Since I returned to blogging, I’m trying to solve the mystery of the vanished bloggers. Where have they gone? Why did they stop blogging? Are they OK? Will they come back? I’m not the only one who’s been asking this question. Not too long ago I saw a thread on Twitter in which people were asking this exact question – Why did so many bloggers who were once extremely enthusiastic about blogging suddenly stop?
During my prolonged absence from blogging, which included not reading blogs, I wasn’t aware that I was not the only one who stopped. I was one of many to stop but, as it seems, the only one of those who stopped for a longer period, who has come back.
To find out, how many of those I used to visit were still around, I had to go through my blogroll. I went through the links one by one and what I found was rather sad. I expected to find a few inactive blogs and maybe the one or the other that had stopped for good, but I certainly didn’t expect to find that the majority of the blogs on my blogroll consisted of blogs that had been inactive for at least four years, that many had been deleted and several stopped recently. Many stopped in 2020. I think we can all guess why.
I’m not entirely sure what to do with my blogroll. Since I’m one of those bloggers who stopped for quite a long time but always had the intention of coming back, I’m a little reluctant to remove inactive blogs unless their link is broken. And even then, I’m not deleting them, I will just make them invisible to the public. I like to still be reminded of my former blogging friends. I also have always revisited favorite blogs, even if they haven’t written anything new in a long time.
The question remains – why did they stop? I do know in some cases. Occasionally for health or mental health reasons. Some stopped because they didn’t have the time anymore and a few because they didn’t enjoy it any longer. Some, like me, just wanted to take a break and found out that it’s remarkably difficult to come back to something you used to do regularly. I’m not entirely sure why this is the case, but that’s how it was for me. Being active on social media made it easier to come back. I was still in contact with many bloggers. Quite a few of those who have stopped blogging, have also disappeared from social media.
Should any of those who have vanished see this – know that we are still thinking of you and miss you.
I’d like to know how those who are still active handle their blogroll. Do you remove blogs? How long do you wait until you decide to remove them? I remember someone in the past mentioning they went through their links every year and any blog that wasn’t active in that year was removed. That’s too harsh for me but maybe three years should be a limit.
Beauty is a Sleeping Cat 
I’m still here if you want to check out my blog !
That’s very good to know. I will.
Thanks
1ooo+ likes!
Exactly! Everything you wrote about perfectly describes what happened to me too. Unfortunately, I could only find a few of my best friends/co-bloggers.
One possible reason, at least in my opinion, is that Instagram has somehow negatively impacted the blogosphere.
I feel there’s been a major shift in the WP community atmosphere
Thank you so much for this fantastic post!
Warmly, ❦❦❦
Thank you so much.
I totally forgot about Instagram but you’re so right. I did discover a few there. I have an account but am not active. It’s too much for me to be on so many platforms. And it doesn’t feel the same anyway.
All the best with your blog.
Maybe more will return eventually.
It’s as if we are all torn apart, texts in one place, photos in one place, books in one place, videos in another place…
I’m not too fond of this fragmentation across platforms at all, too; & I don’t enjoy it. If I joined them, it was just because I had to.
Thank you so much as well,
Happy blogging,
All the best,❦❦❦
Gol
I couldn’t agree more. Fragmentation doesn’t really help to creat a community.
Sorry for my weak English.
But I meant the same. ❦❦❦
See, I catastrophise instantly and assume the worst, that something terrible might have happened to people I was interacting all the time with earlier via blogs and social media. They’re probably just happily taking a break from it all and not missing me one iota, but I do wonder every now and then what they might be up to. And I haven’t even checked my blogroll properly…
Another thing that made me very sad is that the Cowbird storytelling community, which I used to be part of, has not only ceased existing but is also no longer maintaining the archive. So all of those lovely pictures and stories have disappeared.
That’s a terrible shame about Cowbird. I feel the same about blogs. I don’t really know why they can’t just leave it. I sa someone mention that on a few platforms it costs something.
I do hope that nobody stopped for really terrible reasons. I know Kevin From Canada died but the others, I hope just moved on. Sometimes it’s just so sudden. I think if I really I tended to stop for good, I would do a goodbye post. Maybe, like le, the hoped it would be a short thing but this have a tendency to pile up.
Yes, with Cowbird it cost quite a lot to maintain the site free of hackers and vandals etc., so they shut it down after 4 years. And yes, it would be nice to have a goodbye post, but as you say, maybe they anticipated stopping for a month or two and that no one would notice… and then realised they just didn’t want to do it anymore.
It’s really hard to come back after a long break. I remember the first break in 2014 when my dad died. That was a month long break and that was ok but from that moment on the blog was never really what it had been in the five years before. Odd.
thrilled you are back.
Thank you, Andrew. I’m waiting for your book btw. I had some buying ban in January but February 1 I ordered it. Can’t wait.
Nice to see you back. Hope you hang around for a while.
I check my blogroll intermittently. I haven’t added to it for years because it felt like it was getting too long , but for inactive ones I rarely delete but just remove from public visibility, for the same reason as you.
I was just talking with another blogger this week about one who disappeared in 2020 . We just hope she’s well, and that COVID didn’t get her.
Thank you Gummie.
I told someone about this and he immediately said : « Oh no. Did they all die? » I didn’t think that but it is strange. One reason though could be that people read less. I saw so many mention back then they had a hard time reading.
I don’t think I’ve added anyone to my blog roll for ages.
Yes, reading I think has taken a beating – but I also think that the pandemic jolted all our lives and people are reassessing how they want to spend it, perhaps?
That’s possible too. Maybe another reason is that you don’t just want to carry on as if everything was ok but don’t feel like writing about all that’s happening in the world. I felt like that sometimes.
welcome back. I also have great intentions to return to blogging, but so far they have only been sporadic posts.
Thank you. And nice to « see » you again. It looks like some of us just need a new rhythm.
I’m still here, but it does seem a lot of blogs have gone silent lately. I stopped maintaining a blogroll some time ago, partly because of the constant changing. Although I have done a few posts to feature blogs I regularly interact with.
If I take a prolonged break I try to post some explanation, because I know that how that is to wonder and worry about a missing blogger. Although I can also understand it may sometimes be too much even to do that.
It seems I’m not the only one who
Noticed it then. I will sort my blog roll out soon but for now will only remove the links that lead nowhere.
Both longer breaks weren’t intentional on my side. Too many things happened and just piled up. Nothing was foreseeable.
I think it’s a nice idea to feature blogs we interact with. There used to be « Meet the blogger/book shelves/ reading habits » series in the past that were enjoyable.
Good to know you’re still around, btw.
I still love blogging … don’t get around to read others as much as I wish I could, though.
I’m the same.
IMO it’s an aging/cohort thing that and people just move on. Lives change. I heard a quote the other day on some programme that blogs are so passe. Now it’s Tik Tok.
I think once people stop blogging, and it is a habit to an extent, it’s hard to come back. (So glad you are back)
I look at my blogroll once in a while. Some haven’t been posted on for ages, and some have been hacked. The hacked ones are removed. The others, well, it’s a case-by-case basis.
That’s another factor. I’m not likely to become a book toker. Or even follow anything on there at all.
It’s very hard to come back. I also had the misfortune that every time I fixed a date for myself something happened that made it impossible. I appreciate you saying this about my coming back. Thank you.
I didn’t think that some were hacked. That explains a few weird things I noticed. Those will have to go.
Yes, there are times when I look back at old posts for some reason and I see comments by people I haven’t heard from in ages – and then when I check their blog, it finished years ago. It’s very sad in a way how so many people you used to ‘talk’ to on a regular basis simply vanish from your life…
I feel exactly the same. The loss from my first five years when I had a lot of regulars is huge. Not all stopped, some just moved on but it is still sad. Makes you wonder why and hope it’s for good reasons.
Yes, fingers crossed…
Beautiful, thought-provoking post, Caroline. Yes, it is sad when people stop blogging. I think most of the time it is because they don’t have time mostly because of life changes, and sometimes because of health issues. But I’m happy that many of the regulars are still there. I’ve seen that sometimes people go to other social media and write about books there, like in Twitter or Goodreads or Instagram or Storygraph. These days some people post in Medium too. For me, I love writing about books and posting about them. So I just write and post and don’t worry about whether someone reads it or not. I enjoy writing about books and it is fun and so it doesn’t feel like it takes time because it is very pleasurable.
Thank you, Vishy. It’s lucky some regulars are still here but many are gone. Life can have a tendency to get in the way but lack of time, from my own personal experience, isn’t really an issue. Maybe since I’m talking mostly about book bloggers, some simply don’t read that much anymore. I remember people mentioning going through one slump after the other since 2020.
Obviously one wonders after a break if anyone will even care. I decided like you that I want to do it for myself. Also because I occasionally forget books and yes nice to read an old review.
I never found it time consuming either.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Caroline. Yes, it is true that sometimes people stop blogging because they don’t read much anymore.
Glad to see you back. Love all your posts 😊
Thank you 😊
I think I’m with Guy on the potential reasons behind this shift. The ageing / life change aspect is a big one, I suspect. Maybe a change of job or illness necessitates a lifestyle change for some people and they no longer have the time and / or energy to write. (I took a 3-4 month break in 2018 due to illness, and I really had to push myself to come back. The first 6 months following my return were awful, but hopefully I’m through it now…although one never knows what might happen in the immediate future.)
Guy’s point about other platforms is an excellent one, too. Book Tok is massive with younger readers, while some have moved to YouTube, Instagram, Substack or other media.
Anyway, I’m glad you’re back on here – it’s good to hear from you again!
Thank you Jacqui.
I remember your absence but also remember at the time that you mentioned it. Some of the blogs I looked at posted regularly and then stopped from one day to the other. In my case it’s a bit up and down since possibly 2018 too.
With illness one obviously never knows how long it will last unless it’s just a cold or the flu.
I think Guy is spot on. Also about the many platforms.
Instagram has its appeal but some of the others I don’t even know.
I’m glad you’re doing fine. Hope we all will for a long time.
I always enjoy seeing your posts Caroline and like you I often wonder about some very prolific bloggers who seemed to just disappear. I think a lot of people have turned to Instagram for short book reviews but I like the interaction on WordPress.
Thank you Cathy. That’s nice.
I know one person who was prolific and is now on Instagram. Someone stopped because she found WP cumbersome but there are a few who vanished from Twitter and their blog at the same time after years of being a constant presence.
It’s nice you’re still around and you also have popular events.
Dear Caroline, I am glad to see that you are back posting.
Both Flippism is the Key and Laxness in Translation are still very much alive, and still receive a steady trickle of viewers from around the world. Commenters, not so much, people are wary of internet scams, I think.
I still find a lot of things to blog about on FITK that are not in the mainstream (that was sort of its original premise) although I can see a time when I might hang it up.
LIT is a whole different animal. It is a reference primarily and while there aren’t regular new posts there are weekly additions to the existing ones. There has been a continued interest in the site, and I get occasional scholastic inquiries, which I find very rewarding.
Keep the faith baby! Your work is appreciated!
“Professor Batty”
Dear Professor Batty,
I never check my spam folder but today I did and there was your comment. So glad to hear from you and I’ve been wondering about your blogs.
I’m very glad to hear they are still active.
My blog is definitely more mainstream than yours as I also blog about new releases.
Sadly, quite a few of those that have stopped where very much non-mainstream, so it’s nice to know you’re still doing your thing.
Thank you very much for your comment. I hope you see this reply and why it took so long.
Of the numerous bloggers that I followed back in the first decade of my blog, you are one of two who are still active. I became friends with several of the others and am still in contact with them, so it wasn’t a complete loss. Many of them have gone on to other creative things including publishing books and one even began working in major motion pictures with the likes of Wes Anderson and Steven Spielberg!
Regardless of the outcome, it was all good.
That is definitely not a loss. And very nice you’re still in contact.
There are a few more around from my early days.
But some I was very friendly with had major health issues or other life changes. No loss there either but a bit sad.
That’s funny, I found you blog just now by going through the links on someone else’s blogroll, and you’re right, these days it’s mostly a depressing task – long dormant blogs, broken links, or redirects to sketchy sites.
I think the things people have mentioned are about right. The move from blogs to social media is likely the biggest one. Blogs (and book blogs) were at their height when social media was relatively new, but now people starting out are probably going with Bookstagram, Booktok, Booktube etc. Also a move away from written content to video.
I’m happy enough to stay in this world (I tried instagram and youtube, never really got the hang of either) even though it’s quiet, but even know, I can’t read and comment on every blog I’d like to, so it’s okay that there are fewer!
That is funny. And a reason why I try to keep a Blogroll. If I like a blog, I assume I might also enjoy the blogs they like.
It really seems many moved to social media and many who are frustrated by this development stopped.
It’s true that at some point in time it was challenging to keep up with all the blogs. It’s easier now but I still miss quite a few.
YouTube isn’t my thing for books. I prefer to read a blog post.
Because Google makes everything crazy hard to figure out and people r fed up with the complexity of it all..it’s exhausting
It is entirely exhausting, yes.