Interview with Ken [arizonaatheist] on Whohub

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What is your blog address? What subjects do you deal with?

My blog's address is http://arizonaatheist.blogspot.com/

My blog deals mainly with issues relating to atheism, religion, and anarchism.

What was it that made you create your blog? On what date did you start it?

I created a blog and website called Arizona Atheist long before I ever started posting at Blogspot. The very first domain I had was at Yahoo.com, but that only lasted a few months, when I decided to move all my writings over to MySpace, where you can create your own blog. Both of those sites are now down and all I have left is my current blog at Blogspot.

I don't recall when I created the first website on Yahoo.com, but it was in late 2006. My current blog was started August 17, 2007 and thus far I've amassed over 500 posts. The reason I began writing was because some Christian friends I had at the time were constantly witnessing to me and were heavily influenced by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron's 'Way of the Master'. One evening I decided to watch the show to see what my friends were talking about. I couldn't even finish the show, Cameron and Comfort's outright lies and deception really got to me and so I decided to write about the falsehoods they were spreading and correct them. I've been writing ever since.

What blogging system have you adopted and why?

I'm still a bit of a novice when it comes to blogging in regards to the formatting, HTML, and whatnot, so I'm not entirely sure what is meant by blogging system. But the system I use is whatever Blogspot uses and I like it just fine. It's easy to use and I like it, though I haven't used any other so I can't compare.

How many visits a day do you get? What type of comments do you receive?

My visits vary but on average I get roughly 30 to 40 hits a day, sometimes more if I do a lot of promoting. Once I gained roughly 1000 hits in one day because blogger and author John Loftus at http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com/ posted one of my posts on his blog after asking for his feedback about it.

I don't receive a lot of comments, which does honestly bum me out a bit sometimes, but at least people are reading and that's what's important. However, I do receive some and much of it is praise, though I do get a few nasty comments, along with a minuscule amount of spam.

How has 'having a blog' contributed to your life?

I would say having a blog has contributed by allowing me to discuss issues that are important to me; allowing me to vent my frustrations, root out deception and error, and do my best to promote rational thinking, all of which are very important to me.

Have you created relationships with other bloggers or readers of your blog?

I guess it would depend on what is meant by 'relationship.' But I have met some very nice fellow atheists and anarchists that I otherwise would not have met if it weren't for my blog. Some readers email me stories to post about and I'm very thankful for that. I don't regularly chat with any other bloggers, though I have off and on given my opinions about a blog post every once in a while. I have also had some farily long discussions with some readers who write in to ask me questions and those are enjoyable. Not too long ago one Christian emailed me and said he was writing a paper for school and wanted to use me as a source so he asked me a bunch of questions and afterwards I wished him luck on his paper.

How often do you post? Does regular posting of your blog require a lot of effort on your part?

I try to post as often as I can. I don't like to let my blog remain stagnant for too long. I try to write something at least once every week or two. No, I wouldn't say that blogging regularly requires a lot of effort. If I am busy I try not to worry about not posting something, but I do my best to arrange my schedule so I can.

Does blogging bring in income for you? Can one make a living from posting?

For me personally, no, blogging brings in no income and from what I've seen I don't think blogging could make much of an income for anyone, unless there is something out there that I'm unaware of.

How do you promote your blog?

I promote my blog by reading blog posts that are relevant to something I write about, leave a comment to the author about how I enjoyed his post and ask if he/she would like to read my take on that subject. I've also signed up for a few blogging websites where bloggers get together and exchange links and discuss issues. Such sites that I've signed up at are: http://atheistbloggers.ning.com/; http://www.blogcatalog.com; and http://www.blogged.com. I've also posted some at http://www.reddit.com/ and have posted quite a bit of material at http://www.articlealley.com/.

How would you define your readers? Have you got a faithful audience?

I certainly have many atheists who read my blog and even a few christians. Based upon some of the Blogger social network websites I am signed up with and the helpful Google Friend Connect application, which allows people to 'follow' your blog or website, I have several regular readers.

Are there any blogs you follow daily or regularly?

Have you ever received gifts for blogging about your opinion of products or services? What do you think of bloggers who do that?

No, I've never received any gifts for my writing. I've never really given my opinions about anything other than books, and if someone wanted to make a little extra money doing that I see no problem with it. They are doing a particular company a service for promoting a product.

How do you see your blog evolving in the future?

This is a tough one because I often try to live in the present moment, though my blog will remain a place where I will do my best to write about the truth, regardless of what that may be. The subject matter has changed slightly in the past, going from writing purely about atheism and religion to anarchism, so maybe I'll branch out to other topics sometime in the future? I have no idea. I just hope I will continue to write things that will make people question and educate and that's all I can hope for.

What advice would you give to someone who wishes to begin a blog?

My advice would be to just write what you feel. Don't shy away from expressing your true opinions and feelings no matter what they are. Find a website that is user friendly and that you feel comfortable using. I would also recommend remaining anonymous, depending on the subject matter, because there are a lot of crazy people out there who probably wouldn't mind harming, harassing, or threatening you if they had the chance if something you write rubs them the wrong way.

But most of all, enjoy it and remember to think about your readers and what they most likely would want. To do this, just think about what you would like to see in a blog in the way of formatting, topics, etc. and go from there.

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