As intimated in an earlier post, while touring the Outer Hebrides, word of this blog began to circulate among the group. This was both gratifying and awkward.

It is difficult to explain what I do, blog-wise, and why. People seem impressed, but a bit confused. I mean, it’s not my job, I don’t get anything for it, and no one is asking me to do it, so why do I do it?

That’s a question even I can’t answer. In the early days, I did it because I could. HTML was not for the faint-hearted and being able to code and produce semi-interesting copy was an admired skill. Among the nerds, at least. By the time blogs became easy (thanks a heap, Blogger) and everyone and their granny had one, I was already into my Postcards phase, which brought me a lot of popularity, if not money. But I’m a bit of a publicity whore, so that was fine by me.

That wave is long past, however. Currently, there’s TikTok, Twitter (I refuse to call it X), YouTube, Instagram, and many others I have not heard of or won’t be invented until later this afternoon, so maintaining a blog now is like having a Facebook account: you might have been young and with it when you first logged on, but now you’re showing videos of your grandchildren’s oboe recital. Blogs as so passé I expect the youngsters don’t even know what they are.

Additionally, while explaining myself to my fellow travellers, I noticed that I flinched inwardly when saying the word “Blog:” It’s such a bumpy, blunt, blah word, not something you could take seriously. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that video blogs, or Vlogs, quickly disappeared in favour of Podcasts. That has a more professional ring to it. It’s also become mainstream and makes a lot of people a lot of money. Blogging, not so much.

So why do I blog? I suppose now it’s simply an ingrained habit, one that’s hard to break. I’m still touting this as “The Longest Running, Continuously Active, Personal Blog on the Internet,” and, although the wider world seems to be giving that notion the attention it deserves, it pleases me.

But that name: Blog. If I’m going to engender any amount of gravitas, I need to find something else to call it. My wife suggested On-Line Journal, but that’s what they were originally called. The name then slipped to Web Log, which degraded into Blog.

Podcasts are popular, so maybe I could say, “I’m a Textcaster,” which sounds a little better than “Blogger,” though no less esoteric.

World Wide Web Free-Range Journalist would sound more impressive, but that’s too much of a mouthful, though I suppose I could consolidate the Free-Range Journalist bit into “Anchor,” a la respected news readers. Yes, that would do nicely. Then, of course, I could shorten the “World Wide Web” part because everyone knows what that means.

So, next time someone asks me why I maintain a blog, I can tell them, “I’m a WAnchor.”