Geeky Talks
I remember
I remember when we blogged because we loved it, before branding, before ads.
I remember the first time someone linked to me and I was shocked.
I remember when we wrote things because we wanted to, not because it would get a stumble or dig.
I remember when I’d be so shocked to get a comment, not shocked when I didn’t.
I remember when Dooce was just a girl who couldn’t spell Dude.
I remember when the community was still small enough you could actually read all your favorite blogs every day.
I remember when I had to password protect my website because I was afraid to talk about Postpartum Depression openly. Before it was OK to be vocal about it. Before there were books and Brook Shields.
I remember blogging in 2003 when each of us had to have some savy in MySQL, CSS, and HTML before XML became the standard and blogs had “widgets”.
I remember when RSS was new.
I remember starting my blog as a graduate porject in Moveable Type because I used PERL and MySQL and PHP all at the same time.
I remember being so proud of this.
And now, six years later, those of us old dogs, the bloggers from way back when, back before kids or pitches or twitter or “social media” sometimes get lost among the shiny new people, the fresh faces, the people who know what they’re doing before they even start.
Tonight my friends and I are going to see The Girl Who Can’t Spell Dude speak. And while you may be jealous of her, you may wish you were her, you may think hateful things because she makes so much effing money doing the thing the rest of us do for free (we’re SO whorish like that!), you have to admit she’s kind of a pioneer.
But we all are, really.
So here’s a shout out in remembrance to those of us who have been around the block a few times, who have since met each other in person, laughed, drank, loved, and re-connected online after years of living together in this small community we call THE INTERNET.
People I read back then:
Read since 2004:
Jumping Monkeys. (My Blog Virgin Experience started here and then took off. I love Megan. I’m sad she’s not blogging anymore. But I am honored that years after she inspired me to blog, I was able to do her typepad template with Karen through Swank and it felt like I HAD ARRIVED. In my very own nerdy way.)
Tale of a human baby.
Texasbelle.
Chookooloonks.
Smarti Pants
Jen Hackworth
The Grotes
Very Mom turned Kerflop turned Balancing Everything.
Seuss!
Busy Mom
Liz @ This Full House
Zoot
There are more but I’ve lost contact with them, or they’ve shut off their blogs, or switched to be anonymous. But it was a fairly small list of close bloggers in 2004. And then that list grew.
And grew.
Next I introduced to my list some bloggers who, like, nobody else read. Cough.
(I didn’t start reading these people until later, but that’s only because I’m a nitwit.)
(I also seriously love the word nitwit and may introduce it to street slang.)
Amalah* Read later.
Joy Unexpected
Sweetney* Read later but knew of her.
Her Bad Mother (Ditto)
Trollbaby, Vodkerella, Sugarpants, aka: MAH GIRL. (also later, like 2006?)
Fluid Pudding
Tenth Muse
Izzy Mom
Jen and Tonica
Schmutize
And the list, it grows. A lot of these people I’ve found much later, but I’ve read now for 2-3 years.
Still, I honor them as pioneers and people who stuck-it-out through the trolls and stats and fads.
From 2003 (and prior):
Mommy Needs Coffee (From 2005)
Three Kid Circus (From 2006)
Miss Banshee (who I found later as well and THANK GOD I did)
The Palinode (Also started reading 2006ish)
Drowning in Kids (Read since 2008)
Noirtbettie (Blogged since 2002, I’ve read since 2007)
Slack Mistress (She’s blogged since 1997!)
10 16 64.
Kirida (I’ve read since 2007: Found her on SMB!)
In a Bottle (Who has imported her archives three effing times. Dedication much?)
A Typical Life (I’ve been reading since 2007)
Assertagirl (Found 2008, god I’m a loser)
And more added by JenB. (Thanks, Jen!)
Electrolicious
Fussy
Helen Jane
Mihow
Que Sera Sera
Smarty Pants
Ugly Green Chair
Not Martha
Through all the design changes, the branding, the ads, the writing, the fads, we’ve been here, in this space together. And there’s something comforting about that. So thank you for blogging. For doing it because we love it. For us.
Who do you remember?
When did you start?
Who popped your blog cheery?
*Just for fun, here are some old designs of this website’s past. It’s a little like watching your website grow up through gradeschool and Jr. Hight. Like that one time you had feathered hair! And used TABLES. DearGOD.
*The inspired “Life Shit on Me” template after the miscarriage:
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Yep—blogging since 2003—this “old dog” remembers the good old days. Thanks for the trip down memory lane
You know, I am still a pretty big fan of Dooce. I really don’t care what people say or think about that. I like her writing, her posts speak to me and her pictures are great. That’s enough to keep me reading. The fact that she doesn’t allow comments on most posts? Who realyl gives a flying fuck!?
Your blog designs are fantastic! It’s fun looking back!
And I started in July, 2006 - right on the cusp of writing because you want to and the very beginning of all this ad / social media shite. The change is VERY evident, that’s for sure.
LIZZZZ. OHMYGOD. I’ve read you since then! :: smacks forehead :: I knew I’d forget someone.
I started blogging back in 2003, if you consider LiveJournal blogging. It was an open journal, so I guess it was blogging.
But A Mommy Story didn’t come around until 2005. I first read Sweet Juniper and Suburban Turmoil. Back then it was just a place to tell stories and vent about new motherhood. I never expected anyone to read. I never thought anyone would be interested in me.
And I never thought I’d still be blogging by this point.
I remember all the blogs I can’t remember not reading, and the first time I read each of them. Almost invariably because someone else (someone who I also can’t remember not reading) linked saying something like, “So-and-so is in labor!” I’m pretty sure that’s how I got here first.
We are like the grandparents of the blogging world.
We’re going tonight too- so excited about a night out and hearing Dooce!
I’ve been blogging since December 2006- started when I was pregnant with my first and not telling anyone about it yet. I’ve loved blogging since then!
The first blog I read was Kathryn at Daring Young Mom, when she was blogging for the PI. Back when there was a PI. How times have changed!
There I was all post-partum-y, lonely, scared, emotional and bored by my new baby (seriously? isn’t she going to DO something but sleep and eat and poop?) when I discovered the world of blogging. Girl’s Gone Child popped my www cherry, and now I’m a slut. I also love my child now, always did, but it helped once she actually acknowledged my existence.
I didn’t make the list?
Well, shit.
i started blogging in 2004.
seems like FOREVER ago!
i don’t know who i read first…maybe beth @ sothfishsaid? and, of course, Dooce.
I do remember…and gosh it has been since 2004 hasn’t it and to think we met because of blog! your 2004 list are the same ones that are on my first list! I still read yours and most of the others! LOL Such a different bloggy world these days isn’t it!
I remember when I called it ‘my webpage’ instead of my blog. And I had to pull down the index page and delete the text and type the latest news. Oh, 1999, you were awesome. And tables - I don’t miss you.
AAAAAHHHHH MRS. FLINGER! If The Awkward doesn’t take over I will come lick you tonite.
I also came to blog from the Dooce. And from other great blogs, including the ones that are linked above.
I’m nearing my 2 year blogoversary. I can’t believe how quickly the time has flown.
And um, I totally still get excited when people comment and when I’m linked. It’s almost a very little bit tragic.
Very cool! So many of these were favorites when I started reading/writing in 2006…. This makes me feel like a newbie again!
I just started blogging at the end of 2007. When I started it was because I thought it looked fun-it still is. I love the people I have met, and for me that’s the real reason why I blog-for my peeps!
Awww…I started in 2005 - my blog was called Diary of a Reluctant Housewife. Those were the days. I remember being SO excited when you commented on my Flickr pics
WOW, how fun to see the lists - and to see your designs from before I even KNEW about mommy blogging. Boy I wish I knew about mom blogs back then, I wonder if I would have been more sane. Probably not.
Well, you know when I started BecomingSarah.com lol, but I started my first blog in the spring of 2000. It was an awful blog, really, horrific and ugly and awful.
And the subject matter was so…well…
I cannot even remember who I read at first. It took me a long ass time to realize there were other blogs outside of my small circle of friends, and a longer ass time to really get the hang of it. By 2002, I was reading Dooce, but most parenting blogs were a little beyond me. I was way into sex blogs at the time.
Sigh.
it started with mir.
and notes from the trenches.
and got out of control from there. i jumped into the pool in 2007. the community—the people—is why i keep swimming.
What a very sweet post! And I’m pretty sure it’s me who’s the loser, here. heh
I love this walk through your design past. You touch on so many points here and I’m just nodding, nodding, nodding.
Also, It was great to see you last night! I put up a video of you and dooce!
I started blogging at the beginning of 2005. I was really into it for like 9 months, then got a job that didn’t allow time for blogging at work or blogging at home, then got rid of that job and found my way back. Chookooloonks was one of the first blogs I read regularly. And I found my good friend Kiwifruit not long after I started blogging and was so excited to get comments all the way from NZ! And through all the ups and downs I have finally come back to that place of blogging for me and not worrying about the bigger picture. Over the last year I have found a whole new group of blog friends that have profoundly changed my life. I don’t know what I would do without my blog.
I started my blog in… November 2004. But really started posting in March/April 2005. I’m just a lazy no-techie gal who’s on a free blog site though - too cheap to shell out for my own domain and host. It suits my purposes, and I’ll just need to pay to archive it all on my computer at some point.
Dude, you’re like all old school bad ass and stuff.
I started at the end of Nov 2007 but didn’t really do anything until early 2008
I’m a baby.
ruv ya
you giddy giddy whore
Well shoot… most of those things still apply to me. ;oP
I remember when your blog was private. I remember when you gave me the password and I was giddy, because it was like being a member of special secret club. I remember when I jumped for JOY to find out about Bloglines because I can read everybody at once. They just need to have the ability to comment from the feedreader, inline, ajax style. Cause then? You wouldn’t have forgotten that I’ve been around all this time.
This last year is the first time I’ve managed to actually keep up a blog for any more than a few days, but way back in the day, I used to do manual installs of blogging software for others. Before the fancy “one-click” installs that we’ve got now. When you had to unzip it on your computer, go in and manually modify the files to meet your needs, upload them to the server, install them… Movable Type before it was all prettified… Greymatter (anyone remember greymatter?)B2, yeah, the old school stuff… Kinda miss that. Now, it’s all automated. Tell the host service where to put it and what to call it, click go, and BANG, you’ve got a blog. That works. No fiddling with settings to figure out why it’s not working. No tinkering with the database… it’s all automatic. Which is nice, but… well… you lose the fun sometimes LOL I’m such a geek
You are absolutely one of my ALL TIME FAVES!
Aww Thanks for the link! I was wondering why my stats all of a sudden went from 3 visits a day to 20!
I’m so fricking depressed reading this. It makes you feel dime-a-dozen. I can’t even read Dooce.
Cherry blog-popped in 2004, by my boyfriend (ew), who sent me to blogspot telling me about this Dooce chick, but I couldn’t be bothered to read it. Found Amalah while googling weevils (ew again), then found you. I have no kids or husband. Just a blog.
I’m in trouble. So much to read. So much.
Neat to see all the different designs. :D
Whoa, like a flashback or something.
I started in 04, too, on Blogspot with many of the blogs you list above, plus some more. It was really neat to find out that there were other people ‘out there’ who liked geeky movies and had parenting challenges and similar to share.
Being fitted with the penis accessory, however, prevents me from ever being accidentally included in the ‘mommy blogger’ category. As it should be.
just the other day I was looking for something in my gmail archives and came across some of my very first email exchanges with several bloggers (from 2004, gmail is awesome that way).
Like I said, flashback…
Thanks for the link.
I started blogging in 2001, though not at the domain I have now.
Remember Robyn *shutterblog now* and her Gwen Stefani layouts?
I started blogging on Blogger and I think that I met a bunch of bloggers that have either stayed on Blogger or have moved on. I’ve read Jen Hackworth for years and did you know I hosted Busy Mom from the beginning? We used to host a few bloggers actually. 
I think that Robyn was one of the first blogs that I read.
This. Is. Fabulous.
Sara (#34) is my Fairy Blog Mother.
thanks you very mach
thanks you very mach
thanks you very mach