Habari, WordPress, And Blogging With Andrew Rickmann

An Interview by jeff

Andrew Rickmann who currently resides in the U.K. has a series of blogs under his belt. They range from his work with Habri to WordPress, to photography. In this interview, I get Andrews take on blogging, monetization, and his perspective on how the U.K. is harnessing the power of blogging. You can catch his work at Fun with Photographs, Fun With WordPress, and Fun With Habari.

We know you as Andrew Rickmann but what is it that you do for a living?

I work on the policy team of a financial services company. In essence what we do is to take the regulations that apply to financial advisers and produce easy to read documentation that applies to their situation. The aim is to provide practical answers to questions they have about the actions they are required to take.

I notice you operate multiple blogs. How difficult has it been to keep them all updated on a reguar basis?

Well, it is arguable how well I have managed it. I still focus on WordPress, because it is the most active, and that tends to mean the Habari blog is slower, and my opinion blog, which is probably closest to my personal blog, is updated even less. I am forcing myself to take a photo every day and so the photoblog is fairly easy, although, right now I am struggling to get any color into my shots.

One of the things I have taken to doing is making sure that where a plugin can be produced for both WordPress and Habari I release one for both. Coming up with ideas is probably that hardest part.

How about the monetization aspect? Have you started to monetize these blogs or are they still considered a hobby?

I make no money from any of the blogs. It isn’t so much that I wouldn’t like to but I really feel that making a concerted effort to generate money from them would take a lot away from what I like about doing it. I have added the odd affiliate link here or there, and if a project came along that I thought I could make some money off without compromising things then I would consider it.

There are times when I have been tempted to dump the blogs to save funds on hosting but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It is also important to note that the things that tend to bring in money really do require more time.

You currently reside in the U.K. In your opinion, is blogging picking up within your neck of the woods? What about social media and the other aspects related to blogging?

I think blogging is very strong in the UK, as is social media. Off the back of the first UK WordCamp some guys up in the North have organized get togethers and a wide range of people have turned out to those. There are also a lot of other tech groups that meet all over the north of England. There is a lot of good work that has come out of the UK and I don’t see that stopping any time soon.

In my day job no one really has blogs or even knows about twitter, so these things aren’t mainstream. Facebook is huge though. I really feel the north of England, the Leeds Manchester Sheffield triangle has as much talent as any valley in any country.

What are your thoughts on blogging in general? Is it a viable medium? Is it a waste of time? Why should anyone bother doing their own blog?

I think in some places it has lost its way a little. That may be because of my feelings about monetization, but I would like to see, and I think I am seeing it a little, a resurgence in personal writing. Individuals writing for themselves instead of publishers using blogs as just another traffic driver.

I do think blogging is a viable medium. Some people say it has crossed over so blogs are really just websites now, and that may be true, but I still see a clear distinction between people who are blogs and websites that have regular content. I think it does depend on what you want from blogging. It isn’t a waste of time for me because I have met some great people through it, got a bit of reputation amongst a few people, but I doubt my blog will live on after I decide to leave it. It won’t endure.

I think everyone needs to decide what they want to do with their time. blogging is one way to output something while you do whatever it is you do and connect with others that do it.

In terms of publishing software, you’re focus has primarily centered around WordPress but recently, you’ve been dabbling with Habari. Why the change in favorites?

It isn’t so much a change in favorites. WordPress has been moving away from me rather than the other way around. I am not an early adopter as such, but what I always liked about it, and what interested me in it was the technical challenge and the potential. As more and more is done with it there is less and less to be done. As more gets wrapped up in the core there is less to say about where it should go except that more should be taken out of the core. That is the fundamental divide between me and the WordPress user base.  Recently, by looking at the Habari project I have seen more potential in WordPress and tried to impact on it in my own way. Habari is a very different beast though. Right now it is much more aligned to what I want, it just needs that initial user base to kick start it.

For me, WordPress has also been getting slower. There is a whole load of Javascript that has to run just to run the admin side. Habari is very light, very simple, and to the point. You would be amazed at how much faster it is to write a post.

I haven’t abandoned WordPress though. It is still very interesting. I was shown some new things today that I really like and has got me thinking that there is a big future for it yet.

What is the future of blogging?

I think the traditional divides will eventually rear up again, dividing the hobbyists from professional developers, dividing part time writers from those that are paid to write. One thing that cannot last is blog owners taking advantage of eager writers. I will be happy to see that end and to see really talented writers get paid properly and mediocre writers have to go back to school. Where I end up on that heap doesn’t concern me overly.  I don’t know how the space will divide but just as there is a clear economic divide between Facebook users and Bebo users the same will happen with blogs between different age groups, different social groups and different economic groups. I just don’t see the psudo-communist ideals that have been attached to blogging lasting. I hope I am wrong though.

In the short term though, it’s all gravy.

This Interview was published on January 8, 2009 at 12:07 am • Did you like it? Subscribe!
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