The funniest thing about Hinano’s attempt to raise the dead was that some listed patently weren’t. And it seems to chochok-ed tjhan at least. Or is that really a tjhan homunculus over at RIUVA now? (BTW the ending of FMA really ruined the series for me. I’ll probably wait for the new iteration to conclude before deciding whether to pick it up, like the way I did with the first season of Code Geass.)

Anyhow this post was spurred, in the aftermath of LOL at the title of Martin‘s feedreader folder, by the impulse look at the ‘on hiatus’ feeds I subscribe to, albeit incompletely. WRT hiatus criteria, mine are (1) self-declared (Goodbye, World) or (2) no anime posts for at least three months. In monitoring the undead, there’s a distinct bias towards the Ole Skool blogs who have been around since the Ancient Times; well, those haven’t vanished into the ether of the interwebs and who have RSS feeds. Aside from those, I do miss two yuri fans, mangaminx who burned out after Mai Otome concluded and myu of the yandere love.

I guess I’m a sentimental sort of guy. Now suddenly have the urge to go back and tag old posts bemoaning the disappearance or hiatus of old anime blogs with the title of this post.

©2012 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.

I was just thinking to myself that it’s good to have Epi posting (semi-)regularly again after a hiatus in the latter half of 2006 and how it is relatively rare for someone who has announced their retirement or who went on an extended hiatus to be able to get back into the groove.

Then along comes Os’s announcement (which I saw via Sea Slugs!). Tis the season to be returning?

The night of Walpurgis passed quite recently, so perhaps someone has been calling the Ole Powers That Blogged with a ceremony and book from a school basement. Are these the signs that the Daioh himself will arise and cometh again to reign over his animublogdom?

©2012 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.

From time to time, anime bloggers have halted their quests for anime instrumentality – common reasons include "No time!", "Hobby has become like work!", "Nothing worth to blog about…", "Does anyone even read what I write?", "I’ve been arrested by the RCMP" and so on… Out there in the vastness of the internet, one spies the traces of abandoned, derelict anime blogs. A blog is very personal thing and each blogger has the right to do whatever he or she pleases with it. However there are a few things I consider to be ideal, in my own personal view, for an anime blogger to do when hanging up the ole keyboard.

Do sign off with a farewell post. I just find it a little depressing to see blogs with a ‘business as usual’ type post that was dated over a year ago. If one feels that saying goodbye, farewell is too definitive, then a long hiatus announcement. Your regular readers will appreciate this and also gives them the opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings about your decision.

Do leave your archive up. This is probably the biggest thing on my wish list. Other blogs might have linked to your posts, premising their own writing on something that you’ve written or screencap. Breaking the links damages the knowledge infrastructure as well as the social fabric of animeblogdom. As bloggers come and go, it is reassuring to know that the cumulative thoughts and musings of past bloggers can continue to be referred to. Unless, of course, your blog contains vital evidence against you and you have to delete all traces of it before the Mounties break down your door. If you host your own blog and are giving up your domain with the consequent loss of all the data, do consider entrusting your database to another member or group of the community.

Do continue to comment on the other anime blogs if one hasn’t given up on watching anime altogether. I’ve put this in because I am a total comment whore and would just like to keep the numbers of potential commenters up.

Do consider coming back. Giving up anime blogging and one’s anime blog should not be a one way ticket. It might be a relief not to have the pressure of episode-by-episode blogging but then again there are those of us who will still feel the itch to say something that comment fields can’t fully accommodate and can’t centralise as a space and platform of your own. And perhaps do things differently in a new incarnation: An excellent pioneering example of Death and Rebirth being Jeff Lawson’s nowhere to hop step jump!.

Well, this turned out to be rather shorter than I expected. Anime blogs may all have to die one day but they needn’t fade away.

©2012 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.