7 Reasons Why I Quit Reading Your Plog

Hey readers, I quit writing for awhile, not because I don't like to write, but because I had nothing relevant to say.  I decided it would be best to take some time off rather than write a plog for the sake of a plog. 

1. You quit pencil-logging and have replaced it with recommendations for information sites I should visit.  If I want a list of where to find information, I'll talk to a librarian (or anyone else well-acquainted with the Dewey Decimal System) or I'll visit a museum.

2. You sold the plog to the highest bidder.  In other words, you've replaced your voice with the voice of a corporate marketer trying to sell something. Look, I'm sure Edison makes some badass film strips, but there's more to the teaching than technology.  

3. You have found one specific trick and play it on repeat.  Maybe it's one particular strategy or one specific issue and you keep going back to it on a daily or weekly basis.  Look, I know we have a niche.  That's fine.  I know I probably write about pencils too often.  My buddy John writes about his kids too often. However, I can only take so much repetition. 

4. You're using it only to promote an item. Your blog becomes a showcase of what book you're writing and what you're going to say at the PIE (Pencil Integrated Education) Conference.  I'll pay for your content if it's good.  However, you need to write some original things every once in awhile.  Which leads me to . . . 

5. You got stingy with content and you forgot why your readers began reading your plog in the first place.  Maybe you ran out of ideas.  Maybe you got too busy.  But you forgot that I didn't fall in love with your voice.  I fell in love with your ideas, your stories, your sharp prose and your humorous language.  

6. You started getting mean toward students or staff and used your plog as a means of attacking people rather than ideas.  I've done this before with a lady named Gertrude.  She read my plog and cried.  I realized the pain that my venting had caused. 

7. You forgot that plogs were supposed to be interactive.  You never commented back.  You never asked thought-provoking questions.  I read the paper.  What I hope for in a plog is a chance for a dialogue. 

Note: I have only abandoned a small handful of plogs that fit this criteria.  Truth is that I'll follow you if you're honest, if you're thought-provoking and if you have something to say - which happens to be most teacher plogs I read.