Team Vs Solitary Anime Blogging: Which Do You Perfer?

Another dissection into the world of anime blogging with considering to blog as a team or the preference of going it solo.

As most of you may remember, in a previous post I wrote on the preferences and implications of Competitive blogging vs Cooperative blogging; but this was only in a holistic sense and not directed toward a more defined or personal level. With this post, taking a more micro approach, I wish to learn how my fellow bloggers feel about either blogging as a Team and/or Solitary. Speaking from personal experiences, I have learned from both sets and more than once, but that said, I can not decide which had a bigger impact on me.

My first experience trying to start an Anime Blog was years ago, possibly my second year in middle school if my memory serves me right. At that time in real life, I did have a group of friends that took a interest in the same pursuits, but it was to a lesser extent, and at the time, prompted me to take to the web to seek others and start a blog alone. Needlessly to say, that experience did not last long. I did have one or two unknown viewers and commentators every now and then, but overall, it was just different experience than it is now. I think what I wanted to realistically achieve was far from possible, but being younger you are always more ambitious to accomplish the impossible or at least biting off more than you chew. It just seemed so boring and tedious to the point I lost my interest, however, despite that failure it serves as a hallmark of sorts for my later comeback in more ways than one. It takes more than interest to run a blog and at least I knew that much.

Looking back to those days in retrospect, I think I rather like solitary blogging now. It is not the best choice of diction, since you are never truly alone in such a social activity, but having the freedom to control your own workshop, customize it as you like, choose the material, and move at your own pace is what I like best about working alone. With the foresight I have now and if I were to bestow it to my younger self back then, I undoubtedly might be around seven years old with my site, but I doubt it. I am glad I did not, if I did, I might not had the chance to be apart of the team side of ani-blogging.

Back into my first or second year of high school and also the same time I really came into discovering what I consider “true anime” to be is when I found the team aspect of blogging. Also back then, my writing skills and wit were sharper than they have become now (due to the lapse between colleges) however, I digress. Over this period of time, I was apart of many team blogs and names you may recognize (will not name them), but the last one, one I also helped co-found was the most rewarding and one that if I did not see; well, I would not be here today. At first, it was just two of us, but after facing many trials and keeping grounded with content and goals in mind, we eventually start off with a site that was literally nothing and transformed it in a year into a one with its own domain, a few new readers, and six staff members. It seems like I made a difference for a site and person I barely knew, but also someone that held the same interest and reflected that in the site itself, despite anything else. This is and always will be my favorite memory of the aspect and accomplishments when working as a team is at its best. It even motivated me to start my own experimental site and the same one you are on today after its own mock start up.

Granted, the team aspect is something I am not good at, I still learned a great deal from the endeavor and even helped me work in groups in real life more easier. I am by no means an introvert, but I have a natural apprehension of working in groups; which steams from negative notations I had back in middle school, but relieved to see that is not so bad. I rather like speaking with others, trying to coordinate ideas, and sort of the enjoy the camaraderie of doing so. That person depends on you as much as you do them, so mutual trust and communication is key. It is not that extreme for ani-blogging, but the same lessons apply. Sadly, I seem to do less teamwork these days, both in my personal affairs offline as well on, yet I at least attempt to participate in group Ani-blog projects for that nostalgia and fellowship facet.

Looking back to a post by Exilehero and Nopy’s response, they do make valid points to this end. In a way, we blog because we want to be heard, we want someone to listen. Whether you are working as a team or alone, speaking…examining anime and the visual subculture is just not a solitary activity as many believe, especially when blogging is the tool of choice. Even if you are alone in such hobby, you can also head to the web as a sanctuary of last restore and last find one soul if not more that will listen. Do I speak pure BS? Maybe. Am I truthful in what I mean? Of course. It is such a brilliant epiphany to make, but sometimes we do get lost in the original motivate for doing things. I know I do – however, again, I digress and just hate talking about myself…. What do you think? Are you fond of ani-blogging as a team, alone, or perhaps both? Do you see any inherent problems with the system you chosen, and if so (or even if not), what do prize about the aforementioned decision or see you could do to improve?
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Disclaimer

• I apologize ahead of time for any misunderstandings, but the title and body itself explains what the post is all about. What makes perfect sense to one person does not others and have to remember to try to simplify my writing and diction choice. I blame it on learning all the languages I have so far or in progress to. (That would be: Latin, French, some variation of Arabic, and also continuing learning Japanese.)