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What Do You Do When You Step into a Dead #Blog?

Happy Halloween!

Dead Blogs

Lately, I’ve been visiting back people who’ve commented on my old posts.

After every few links, I get directed to a blog that was last updated in November 2010 or April 2012. Dead, in other words, and hanging around the internet like ghosts. Perfectly capable of coming to life, but their creators won’t have it.

So what do you do when you come across such a blog?

Do you leave a comment on the post, which is stale as a half-eaten-burger-forgotten-under-the-stairs? Do you skip it? Do you call them a few names for wasting your time? What do you do when you step into a dead blog?

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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158 Comments

  • cathum says:

    If it’s a good post, and I’m interested, I leave a like. Who knows, they might pick up blogging again.

    I’m ashamed to admit that I had a ‘break’ on my blog. It started as a missed week because I was busy, and then grew. It felt quite strange when I picked it up again some months later, and it was reassuring to look at the stats and see that people had still been dropping by to look.

  • I’m guilty of letting my site go into hibernation. I had been writing and writing, not only in the blog, but on work I’d like to get published. I think it depends on content. Information that is changing of course should be up to date, but I’ve visited a lot of sites composed of the blogger’s short stories and anecdotes, and if they are written well, I’m happy to delve into their past posts. Posts like those are timeless.

  • Teresina says:

    I still leave a comment because the article was very helpful or interesting, and I want them to know that, even if they don’t visit anymore.

  • I think that a blog is dead when there is nothing left of it. I saw one while reading the comments. There are movies, songs, paintings, BOOKS that are a couple years old or even more and are still watched, read or whatever…My point is that these blogs are our history and we are blogging because we have something to say and want to be heard. Never is too late 🙂

  • Hello 🙂
    It happens to me quite frequently, probably because I myself had very low activity in the past three or four (or more) years. It feels like entering a deserted house or stepping in a room, kept tidy for someone who would never come back in it again (with frozen-in-time furniture and everything). So, what do I do when I come across such place. I leave it, with a bad feeling, I must admit. Then take some time to jump over the swampy feeling of time-stiffness, usually with a amount of music 🙂

  • I leave a comment if the content is interesting. I have been on sites before where leaving a comment, has actually led the blogger or writer to come back and blog again. Sometimes they lose faith due to lack of viewership or commenters, or they forgot about it due to life.

    It happens I guess.

    Still sad though.

    I am of the firm belief you should not start a blog in most cases unless you are passionate about what you are writing/blogging about. If you are passionate about your subject, then it does not matter if you have 0 views and comments, or a million views and comments, you never run out of drive, or ideas for what you blog about.

    Cheers! ^_^

  • i’ve just started writing blog for 2 months. i write mostly fictions and strories about friendship but no one read them. it somtimes makes me feel sad but i tell myself to keep on practising to make better ones and not to abandon my blog. i guess i need more time

    • maspring37 says:

      I found that by connecting your WordPress Account to your Twitter account you gain more readers. I only have a few regular readers about 100, and out of them only about 10 regularly click ‘like’ or ‘comment’ . It is really great to receive good comments and to know someone likes your blog but if I had 1000’s of readers (as some bloggers do) I wouldn’t have time to read them all. Keep perserving , I am sure you will be discovered. You have me now.

      • thanks for the tips. but i have already connected my wordpress account to my face book, and well, the results are very depressing! but i still keep on writing, hoping one day someone will read mine! 😀

        • Ryan says:

          Two months is such little time! One thing I do, (I write wacky fiction tales, too) I will go to the reader and put in a tag that pertains to my story. NO CHEATING!!!! Actually read a few of the stories and comment on them, like as well, if you did. Most of my followers came this way! This is a good way to bring like minded writers together. Good luck and keep it up. Don´t write for the audience. Write for you! Sounds corny and I got a douche chill whilst writing it, but I firmly believe in it! beijos

    • maspring37 says:

      Mind you, it helps if the readers can understand your language. You had written some English but then it all changed to your language. Sorry, it is no use me following you if I can’t read it.

  • dweezer19 says:

    I have to say that I feel if the information within the blog is interesting and relevant and someone new stumbles upon it now and then, well it can never truly be “dead”, can it? When I first started my blog, it was to share my photos and life experiences with friends and family back home while we were in Costa Rica. They were too busy to view “all” those photos I was emailing. It was a means for me to share with a lot of people at the same time. Once inside the bloggers world, I realized that this was a different animal altogether. There were rules, expectations and social protocol to be learned and adhered to. I have to say that while I enjoy the wonderful connections and have found so many common interest friends within the cyber world, I still am a bit unnerved by the “protocol posts” wherein another commenter or blogger feels it necessary to bring a “newbie” up to date on how they should be blogging. I have never have been very structured and my artistic endeavors usually reflect that. Everyone would like to be noticed for their work, their contributions and talents, but when I feel it has been reduced to a “business” then I tend to lose my enthusiasm. Ok, so I’m a Bohemian in spirit. AND, I don’t have a dead blog, so I do hope others will find something to enjoy on there. I love your posts and thank you so much for being such a faithful visitor to my blog.
    PS to the blogger in my “attic” here, I agree about the comments. No matter what I do, I can’t see to garner as many comments as I see posted on other blogs. It truthfully makes me a bit self-conscious. And sad. But I am addicted to photography, writing, and self-expression, so I will go on…..

  • Subroto says:

    My blog is not dead but it is comatose sometimes. This year I’ve made an effort to write more. I really would like to write more but that other life I lead, the one that pays the bills, has been incredibly hectic. The work sometimes leaves your brain ‘fried’ and the internet is a huge distraction. I write for myself but sometimes it would be nice to get a few comments, the kind that make you want to do more. Sometimes I am just so grateful to the spammers who leave comments.

  • Arlee Bird says:

    This is funny because this is exactly what I’ve been doing today. It really depends on the blog, the blogger, or the blog topic. Usually I’ll just skip it unless I feel truly compelled to say something. The weird thing I’ve been seeing is that for some of the bloggers who have commented on one of my older posts their blogs seem to have already petered out long before they left the comment on my site. What exactly are they doing?

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

  • Cecilia says:

    What a very interesting question, as someone who’s had to resuscitate her blog more than once. I don’t comment on dead blogs but I do feel a real sadness, like walking into an abandoned house. I wonder what’s happened to the writer. It is heartening to know that people really do enjoy reading blogs and look forward to regular updates…that will help to keep me motivated to keep writing as well. (Thanks for your follow!)

  • Ryan says:

    I am so new to this game that I have not had this situation as of yet. Interesting question though!

  • > What do you do when you step into a dead blog?
    Generally, I feel a fleeting sadness. Like walking past a cafe or a shop that opened just months ago and now is a vacant space with a ‘for rent’ sign in the window: a representation of a dream, a hope, an aspiration that died, for whatever reason.

  • Leo says:

    Thank`s for your visit to my blog on wordpress.
    I am usually very disappointed when I find dead blogs because it usually means that person has run out of ideas. Although thinking back there are some sites that I have written blogs on and then found them too quiet so have left them. I usually try to put a link from one blog to another just in case of this problem. some sites I only blog once or twice a month.I have followed some bloggers from one site to another as they have been taken over with spam blogs and advertising.

  • Good question!

  • marisoto says:

    If I like what is about I give it a like, despite how old it is.

  • Whenever I come across a ‘dead’ blog, it makes me wonder what has happened to the writer. I then check if they’re on other social media sites (e.g. Twitter) and if they are, I just assume the blogs they left behind are in hibernation.

  • Toi Thomas says:

    I have two dead blogs, but I have them for a reason. When I write a book, I usually also write a blog about my process as a way to help me think through the development better. Once I’ve finished the book, the blog is also finished. I always post a statement on the main page of the blogs letting phantom readers know what the blog is about and why there are no new posts, but enough them to look around anyway. I also make a point to direct them to my two very active blogs, if they want to see more of what I’ve written.

  • Bob says:

    Love it or leave it? I can understand a dead blog, but actually they never die in cyber space. Even when the blog is stopped. Then you just get a “404 error” and maybe a redirect.

    “The fun of it all!”

  • Patrice says:

    Never a dead blog, just resting, waiting, watching, reading…
    Thanks for the ‘Follow’ on my blog!!!

  • beebeesworld says:

    Thanks for following my blog.I will follow yours as well. Best wishes, Beebeesworld

  • Stuff Jeff Reads says:

    LMAO! I’d wipe my feel and keep on truckin!

  • Suzanne says:

    I have a dead blog but it does have a link to my current blog. It was never as popular as my current blog. Visiting a dead blog can be sometimes be disappointing if the content is really good. It makes me wish it was still going. Leaving a comment in case the writer comes back is a good idea – I hadn’t thought of that.

  • I leave a comment. I feel like comments are a way to connect with the writer and what’s written. I want that person to know that their words have lived on past the date that they wrote them. Who knows? Perhaps fresh comments will renew their interest in blogging? But I comment for the same reason that I read books written decades ago — because the words still resonate.

  • hellenmasido says:

    i just feel bad cuz usually i want to comment but then, if i am going to say the comment to myself, might as well navigate to another blog

  • Vera says:

    Very good question, as it applies so often!

    However, when you say that dead blogs are “perfectly capable of coming to life, but their creators won’t have it” do you mean the creators don’t WANT that? I rather think it’s most often a case of not having the time, and/or of being over-committed to too many other things (blogs, life, job, writing actual books / screenplays / what have you). My blogs were dead, or nearly, for a year because life got in the way. Then I signed up for a blog challenge, and that got me going. Will I keep it up? I hope so!!! But I don’t know.

    Anyway. Thanks for stopping by my revived blog, and I’ll be looking out for yours!

  • I visited a blog a few months ago, read an interesting post and left a comment. Didn’t realise until afterwards that the last entry was in 2010. A couple of days ago the blogger visited my blog, didn’t like or leave a comment, just the ghost of a trail in the stats. Made it worthwhile.

  • Saronai says:

    I tend to read first, comment, then notice the blog’s content is old. So…no, the last updated post doesn’t at all affect my decisions. I don’t consider it wasted time or effort either (else I’d try harder to check the dates before investing time in it). You never know how a stray word a few years later will be just what the person needed to revive the blog.

    Many times the thought I put into my comments is all I need to make the effort worthwhile, even if there will never be anyone else to view that comment. Take this comment, for example. Your blog isn’t dead, but I never really thought about this topic in-depth. However, now I can continue not caring about the last update on purpose. If just one person’s joy and interest is rekindled by my comment left months or years after their last post, then it’s worth the effort of all my long and wordy posts, not just the one I left on their blog 😉

  • I have, I think, three dead blogs out there. One from about twelve years ago about my wedding. Wish I could find it. It had some great pictures. The thing is, I kept trying until it ‘took’ for me. Found the host that worked for me at the right time. What confuses me is finding a comment from someone on my blog and when I go to check their’s, they haven’t posted since 2010. Oh well, maybe they will find their time and place like I did.

  • Giovanni says:

    If I have liked it, I encourage them to return.

  • Tammy says:

    First wanted to say, thank you for visiting my blog, I am sort of a returning blogger and find it therapeutic to just write and hopefully help others. I do comment on “dead” blogs that have piqued my interest and sometimes check back to see if they have returned. Each one of us has so much talent and joy to give the world.

  • Dave says:

    Easy. You go post on your own blog and leave the ghosts to the dead.

  • Reblogged this on akleslieprice.

  • Tony Gurr says:

    Hi There – Yes, I was only thunking about this the other day…I wandered into 2 or 3 on the same day. It kinda made me sad ;-( Esp. with ONE of them – as it was so good. I e-mailed the blogger…but not heard back. I hope all is well (that was the second thunk I had)!

    Take care,

    T..

  • I see your point; an excellent one. I suspect you have worked out your tactics by now (and forgive my laziness for not reading all through others’ comments), but possibly out of courtesy you do something anyway…? Thank you for following my blog; I shall do so back as I think you might provide some key motivational skills! I myself cannot guarantee the same back, sorry!

  • I have no better response than: “What do you do with a drunken sailor…”

  • Rosee Tea says:

    I had an old blog which just out of the blue I stopped using. When I went to set up my new blog, the one i’m now using I popped back to see my old one and I had a couple of comments asking where I had gone and if my projects were going well. In my opinion leave them a comment, you never know who’s going to come back to it!! Lovely blog by the way, some great writing. Rosie x

  • ramanan50 says:

    Probably pick up some threads, start posting in your blog.
    You get content and by proving the Link to their blog, yu might even wake them up.

  • BhdandMe says:

    Thanks for visiting BHDandMe’s blog… Intersting you have thread here, and good to see that so many people recognise that what was said a while back isn’t necessarily stale!

  • darsword says:

    I like to leave a word of encouragement. Mine was once a dead blog. In fact, I still have a semi-dead one on blogger. You never know they may jump up and decide to give us a few words and find themselves loving blogging again. I do!

  • disperser says:

    I usually envy the blog’s authors . . . hoping they are concentrating on life; living it and enjoying it.

    Truthfully, if I took all the effort I put into my blog, and put it toward my fiction writing, I would have a much larger body of work.

    So, I look at dead blogs as people who escaped the pressure of online social interaction.

    That’s not to say I don’t enjoy blogging; perhaps a bit too much.

  • Damyanti, I would leave a comment in the hope that the person will discover it and find again the ‘joys’ of his/her blog.

  • I follow two dead blogs. It used to be three, but one author picked up her writing again after about a year. I happen to follow her on twitter, so I mentioned that I like what she had written so far.
    In many cases, life happens.
    I do wish bloggers who have completely given up would give us some closure by saying as much. But this is real life, so… 😉

  • roxploration says:

    Interesting question! I think just because a blog isn’t getting updated any more doesn’t necessarily mean it’s completely dead. It’s still out there and stuff on it can get reblogged, linked and – if comments don’t need moderation or approval – then the content of the post can continue to spark discussion even if the author isn’t responding. I’ve seen that a few times and it can be quite interesting.

    So I’d probably be less likely to comment on an obviously abandoned blog but I still might if the content really interested me.

  • ShimonZ says:

    I comment if I have something to say, in response to what was written. It doesn’t matter to me, if the blogger no longer writes, or if in fact, he died along the way. I have read many a dead writer, and been thankful that his works lasted longer than his life as a human being. That’s one of the things that are so wonderful about the written word.

  • Lol this has happened to me many times…

  • JW Najarian says:

    Great post thanks…. I think that the push for new content can stifle great content. If I run across dead blogs with great info I try to share as much as possible. If the content is real good I might re-blog or better yet re write the blog giving credit to the original. I have done this as I have found that some of the coolest posts have been lost to blogs that have been taken down.

    There is sooooo much content out there and so much of it is trash…. Let’s all try to save the good stuff.

  • charlieray45 says:

    I step right out again, dust my shoes off, and move on. 🙂

  • If you read something and like it, and were intending to comment do so. Regardless of how much life is in it… It may be silent screaming “I’m not dead yet” and then after your comment “I’m feeeling much better!”
    And even if nothing happens and it remains dormant…how much time are you “wasting” 30 secs?

  • I do comment on dead blogs, if they have been dead for a year or less. longer than that & I hit like if I really did like the content. Otherwise I read on elsewhere.

  • cricketmuse says:

    It’s like trying to visit when no one is home–i step off the porch. Sometimes I leave, a calling card, a comment, just to let the person know I stopped by to return their visit.

  • colorfulpen says:

    I’ve had a couple of those ghost blogs hanging around. I recently made the switch to wordpress and like the change.

    With my blogs that died, it was usually because I got bored with them, or varied interests seemed to demand their own blog and having too many at one time became too much work to keep up with, or life happened and I wasn’t motivated enough to try to resurrect the blog.

    Having let blogs die myself, if I run across one that hasn’t seen any activity in a while, I might leave a comment if I find the content interesting.

  • edydawson says:

    My two blogs died when I was helping my Mother deal with cancer and I had to quit my job and move across the country. That took over 2 years, and both my Mother and Grandmother died during that time. I’m back in CA and trying to put my life back together – including the blogs. Blogs die for a wide variety of reasons, so be kind.

  • I guess we just have to move on! I too often stumble upon these blogs and don’t have any other choice but to move on!

  • Gargi Mehra says:

    Ouch! You’re talking about me aren’t you? 🙂
    Sometimes I leave a comment on a dead blog in the hopes that the blogger might return to captivate their audience.
    I must go update my blog now!!

  • Rich Allan says:

    Do thoughts really die if they are written down? Or do they float into the great ethereal unknown until rediscovered or recycled through another compatible brain. Or do they become a new summer TV series on the CW Network.

  • Jemima Pett says:

    I have a blog that was the first I started, I still sometimes post on it, but I havent for ages. I think it’s obviously still ‘live’ though. Siomtimes I do a bit of cleaning up my blogroll and discover people who haven’t posted for ages. It depends on why I liked them whether I leave a comment, nose around, or just unfollow them. What was upsetting though, is one that bore all the signs of someone being at best, seriously ill. I left a message hoping they would be back, or something apprirate to a seriously ill person.

    The worst thing is that I have two followers appearing on my list who I know have left us. I can unfollow them on Twitter, but can’t get rid of their icons from other places. But then, people you love never really leave you. And one of them was the person who really encouraged me to publish.

  • Rebel Sowell says:

    When do you consider it dead? I sometimes go months without posting. I get caught up in my fiction writing that I forget or have nothing to say. Now that I recently graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing I hope I can write something worthy more often.

    • Damyanti says:

      That’s a good question. I usually give it a year or so. Also, going back and checking the frequency of posts gives me an idea. If the blogger posted twice a week and hasn’t posted in months, it is most likely dead. If he or she posted once a month, and hasn’t posted in months, maybe there’s hope. Congratulations on the MFA!

  • Jude D'Souza says:

    one such epitaph could read, ‘ Spare a thought for the bereaved, manifest yourself in their dreams. Don’t neglect them.’

  • Jude D'Souza says:

    I’d be creative if I encounter any such dead blogs- leave a comment that is in line with some famous epitaphs.

  • Sarah Baram says:

    I’m an od

  • It depends. If it’s a topic that has to stay current, I leave. If it’s timeless, I browse.

    I like that you go back and visit old comment links. I do that too–I like to see where these people who once took time to visit my blog are now. Usually, they stopped by as part of a marketing effort to comment on five blogs a day and really have no interest in my content. But sometimes, it’s someone who is right in my pedagogic sweet spot.

    • Damyanti says:

      I do it sometimes, when I can’t move myself to do any real work. Yep, the hope is to rediscover forgotten gems.

  • inkspeare says:

    Interesting topic. I left one of my blogs and transferred all its content to my WordPress blog (Inkspeare); however, I left a note on my last post, announcing the move and redirecting to my WordPress blog. The two reasons were not enough traffic and not enough time to keep two separate blogs. I think it is ok to abandon a blog as long as there is a prominent post letting the readers know the reasons and redirecting, if applicable. It is good etiquette towards the reader.

    • Damyanti says:

      Most blogs that have a direction to a new one I would consider ‘retired’ blogs, not dead. They are workhorses now put to pasture, not dead at all.

  • Shainbird says:

    I think it would be like stumbling upon an abandoned home with all the furniture and pictures still intact. It would feel eerie to know that the owner’s or rather the blogger’s last entry was a long while ago. So I guess I would leave as I came, quietly without notice.

  • Longevity of a blog depends on the activity of the blogger. For some reason or the other if a blogger choose to wind up his shop for good, then his blogs become orphaned and dead in the course of time.What we could at the most do is to read the blog, appreciate the craftsmanship of the author and then shed a tear or two for its premature death

  • Nisha says:

    When I visit a blog, date of the post is the last thing I see. I read the post and comment because I like the content. Most of the times the content is still valid.
    But before commenting if I’m directed to a newer site, I go there.

    • What an interesting issue. A dead blog, I think must be a result of a few contributing factors, like lack of feedback, lack of confidence, lack of time…I’m just always amazed at the amount of talent there is out there. So much potential…I would leave a comment. I’m new to blogging so haven’t encountered a dead blog yet. But that’s what I would do 🙂

    • Damyanti says:

      That’s a good way of looking at it.

  • the little princess says:

    well, if someone has dropped into my blog, it means he/she is reading me….and maybe he/she doesn’t have time/inspiration to write…so I think I would read and comment if i find the topic relevant or interesting and skip if i don’t…and not bother about whether my comment was read or not….(though i feel if someone has time to read my blog, he/she would definitely read my comment on their own blog..maybe it will inspire him/her to write again)

    • Damyanti says:

      That makes sense. It is just that some of the comments I’m following back aren’t all that recent, so it’s probably my fault I’m coming across so many dead blogs. Most blogs are lucky if they survive a year or two.

  • My Say says:

    I would still love to have a bite of that stale burger .. on courtesy grounds !! 😀
    well thought post .. very unique ..idea Dead Blogs .. hehehe loved it so much !!

  • The majority of blogs I follow are very much alive. I’m puzzled when I have a new follower, I go over to look at their site, and they’re dead. How’s that happen? I’ve written 103 posts so far and love the challenge every week, and the readers who enjoy what I come up with. If you enjoy you’re own blog, it’s doubtful that you’ll die.

    • Damyanti says:

      Has happened to me, to find a ‘dead’ follower. But I guess it is a kind of compliment too — they want to follow another person’s blog even though their own is dead. Or maybe they blog elsewhere, and just didn’t bother to check where they’re currently linking back to.

  • globalwrite says:

    I feel lucky that I got this blog going and kept it going, because I didn’t make it the first time.

  • I must admit that I am not “religious” in staying up with all the blogs I have come across. Occasionally, when I’m in a “visitation” mode, I’ll click through and catch up. When I see someone has not updated in 2-3 months, I usually take it off my bookmarks. My personal opinion is that if a blog is inactive for more than 6 months that Blogger (or whatever host) should automatically deactivate it with a message “This blog has been inactive for 6 months or more. Please contact the owner here:…” In my opinion, a person should take down a blog if they are not going to properly maintain it.

  • feltenk says:

    I used to have a wine blog – KristyWineVine which I got rid of months ago. I deleted the entire thing. At one point a friend told me that someone else was using the name as a homeschooling site. I should have deleted the name too! Here it is: http://kristywinevine.blogspot.com/

  • Ed Hurst says:

    Your answer must be your own. You read blogs for your own reasons and you comment for your own fulfillment. We make friends when the individuality overlaps or resonates in some way. Most of the bloggers that interest us are potential friends, but it awaits that common spark. I am grateful for those who cycle through my blog, even when they disappear from my radar. My own purpose includes feeding other souls and it seems to be happening.

    • Damyanti says:

      Ed, yes, I have many blog friendships I’m grateful for. But even friendship is a two-way thing, most times.

  • I’ll admit I usually skip it.

  • I have a few blogs and liked it better when blogs were big. Now we have chatter on FB and Twitter but blogs were more in depth. If I visit a dead blog and really liked the writing, I’ll comment in hopes it sparks them to come back. If not, oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

  • Radiya says:

    Leave cyber flowers

  • misskzebra says:

    I comment on the “about” page.

  • Libby says:

    I know the problem. Unfortunately I also have a barely alive blog which I am loath to give up on just yet, if only I could find time to update it – too busy with my living blogs!

  • Honedtly, I stop following them.

  • Rosie Amber says:

    I just move on, there are so many more blogs out there, I don’t worry about it.

    • Damyanti says:

      That tends to be my take on it, and I’m pleasantly surprised that a lot of people actually take the time to comment.

  • Susan Scott says:

    Great post thank you and I learned a lot from the comments. For a long while my blogger details were incorrect and I knew retrospectively that people checked it out. Now, I have been able at least to re- direct to correct web page. I know we don’t like jumping around…

  • Gary Lum says:

    If I had intended to write a comment anyway I still leave a comment. A lot happens in people’s lives and I figure if they take up blogging again they may appreciate their blog still gets looked at.

  • PotSoup says:

    You comment in the hope that your interest in the blog shall jerk the author out of lethargy and retirement to again contribute to the world of web logging. Although the goal should be to write cause you feel like it , a little appreciation can also be the carrot to a mule.

    • Damyanti says:

      Hmm…I see a lot of people agree with your pov. I’m beginning to lean towards it myself. Just that I limit my blog commenting time, and would rather spend it on live blogs.

  • tvonzalez says:

    I killed my original blog – my starter blog. I didn’t want any phantoms populating the internet.

    Sometimes I will follow link to a blog that is dead and think, “darn, I would have enjoyed hearing more from that blogger …”

    • Damyanti says:

      I’ve never killed a blog. I hope these two I have live as long as I’m physically capable of maintaining them.

  • kiersparey says:

    If I find that it’s something that I’ve enjoyed yet the blog is as dead as a dodo, I’d leave a comment showing my appreciation and hope that they have the time and energy to return and hopefully write more.

    At the very least, if they take the time to return, then I may have left them a smile that could carry them through the day.

    • Damyanti says:

      That’s very kind of you. I like that spirit.

    • Meka says:

      Haha! Me too I treat it the same as if it were new. It’s new to me 🙂 I figure that’s the purpose of writing it, so it might live on. In fact, I read the longest post ever last night and laughed like a crazy person. It was from last year. The only thing that saved it from a memoir like this one is that I couldn’t figure out the problem with my keyboard (filter keys options had to be turned off) but I did like, share, and follow just in case 🙂

  • You may not be aware, but there are tools now that recommend “related posts” in other people’s blogs. Zemanta is one I use. It has a pretty wide ranging database, that may include your old posts. It’s just another source of traffic for those old “dead” posts and blogs.

    In addition, if you delete a WordPress.com blog they flag the subdomain as no longer available, so if you have a good subdomain name, but don’t have time or energy to keep it active, it’s better to let it go “dead” than to delete it. In my opinion, anyway.

  • sknicholls says:

    Leave a comment if it was something that I enjoyed. I think they might appreciate it if they ever happen back.

  • Break out the spray paint d–0.o–b

  • jcckeith says:

    I still make a comment because you just never know, they may visit the blog every now and again or your comment may mean something to them or to someone else who visits

  • I had actually had the same question so I’m glad you wrote about it. I am new to the blog world, still figuring it out, but there is something I like about the permanence of this thing, that even if I never write another word, it would still be there for people to read.

  • I’m guilty of a few dead blogs. Don’t know what their names are anymore. Don’t even know where they are. I vaguely remember doing something on Blogspot and Blogger, maybe even WordPress (before the one I use now).

    Most of that was because – as an unmonitored and unmedicated bipolar – I couldn’t stick to one thing for very long. I also had no real idea what a blog was. I thought it was a no-holds-barred journal and I was terrified over the “requirement” to reveal so much of myself.

    My life is much better on the bipolar front (monitored and medicated, and thus relatively able to stick to one thing at a time). As for blogging, I still don’t write a lot on my active blog (writingbykendra.com), but I do write now without fear.

    • Damyanti says:

      Being able to write without fear is so important, with or without the bipolar. I follow your blog, and admire your courage in writing it.

    • I was manic and started a lot of blogs. It was so frustrating I gave up. I started back up with one here and it ois working out better.

  • I started my WP blog because my blogger is so dead. I got 16k reads in 8 months of active writing and about 20 comments. Part of that is because my wife/promoter puts them up on fb. I get plenty of likes, but WP is worlds above blogger. Since I have a decent following there, I keep up with it, though I wish it dead sometimes. I wouldn’t comment in dead space unless I thought I could motivate them.

  • schn00dles says:

    I worry about them. Failure fascinates me, and so I’m reading along… and then they’re gone. For example, I used to enjoy the stories of “The Chronicles of Artistic Failure in America” of old artists whose ships had come in and then run aground. But his blog went dead about a year ago. Did he get depressed? What happened?

    • Damyanti says:

      I do worry about bloggers I follow. If they disappear I’m likely not just to leave comments, but also email them.

  • Eric says:

    Good writing is good writing, regardless of how old it is. If you really liked it, leave a comment. Maybe the writer walked away from it because no one bothered to give feedback. Or, they had a personal tragedy in their life that took them away from writing. We never know the reasons why things are as they are.

  • I move along and hope the person finds the time to return.

  • Sometimes the blogs are left unattended for the lack of time and other responsibilities. Like in my case my other blogs on rediffiland and bloggers may well be considered as dead because I am not as active on them as I am on my wordpress blogs. So I guess commenting on those blogs like for instance just even writing — hey there was going through your blog and found that you have some unfinished posts there and was wondering when will you finish them, as I am curious to know what happened next — may be just the push the writer needs and viola you have another live blog on the Internet.

    Do visit my blogs swatisays.wordpress.com and swati1012.wordpress.com

  • A.M.B. says:

    The relatively short lifespan of blogs is sad, isn’t it? I usually won’t comment on a “dead” blog, but I will read the post and check out other posts if the blog contains interesting, relevant content.

    • Damyanti says:

      My blogs are almost 6 years old now– but though I’ve gone on hiatus before, I’ve never let them die out.

      • hugmamma says:

        I didn’t remember that I had a dead blog until I read your post. Haven’t been back to the first one I started on Google, and the one after that on Oprah’s network. I started “hugmamma’s mind, body, and soul” a couple of years ago on WordPress and, like you, have gone on hiatus now and then but never went dead. In fact, I just passed my 1000th post. Obviously…I like to write…and tell stories. 🙂

  • Dan Antion says:

    I have a dead blog. It’s one that I started with a specific goal but it became unsustainable. I left a note there, to direct people to my new blog, which I hope is sustainable. I left the old one because some people still visit and some still like it. It was focused on training, and I think it still has some useful content. So, I tend to give the owners of dead blogs a little slack – sometimes, life gets in the way of things.

    • Yes! Especially if the writing was good. I leave words of encouragement hoping it inspires the writer to resurrect the blog. After waging thru so much verbal sludge it’s a tiny tragedy to lose a good writer to apathy.