Starting a Blogging Movement: Old Stuff Day

Although, for most of us, it’s a labor of love, blogging is actually a fair amount of work.  The reward for our efforts is often a post we can be proud of and, with any luck, it receives some attention from the rest of the community. 

Unfortunately for most posts, that attention tends to be short-lived.  A short time after it’s displayed, the average post falls off the blogrolls of the community and into the realm of obscurity, often never to be seen again.  There’s good reason for this: after all, readers will only find posts interesting if they can actually find the posts. 

One way to prevent your favorite posts from disappearing altogether is to create a side-bar displaying the most popular posts on your site.  A good example of this can be seen over at Santa Cruz Warhammer, which is a collection of hobbyists that have ALOT of good posts.    Such widgets can be fiddly to maintain, as well as taking up a significant amount of space on your blog. 

Another way to highlight previous posts is to simply provide links in newer posts to that older content.   Whenever you write an entry that ties in with a historical post you’ve written, you can simply provide a link to the older content, thereby increasing traffic to the otherwise lost post.  While I highly recommend this tactic for all bloggers, it doesn’t seem sufficient.

This is why I’m proposing all bloggers highlight the content they’re most proud of on March 2nd in celebration of “Old Stuff Day.”  On this day, each blogger can go through their history and find posts that they’d like to shake the dust off and present again to the community at large.  Some suggestions for content that would be good to post:

• Posts that you considered special that didn’t receive as much attention as you thought they deserved
• Content that people liked in the past, but haven’t seen recently
• Posts you might have created before your site received much traffic, and now deserve to be reshown
• Or any content you’re particularly proud of!

Old Stuff Day (Small) Original Art by http://firstkeeper.deviantart.com/

It would be grand to go through each blog and see some of their best work displayed on a single page.  It would also provide insight into the mind of each blog’s owner, in determining what they’re most proud of.

But wait, there’s more!  Sons of Taurus has suggested we all not only take the time to dust off our old posts and display them proudly, but we also take the time to root through at least one other blog and find an obscure old post that you like, and comment on it.  Some people might frown on this as “threadomancy,” but I think you’ll find that bloggers appreciate any comments, be them on new posts or older ones.   Great idea, Sons!

So, I hope that you join us in sharing some of the treasures from your blog’s past.  I look forward to reading the cliff’s notes on your blog’s history, and hope you’ll do the same with mine.

UPDATE!  My crude photo editing skills have begrudgingly come up with a banner for Old Stuff Day.  That is displayed at the side of this site, as well as downloadable in a full size and a small size image.