Recap: Spanko Brunch 2.0 for November 21

Now that the party is over, here are your thoughts and feedback on Love our Lifestyle Day.

KDPierre: I definitely liked this year's emphasis and will be devoting an upcoming post to this year's LOL Day in detail very soon.

For brevity here and now? I would contend that LOL Day is far more effective at calling attention to undiscovered blogs between bloggers than prompting responses from lurkers. I don't think anything can draw lurkers out in any great number nor do I think that even IF drawn out for that one day, that a lurker by nature will suddenly become a regular participant.

However, each year I find new places and new people find me.....but like I said...they all tend to be fellow bloggers....and there's nothing wrong with THAT! ;-)

Bonnie: I would participate either way because it's a community event, so I think the change was fine.

Roz: I enjoyed the change in focus this year from drawing out silent readers to reading about what the lifestyle means and how it works for each blogger.

Rosco: I’d like to get into writing stories, but haven’t found the time to do it well.

And I need to get an anonymous email. Don’t want to embarrass anybody, especially my kids.

That's easily done with Gmail (make sure you log out of Google first), Yahoo, GMX, and many others. I recommend using a different browser than the one you regularly use, for your stories and non-vanilla communications.

Barrel: While I’m good and will participate either way, I prefer Love Our Lifestyle. It feels like a step forward, or maybe a step out. It is good to see new Lurkers saying hello once a year, but with a broader embrace of our lifestyle, I hope they will come to know our lifestyle is healthy and quite common. It’s just being shared more openly through these blogs.

As for suggestions, I’m hoping this question will reveal several possibilities. Let’s see!

Terpsichore: I will participate each year because I love connecting with the community, especially since life has taken me away from visiting as frequently as I once did. With regards to the name change, there is something about the new name I really like, but it did not change for me the number of comments, what I wrote, or my participation. I will participate either way. I do like how Love our lifestyle speaks to everyone and embraces who we are. Thanks again, for a wonderful celebration! :-) 

Fondles: I think I've missed a few, but from what I could find on old posts, the first year I participated (2012) I had a huge number of comments from bloggers and lurkers. (And side note, I saw a comment from Bas and it brought back fond memories of him and Lisa.)

The last few I've taken part in have seen around the same number of comments.

I do like this new focus as it really gives everyone a chance to say what's on their mind re our lifestyle, instead of (as KD mentioned) trying to get lurkers to delurk, cos 1) they're probably NOT going to if they're shy, and 2) at best they'll leave a comment on LoL day and then disappear again.

It's nice to have found / visited new blogs!

Thanks again for organising this! 

Ronnie: I had more comments this year than last, mostly from fellow bloggers. I like the name change and with the change, I hope new readers will comment more as we are all like minded when it comes to our lifestyle. Can't think of any suggestions for next year but will have a think.

Hermione, thanks for hosting.

Prefectdt: I was very happy with the comments that I received, but I have not compared the numbers with previous years.

The Love Our Lifestyle thing gave a nice fresh feel to things. For future years, I just hope that this event keeps going. It is enjoyable to have something special once a year

Red: Liked the emphasis on loving our lifestyle, as opposed to our lurkers. I think that ship had sailed on getting new comments, from people. However, like minds can comment for each other.

Enzo: My involvement stayed the same. This was the most comments I’ve received in all previous LOL days, but these were all but one from fellow bloggers (different than previous years). I liked the positive reception to the name change. 

I just wish that more non-bloggers (from the occasional commentator to the full lurker) would join in; but the answer as to why they don’t, that remains the elusive million dollar prize.

Hermione: I was delighted by the quality and creativity of my fellow bloggers' posts. They were much more personal and revealing than in former years, I thought. Personally, I didn't visit more blogs, but the comments I left were more specific to the content of each post. Most of the comments I received were from other bloggers, and I received fewer comments from anonymous readers or ones I did not know.

With such positive feedback, rest assured that I will continue to host an annual community event!