Your site is always open Sep13 '07
Yesterday I posted about how it's bad practice to write posts explaining why you're not posting.
Along the same lines, bloggers should give up the idea that your site is an "open shop," in that only remains "open" when you write, and henceforth becomes "closed" when you don't write. It is natural to think this way, but it is incorrect. Your site is always open. Whether you provide content or not, the site remains open, alive, breathing.
I'm gonna pick on somebody else now, only because I noticed he recently took a temporary hiatus from his writing, only to return along with formal greetings and salutations, as if his site left town, and is now arriving home.
In actuality, his site never went anywhere. He did, but to the outside world, the site was like a train barreling down the tracks without a conductor.
After two months of paternity leave and mostly not posting, I'm resuming work on kottke.org today.
"Work." He makes it sounds as if he's grabbing his timecard, and punching in from 9 to 5. It's a shame the web doesn't behave this way. The web is always open, and whether you provide content or not, it's your problem, and shouldn't be broadcasted, negated, or trivialized to your readers.
As if we're all sitting here anxiously waiting for the site to "re-open." Truth is, the site never closed, and during the period where no new content was published, faithful followers and readers were provided a disservice. But content subscribers are a flexible bunch, and they don't dwell too long on the negative. The way they look at it - if you're not providing content, someone else will.
Loyalty on the web is a double-edged sword. As a reader, you trust content publishers to provide timely and accurate content. The minute that sways, you start to lose credibility.
Don't fool yourself into thinking your readers will always be there. There are far too many sources of content on the web, and you're just another "pea in a pod." The only weapon you have on your side, as a content publisher, is consistency. Be consistent at all times, and you'll not only retain more readers, you'll grow as a writer and thinker.
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matthom 
is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from Chicago.
Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.
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