grow towards that light. Hence, the new name.

Just got an email that promised to "put your blog on autopilot". Of all the things to automate, pawn off, whatever, with social media, this NOT a solution. EVER! The closest thing I will ever do is suggest a copywriter. However, this is YOUR voice. It's better to spend a few minutes a day on this than rehash commodity content. Oh, and there are SEO considerations as well. Personally, I've seen blogs that are publishing the same content as others. Occasionally the EXACT same posts. Those sites lose all credibility with me. One person I know experimented with one of these services. Their blog's rankings grew rapidly, for a brief time. Then, abruptly, their rankings and page views plummeted. I believe Google sees when you're pumping out the same content as "everyone else", and you get banished to SEO hell. It's better if you can just do this yourself. Blogging shouldn't be that deep or time consuming. Share your expertise, your value add, ...

As a long time Blogger user, I do worry a bit about how much longer Google will support this. The rise of Google+ drives that. The various features added lastly to + make it look like they compete, and we all know about "Houses Divided". It seems that "+" gets all the developer energy, all the press. Blogger is way behind Word Press as far as features. So, probably, I'll do what so many others I know have done and port this over to WordPress.

I've been exploring WordPress over the last few months (see my blog NotJustSeattle.com ). I really, really like the platform and have found so many benefits over Blogger. Plus, watching the demise of Google Reader a few months back makes me wonder about the long-term status of this. With Google+ garnering the lion's share of Google attention and public focus, I wonder how long they'll continue to support the platform. Blogger seems like a neglected stepchild. With all this, I commenced planning out my migration. It's not appearing as clean as I'd hoped, but the research is pretty early on. It seems my URL might be the biggest challenge. Plus, I need to decide if I will just move this to a site hosted by WordPress.com, or pony up for something hosted by BlueHost or GoDaddy (or....). So, taking a thoughtful and well planned approach on this. It'll be interesting to see where it leads. Any ideas, hints or tips? Just leave me a comment. I'd be quite happy ...

When I logged into Blogger this evening, I was greeted with the option for a new interface. Being forever enchanted with all things new, I plunged forth. I like what I've seen so far. The interface is cleaner. From a design perspective, a much better use of white space. None of the old functionality is lost, though some of it looks different (stats is what I noticed right off). All in all, I like it well. And it's the most significant update from Google on the Blogger platform in some time. My only disappointment is the lack of new features. I'd love to have an auto-publish to Twitter built in. Well, that's the biggest for me. I would've loved to see new features; more than just a new layout. Well, that's what I have for an hour or so's worth of exploration.

Just read & posted on Chris Brogan's latest piece (sorry about the full link, the iPhone Blogger inability to insert links is a bit of an issue for me): http://www.chrisbrogan.com/i-am-not-authentic/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+chrisbrogandotcom+%28%5Bchrisbrogan.com%5D%29#dsq-form-area He talks about authenticity in the blogosphere, as it's bandied around quite a bit. His key point is that it IS NOT simply unfiltered honesty. That authenticity still works within social norms. Good points. However, it doesn't go over what authenticity IS. I've long viewed it as anti-BS. The blogosphere is exceptional at BS detection. PR spin is flammable. In the Internet age, you can't control the message. You must not twist verbiage in an attempt to mislead or bury an issue. Anyway, that's my basic notion. What about you?

A few years back, when I worked for a large global company, a major NGO launched a campaign against us. I found it fascinating how so many people felt it was a major campaign by that org (no, it wasn't). Actually, from their side, it was simple. One of their directors wrote an article for the Guardian, then their network of Blogs and MySpace accounts posted links to it with a "call to action" (call/fax/email "us"). This had a significant impact on us, and received a fair amount of media coverage. This campaign utilized very few resources on the NGO's side. The largest effort was the writing of the article. Well, that's in regards to the campaign. The real work for this was years in the making. They built and maintained a large, global network of advocates. The NGO interacted regularly with them. Information was shared, input solicited, and the audience was listened to. Relationships created and maintained with two-way discussion. Then a blend of MySpace...

I'm trying out Tumblr , starting with this post today . I'm not sure what I think, but a bunch of chums are diving in. So, in I go.

At the Big Blog Meetup , originally uploaded by Hugger Industries . Thanks to Bike Hugger for capturing this shot of the Big Blog meet up in Pioneer Square (Seattle). I do enjoy Zeitgeist coffee! It was a delight to meet Seattle area bloggers, and commiserate about things only newsgeeks/junkies would care about.

Ages ago, it seems, I started exploring FriendFeed . I started messing with it after Robert Scoble sang it's praises. (Perhaps you've noticed the FriendFeed badge on the right hand column of my blog?) I like the notion of consolidating the various social network streams, as well as the ability to combine the comment threads into one place. Currently, My FriendFeed combines my Twitter feed , my Flickr stream , my Delicious bookmarks and this blog. One challenge I've pondered regarding the plethora of social media sites is keeping this mess organized. Heck, I've been wondering how I can avoid neglecting any of them. By smooshing the different threads together, FF provides that common place to follow your work. So far, so good. I wonder, though, if there is an iPhone app, like Twitter has? It would be nice, if addictive, to have access to these threads remotely. Eh, who needs this "life" stuff, anyways.

I've been toying with the notion of getting a custom domain for this site. Some ideas: electronicpilgrim.com, pilgrimelectronica.com, questionsall.com, carlsetzer.com. Of course, knucklehead.com is already taken.

Here's a good post raising questions about all those "social media experts". It's easy, I guess, to become bedazzled by buzz terms (Twitter, Facebook, et al). However, if your company is looking to invest actual money in something like this, if behooves you to spend some time researching. One site I learned about from this, though, is Help A Reporter Out . Peter Shankman's effort to connect reporters with good, solid sources. It looks like a great way to help both reporters get in front of real sources (not just PR shlocks) as well as get good PR folks in front of relevant media. One of those real solid "win wins" we hear so much about.

Perhaps you've noticed, about one half the way down the page, that there's a graphic for IP2Location.com . It's really a delight to see all the different locales represented in my readership. Though it is a humble wee blog, I have readers all over.