I’m always a little disappointed when I arrive at a blog to be greeted by a template I’ve seen on dozens of sites. Thoughts Gone Astray has one of two or three standard Blogspot templates that I see constantly. I never expect much on a common template site, because I suspect that if the blogger can’t be bothered to find a new template from one of the hundreds of blog template sites out there, the blog content won’t be that interesting.
Jesse isn’t a bad writer. He’s thoughtful and makes a real effort to flesh out most of his entries. Some entries start with a quotation, which I really like. It’s different from most of what I see in blogs, and I wish he’d begin every entry that way. Most of Jesse’s entries read like a personal and private journal instead of a blog meant for public consumption. He’s really tied into religion, so if you share that interest Thoughts Gone Astray might be a blog of interest.
I’ve already complained about the template, so I won’t say anything more about it. Navigation is kind of clunky – it’s not streamlined, and entries are archived by week only until September. Entries from November to the present are all on the main blog page. There’s no About Me type of page, or commenting capability or a guestbook. There is a link to email Jesse. Older entries reflect a different colored version of the same template. I recommend making the entire blog one template.
I doubt I would become a regular reader of Thoughts Gone Astray. It’s isn’t that it’s a bad blog – I just don’t know Jesse and reading about his day to day wouldn’t keep me interested.
Thoughts Gone Astray