For some reason, this week I seem to want to focus on blogs and blogging. Another topic came to mind as I was going through my bookmarks to read “my blogs”–the need for blog closure.

What I mean, is that every once in a while, I’ll go to check up on a blog only to find out that a) the blogger just hasn’t posted anything new in a while (I always find it funny/sad when a blogger refers to an old post, I read it and check out the comments, like a comment so much I go to check out the blog, and see that the last post was months ago. I know better to “attach” so I move on). b) the blogger has made an announcement about how their blog will continue or not, and c) the blog is gone. WordPress comes up with a “This blog has been deleted” and I’ve seen equivalents on other platforms.

Of these three possibilities, a and c make my heart sink a bit. I wonder what happened to the blogger. Is everything okay? Why did they stop blogging? (and if they had commented on my blog, often their commenting disappeared as well…). The lack of explanation puzzles me. I find I need, well, closure.

Once or twice, I’ve managed to find a blogger’s new blog…sometimes by accident, sometimes by design (blogger left a “bread crumb” post telling readers where to find them). The other week, I went looking for someone who, last I knew, posted in the fall. And she had indeed left a note to go to another blog….a new blog that talked about all the changes that had taken place in her life (thereby changing the her blogging direction). I was happy to see that she was okay, but decided not to comment…maybe because I feel like she made the decision to leave me behind (I’ve had bloggers contact me to say something to the effect of  “I disappeared for a while, but I’m back and here’s where to find me”). And it was clear she was doing just fine without me .

I’ve also felt like these changes come in waves…there have been several times where I felt that I every post I read was about how it was time to “step away” from the blog, leaving me to search for new bloggers to bookmark (of course, once or twice, people who have “stepped away” were back in days. The lures of the blog were too strong).

It’s definitely an interesting dynamic. Obviously, we all have lives and obligations in our non-blog worlds that can and do pull us away from writing, reading, and commenting on posts. I find it takes me a while to really “get” that the blog I used to enjoy is no more. Usually I would keep the bookmark just in case the blog reappeared. But, I’m changing my ways. This past week, when I got a “deleted” screen…I took the blog out of my bookmarks as well.

The reality is sometimes I have to make my own closure.

Have you had any experiences with “disappearing” blogs or bloggers? What were you reactions?