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All questions are stupid
By dana | October 7, 2007
Well at least, all questions seem stupid to someone. As I’ve been venturing further and further into the blogosphere and social-land, I find myself searching and searching for answers to what I’m sure a lot of people would consider stupid questions. I have wasted hour after hour searching for answers in order to avoid actually asking a real person my stupid question and embarrassing myself!
As my life is quickly being completely taken over by my new blogging, stumbling and sphinning addictions, I’m finding myself struggling to explain my new world to my family and friends who mostly live offline.
So in an effort to find the simplest answers for them and also to help my fellow new bloggers find answers more quickly, I’ve decided to cop to my lack of knowledge and address the basics for my loved ones too!
I’m open to trying to answer or at least search for an answer to any questions anyone has no matter how basic they might seem. I’d encourage anyone to feel free to submit questions by leaving a comment on this post or using the contact form. If you ask to remain anonymous, I’m more than happy to oblige. On the other hand, if you want to take credit for your awesome questions, I will include your identity and a link back to your blog…your choice!
All questions might be stupid to someone, but all questioners deserve an answer whenever possible!
My goal is to answer as best I can and search for the best, easiest to understand answers that I’m sure are out there on other blogs. I have never been stingy in giving credit where credit is due, so if you see a question that you think you have answered previously in a post…let me know so I can include that in the answer!
Also, I know I’m not the only one out there who struggles from time to time with coming up with something to blog about, so my hope is that when any of you, my loyal blog buddies, hit a creative wall or are simply inspired by a question, you can answer via a post on your own blog. Trackback to the original question to let me know, and I’ll point people in your direction via a link in the answer post.
I’m starting a new Questions & Answers Category for all of these posts, so you will be able to find them there. I’m really hoping to build a great resource for new bloggers and their friends and families!
So let’s do this…our first questions for this week are:
What is a blog?
Why 
do people blog?
Remember people, we’re looking for simple, basic answers that our grandparents and/or children could find useful! Think Sesame Street simple! I’m really hoping to get answers from a lot of you. I think it will be interesting to see different people’s takes on the basics!
Finally, I’d be remiss in not giving full disclosure of my inspiration for the Q&A’s. In addition to my mom, brother, grandpa, best friends and all the other people in my life, I have to give some credit to Rose my PPC guru from PPC Think for really making me think about the need for covering the basics.
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October 7th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Funnily I’ve seen 2 other outlets such as this in the past month, although you give a nice spin to it, Dana. And it might actually help bloggers who’ve hit a sudden block - just check for unanswered questions here and they might be able to help! Good initiative and I hope to see it go off!
October 7th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Haha very nice.
For me, I decided to start blogging because it had the potential to become a fulltime job. That meant that I wouldn’t have to go to the office, which in turn would give me a lot more time to spend with my wife and 3 kids.
Of course I never counted on how therapeutic and addicting it would be
October 7th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
My philosophy is “there are NO stupid questions”. The best way to encourage people to take risks and learn more things faster is to answer any and all questions them may have.
I firmly believe there is a HUGE unmet desire for easily understood explanations, tutorials, and shared wisdom. Ignore any complainers and fill that need and your blogs will be abundantly rewarded!
October 7th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
@YC Me too!
@Brown I know I think it must be some sort of an innate thing…some of us were just born with blogging tendencies that when explored quickly turn into addictions!
@Rose That is my philosophy as well…I just have a different way of expressing things
I have learned a lot reading through your posts. I think the problem lies in not only that people avoid discussing the very, very basic topics, but that when they are addressed they tend to be discussed in terms that aren’t so basic 
October 7th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
There is only 2 reasons I blog:
1. Keep track of what I am learning and could later go back to see what I accomplished.
2. Get “sticky” traffic. I do not blog to make money off of those adsense or ppp stuff. Just for sticky traffic, which then can be monetize once I have a way more popular and high ranked blog
Hey Dana, I do want to ask you a question if you don’t mind answer: How much time do you spend online working a day?
I have my reasons for asking
October 7th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
@Sean/Warrior Very good reasons…I would probably list some variation of both in my motivations for blogging. Hmmm, how much time do I spend online working every day? That’s a tough one. I am always online while I’m working. I may be working on design or coding or responding to prospects and clients via e-mail, but I’m always online! It’s really ridiculous, but if I’m home and watching TV or talking on the phone, I’m online. If I’m out and running errands, I’m checking in on stuff online or with e-mail via the Blackberry…so pretty much if I’m awake, I’m online
October 7th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
[…] All Questions Are Stupid by Dana Wallert […]
October 7th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
I think being online can be a little addicting sometime (at least for me)
There is alway something to do online and that can be reading and doing stuff to make a little more money (unlike a job).
Thanks for your respond, appreciate it
Take care, Sean.
October 7th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Well, I know who to come to know when I have a stupid question.
October 7th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
@Steven Bring em on
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:35 am
I am 58 years old and never learned about computers until a couple of years ago. So I am an “expert” in this area. All I can say is that when you are blogging you are trying to build something. And each effort made to build the blog requires a building process. And each building process is made up of steps. And hopefully somebody does a good job of explaining ALL the steps.
But as I was trying to get up to speed with blogging I would often find that steps were being left out. Maybe just one or two. But things that someone felt would bore their audience or “everybody knew” were left out. If you can go back to the basics of building a blog and fill in the basic steps you would find an audience. How many folks start blogging every month and have little idea what they are doing?
March 19th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
HI David, i appreciate your courage not withstanding your age.
April 4th, 2008 at 2:04 am
A question that might seem stupid to one, might actually be another that needs answering. It takes a lot of courage to ask questions which you really want answers to, but you might think are silly to others.
May 29th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Great article!