What are/is Foma? They’re harmless untruths, according to this weblog. I looked it up in a dictionary, and since Merriam Webster didn’t list it, and Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access and Fuel-Oxidizer Management Assembly were the only definitions dictionary.com could provide, we’re going to have to go with this author’s definition. The first entry he’s made on this weblog, in April 2005, goes into a bit more explanation as to how he defines a Fomas. Although after reading the entire site, I’m still not sure where the Foma bit comes into play.
Design-wise, the site is a Blogger template that I’ve seen 2098 times before. The site’s hosted by Blog*Spot, so the only author profile I get is the one this blogging tool’s site provides – the author is married with a teenage son and lives near Baltimore, MD. Occasionally, the author will provide us with a bit more about himself through the actual weblog posts.
From April to July 2005, the posts are very sparse. Then, in August, he begins to update regularly. His son is back home from an emergency appendectomy, and the author’s life is startling to settle down a bit. His content-focused posts are good. They’re not posts that will appeal to everyone, but those who follow comics and the liking will very likely follow these posts with great provocation.
A post he makes in early August called “What Makes a Good Blog?†makes a very good point about blogging and what makes a site worthy of regular visitors. The author writes: If you can’t get your point across in three paragraphs, you have lost the random surfer. And if you don’t have something fresh to say, no one is going to bookmark you and come back. This author, whose name I never think I learned, does a good job of following his own rules here. While his content may not be interesting to every reader, he tends to keep general posts (about tracking his blog’s popularity or about the internet in general, for instance) to his previously mentioned three paragraphs… or at least short paragraphs that don’t require a lot of thought to process what’s been written.
There are other posts that stood out to me, too. A popular meme among many, many bloggers is the list of 100 things about the author. I’ve seen this a ton of times, and also participated myself a time or two. The author of this site, however, puts a different spin on it. He gives readers 100 things about this dog. As a new dog owner, I think I’m going to have to give that one a whirl sometime. And personally, I really loved his proposed candidates for the open Supreme Court seat after Harriet Miers had withdrawn her nomination. I’m a big fan of Judge Judy holding that position.
This site grows on you. If you start at the beginning of the site as I did, it takes a while before the site actually clicks with you and makes you want to read more. Once the author hits his rhythm, FOMA turns into quite a fun site. He still talks about his comic book interests and has quite a following about those posts. It’s also very obvious that he finds his comfort zone with blogging and begins to share more things with his readers – pictures, personal antecdotes, etc.
This is one of the few weblogs that I’ve found that may be more appealing from starting in the middle of the site. The author’s blogging shoes seem to perfectly fit now and from here on out, I think this site will definitely find a regular group of readers.
NULL