Blogging About Blogs: Neil cares about bats

Today’s post is comprised entirely of Neil’s responses to fan inquiries, whether they are asking questions or looking for a plug for their cause. This is the first blog I’ve seen to deal with feedback in this way. Usually there’s a comment section below each post where the readers can respond. This structure seems less interactive because Neil is in complete control of the content at all times. Without the ability for readers to add comments, none of the topics can branch into further discussion. There’s no way to know how others are reacting to his blog either.

On the other hand, considering the types of questions he has responded to, it appears that Neil is not too busy to respond to a large majority of the inquiries he receives. In one case he gets to the bottom of an issue with one of his audiobooks. In another, he agrees to help a fan get the word out about saving bats. If he can take the time to link to a petition about bats, there’s a good chance he reads all of the e-mails that get sent to him. Someone reading this blog regularly would probably feel confident that if they sent Neil an e-mail question, they could expect his response in a future post.

I don’t find this type of post very interesting, but like yesterday’s entry, it contained a few links that I ended up visiting for a fair amount of time. Looking at the archives, there’s a list of previous posts by title. I notice that Neil’s title structure is varied. Some of them are vague and don’t reveal much about the content, and some of them are straightforward, or at least they seemed to be. I clicked on the entry titled “Much too long a post” expecting a lengthy post of Neil’s thoughts, but instead found more of his replies to fans.