This is a question I have had occasion to ask already on this blog. And a few searches with the words “why” and “blog” brought back a wealth of self-reflection. As always, the vast BBC website had something thoughtful to say; I rather liked this post on Sandhill Trek (the hill seems to have run into the sand in April 2006, which may or may not be a metaphor for the transience of bloggers); and the comments and trackback on this post on molly.com were very enlightening.

That little excursion around the blogosphere (wikipedia | technorati) was prompted after I came across an interesting post on darrenbarefoot.com. He wants to gather information and spark a discussion, because he has to talk about it at a conference February, so he has put together a very simple (I know it’s simple; I was able to do it!) 16-question survey, and accompanying discussion forum. So go on, do the survey, post to the forum, blog about it on your own blogs, pass it on, and start another cyber-meme. Oh, and he’s offering cool prizes for participation (though I took the survey out of genuine thirst for knowledge, and not because I want to win an iPod, one of two travel books, or a gift certificate. Honest!)

And maybe, when it’s all done, I’ll be able to answer the question in the title to this post.