The Good, The Bad and The Ugly -- II

I was going to post a food recipe (stuffed Anaheim peppers) today and then go finish my grocery shopping for the week. It'll have to wait, since I have some explaining to do.
When I wrote my last post, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, it was not intended as a personal attack on any one in particular but as a commentary on the ongoing trend on the blogosphere. Also, I have never received a rude comment or have had the bad luck of having my photo or recipe copied.
I am not a snob or an anglophobe (in fact I write as well in Hindi as I do in English). I do not claim to be an outstanding writer or have a great blog going. I think I am a decent writer and have a clean blog which is easy on the eye and not too cluttered.
I do have almost a decade of journalism background with newspapers like TOI, IE and Mid-Day (and yes, I have also written for Dainik Bhaskar and Naiduniya, albeit very briefly). That has made me, unfortunately, sensitive to grammatical and spelling mistakes. If some bloggers think it is their prerogative to ignore language and spellings in the process of expressing themselves, then more power to them. But let them be aware of the adage -- you get what you sow.
I do understand that English is not the first language of some bloggers and a lot of times they translate verbs and adjectives from their mother tongue to English, resulting in not so perfect a sentence. And that is perfectly fine. I do visit a lot of blogs whose English is not as good but I still love them for their content and the passion with which they write.
Moving on to the comment section of the blog. It is interesting to note that no one tried to defend plagiarism of image and text. Thank you plagiarists for that.
Now to address the issue of the blogger who said she was better than Tarla Dalal. I have to explain that it was an exaggeration on my part (I blame it on the sensational journalist in me) and I apologize for raising unintentional curiosity. I was merely trying to point to outlandish expressions of the "best curry you will ever eat" kind of claims.
We are all guilty of asking people to come and visit our blog when she started out. I am guilty of doing the same in the beginning and it is what a lot of us do to let people know of our existence. There is nothing wrong with it if asked in the correct tone or in the right context (for ex if both the posts are about pulao). But expecting people to mandatorily follow their blog or to go click on the ads is unacceptable.
Also, if for some reason, a regular visitor has not been visiting your blog, please don't pester them with forceful invitations or rude comments. It happens to me, a lot, and instead of asking I reason that they may have lost interest in my latest posts or may be busy with work or family or have had a computer breakdown.
While I would like to see them visit regularly, it also makes me doubt my content and the next time I post something I work at it harder. I am acutely aware when I write that the reader can go to the next blog by the click of a button and if I am not consistent in what I write or if my content is not interesting, I may not gain readership or a following. If I hold myself up to a certain standard, it makes sense for me to expect the same kind of standard from the blogs that I frequent.
I do take exception when people expect to be reciprocated post to post. Check out A&N's post for what I am trying to say.
I prefer to receive a cogent, heartfelt response rather than a cursory one for the sake of commenting and reciprocating. I have drawn immense satisfaction from reading comments from the last two posts, because they tell me something about the reader and give me a chance for some spirited dialogue. For me it is not the number of comments I get, but the content of the comments. And again, let me clarify, I do not expect 500 word paragraph. An acknowledgement that the post has been read and commented accordingly is what I expect.
Again, it was not my intention to step on sensitive blogger toes or attack any one in particular. It was a commentary on the general trend in the blogosphere and as I said in my earlier post it was the ranting of an insomniac. Treat it as such.
If you want a lesson from it, please I urge you again to read Amit Varma's Blogging Tips from a Jaded Veteran.
Thank you and good (luck) blogging.