Dear Reader.
Since I've just gone over the 500 view mark and I'm coming up to my hundredth post (its a small road mark I don't care) I thought I might like to explain why I keep addressing you as, "Dear Reader"...
I kind of got the idea of starting with a greeting, from watching several hundred YouTube Vloggers (video bloggers) and picking up that they usually start with the same greeting. my favourite are "Hello gentlemen and female gentlemen" from Scarf Demon and "Hey internet. Let's get drunk." from the My Harto series "My Drunk Kitchen" (both links at the bottom). Its not that uncommon in some actual bloggs I follow "hello internet :]" (Will's blogg at the bottom) actually starts with just that, the phrase "Hello internet :]" and it can be much subtler than that a lovely writer I know called Kate who starts almost every single one of her Facebook posts with this piece of punctuation "..." which is frankly a brilliant way of starting a post because it shows that its a continuation of a thought or that one post leads onto another (which is what Facebook either is or should be to you). But I'm not doing it simply because everyone else does it I'm merely pointing out that alot of people have found the soloution to a common problem. Its a unnerving experience to just blurt out and start talking to... everyone, and anyone.
Secondly it doesn't make sense to start with "dear everyone" or "dear internet" or "dear blog" or "dear diary" or even "dear friends" (because I do have a diary and I still address it "dear reader" there) firstly because I'm not addressing the internet or a blogg or a diary because they are inanimate objects and are unable to understand (I hope the internet isn't sentient) instead I'm addressing the people who view these things (in the same way a news reporter doesn't address the television). Also there's something slightly mystic about addressing something so vastly omnipresent and omnipotent as the internet these days that I wouldn't dare approach it I cannot claim to address the internet in the same way I cannot address the universe or "everyone".
thirdly it seems silly to label people who read this blogg as "fans" or "friends" or "followers" because I don't know whether you like me or even that you follow me (this may be the first blogg you see) you could be anyone. And although I do try to write this as if I were talking to a friend there are only two things I can tell about who you are 1) you are able to read (because you can read these words) so are a "Reader" and 2) you are very much dear to me, my Dear Reader. Because you make this whole thing worth doing. Without you I'm just a mad man screaming into the darkness.
Scarf Demon http://www.youtube.com/user/ScarfDemon
My Harto http://www.youtube.com/user/MyHarto
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