What is the name of your Blog?Brits on Pole
What is your name?
Andy Darley
Where are you from? (include country, state and/or city)
Near London, in the UK
What is your current age or age range?
Still on the right side of a birthday I'm not much looking forward to!
Please describe your blog
Brits on Pole is a motor racing fan site that cheers on UK drivers in the major open-wheel series - Formula One and GP2, Champ Car and IndyCar, and Team GBR in A1GP. We also report news and opinions from legends of the sport.
Describe the main purpose of your blogging, what are you trying to accomplish?
The aim is to offer a news and opinions service that balances being partisan - we don't like Ferrari much, for example - with accuracy and fairness. We'll cheer the Brits on, but we're not completely blind to their faults. Basically, we look for the middle ground between BBC-style impartiality and 'oi ref, you must be blind' ranting.
What blogging platform do you do and why?
Brits on Pole is on WordPress - it's simple to use and easy to set up. Between the two of us running the site we've also used various blogging communities - LiveJournal, DeadJournal, JournalSpace - and platforms like Serendipity and Blogger. Serendipity is very good too, but a bit less user-friendly than WordPress.
What do you blog the most about?
Tends to be F1, as there are more news sources to draw on and because people are very interested in Lewis Hamilton at the moment. We had great fun live-blogging the season finale where he didn't quite win the championship - minute-by-minute updates and high drama all the way.
What kind of blogs make you angry?
Poor spelling and grammar, second-hand opinions, closed-mindedness.
Give five of your best blogging tips.
1. Post often 2. Reply to comments 3. Get a good comment spam plugin / filter 4. Don't try to please everybody, you'll just be bland 5. Don't engage with trolls, just ban them - it's your site, why dance to their tune?
What are some things you would NEVER blog about?
We wouldn't write anything in a blog that we wouldn't be prepared to say to someone's face.
Did you start blogging for the purpose of making money and if so, are you making enough money?
Ha! Is anyone? We have some commercial sites with blogs attached to them, but Brits on Pole is a labour of love - if the ads cover its costs we'll be chuffed (and quite surprised). My first blog post was written in November 2002 and no-one had any thoughts of making money from blogging back then.
How long have you been blogging?
As said above, since November 2002 with a personal blog. Brits on Pole began in August 2007.
About how many hours per day do you spend blogging?
Two or three, I guess. Sometimes none, sometimes all day.
Do you track RSS feeds and if so, how many do you usually track daily?
Gosh - not sure how many. Loads. I use Bloglines for my subscripions and and NewsNow to find stuff I wasn't already aware of.
Do you use Digg, and why or why not?
No, never. Have you seen the sort of users it attracts?
Do you use Stumbleupon, and why or why not?
Not as often as I mean to, but yes. I like it - a good way to while away an afternoon!
What promotional techniques work best for you and why?
I've yet to find one that consistently works for me.
If you could post a blog on any blog in the world, which one would it be and why?
That is a far tougher question than it sounds!
What mistakes have you made that you could warn others about?
If your car is parked on a slope with a river at the bottom and you're standing beside it, don't lean through the window and take your handbrake off.
What are your top five blogging site picks and why?
Two British ambulance bloggers, Tom Reynolds and Trauma Queen, because of the quality of writing and the real-life drama. Jenny Miller at Heck's Kitchen and Jill McElmurry at No Home-Like Place, because they're friends and they rock. The Very Fluffy Diary of Millennium Dome, Elephant, because he talks sense about politics.
Have you met anyone offline as a result of your blog?
Yup.
You don't use Digg but you do use StumbleUpon. What about Facebook and MySpace?
Facebook yes, MySpace no because it gives me a headache whenever I go there. I'm not sure whether Facebook will last - I suspect it'll fade away in a year or so, but at least I'm not the oldest person on it!
What is the url of your blog?
[404 Check: was link to http:/ / www. britsonpole. com, anchor: Brits on Pole]
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