July 8, 2006
Where have all the (new) bloggers gone?
Is it me? Or has it got a little quieter in the Ethiopian blogosphere since all those Blogspot blogs mysteriously disappeared from Ethiopian computer screens.
I haven't noticed any new blogs for the past couple of weeks - apart from Bilal ul-Habesha who hasn't moved on from his/her first post. There seemed to me a new site every week or so in the first part of 2006.
I just wrote about it on GlobalVoices:
Five of the 32 Ethiopian blogs tracked by GlobalVoices have stopped blogging altogether since their websites were first obstructed in mid-May. Blogging on other sites has slowed (with the notable exception of Ethiopia's diaspora writers in the USA). Worst of all, the regular flow of new blogs that was seen through the early months of 2006 has stalled.
So am I right? Has the apparent blockage freaked people out or left bloggers too depressed to write? Are they struggling to find a free blogging platform that still works in Ethiopia? (Wordpress and Blogsome are getting through fine at the moment.)
Or is it the rainy season? The dampness has certainly got Coffeechillisun down in the dumps in her post Long time no blog:
It's to do with the gloom of the rainy season highlighting the crappy situation in Ethiopia, the fact that daily life and work is becomming ensnared in the undercurrents of mucky politics that pervades almost every aspect of work life.
Another reason not to be cheerful is that most Ethiopian internet users can't even read about CoffeeChilliSun not wanting to write at the moment. It is a Blogspot blog. How did I manage to check in? As I have said before, every cloud has a silvery RSS-powered lining.
Posted by aheavens at July 8, 2006 3:43 AM
Comments
Lonmg Live RSS :) And Podcasting is the even bigger side effect. Why not start a podcast? Oh wait, the bandwith issue in Ethiopia makes that a no-go...
Posted by: Joel Haasnoot at July 8, 2006 1:15 PM
Hey,
Why not write about the football fans gathered at Meskel Square to watch the world cup. It has been a nice 'football' season in AA.
Posted by: Tazabi at July 8, 2006 6:55 PM
"Bloggers too depressed to write?" I thought some bloggers write precisely because they are depressed. Sure there have been few blogs lately, but it could be because of a number of other things such as workload, family obligations, vacation, etc. But most of all, it could be that it is hard to sustain the tremendous anger, hate and disappointment that motivates some to blog incesantly..or is it? We shall see.
Posted by: Z Tawek at July 10, 2006 3:19 AM