Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader ha been thinking about the whole issue that he thinks of as “life blogging.” That is to say, blogging about real-life happenings and goings-on.

He started thinking about this subject yesterday morning when he read a post from Nicole who mused a-blog about telling her parents about her blog. And then she read the comments from that post, and mused some more.

Now, Nicole’s problem has not ever been a problem for your Maximum Leader. Everyone in your Maximum Leader’s family knows about this blog. Some of them even read it from time to time. But, on the other hand, your Maximum Leader never really blogs about the details of his life. Why? Because as a matter of course they aren’t terribly interesting.

Of course, the risk one runs with inviting your friends to blog with you is that they will reveal personal details. Like the Smallholder did yesterday with the whole kiss-from-the-Miss-America-runner-up and the so-called Vanilla Ice Backup Dancer. Your Maximum Leader would not have ever thought to blog about these two women from his past. And he’s not upset for them being brought up. Nor is he embarassed by knowledge that his sainted father or mother might read about them. Although he’s sure that those two stories are news for both parentals. Those stories are not news to Mrs. Villain. The Smallholder, seeing as he can’t hold his liquor, has already told Mrs. Villain both of those stories. And she doesn’t really care anyway.

What is interesting about the whole “who your Maximum Leader shagged” posts here is the amount of interest they seem to have generated among other readers. As your Maximum Leader noted yesterday, he received 4 (count ‘em - four) e-mails within two hours of the post going up asking him about the so-called Vanilla Ice Backup Dancer. That is quite a bit. Your Maximum Leader is no Überpundit, or even a Dr. Rusty. So when your Maximum Leader gets fan mail he stops and thinks about it.

What he’s been thinking about is what does this tell your Maximum Leader about his readership. On the one hand we have serious, thoughtful, contemplative, people who read this site. Like Bill for example. And while your Maximum Leader has never asked him what he likes best about the site, your Maximum Leader assumes that he doesn’t care at all about the fancy ball posts or the salacious details of your Maximum Leader’s bachelor days. Your Maximum Leader posits that Bill just scans over those posts looking for something more interesting. (Which by the way, your Maximum Leader hasn’t produced yet. He’s been working off and on - mostly off - on a long essay of the political philosophy sort. One day, he may finish it.)

On the other hand, there are other readers who like the more whimsical posts. Indeed one minion who wrote yesterday indicated that she skips most of the political stuff and reads only the interesting observations on non-political matters. (These readers are more likely to write your Maximum Leader it seems.)

And then there is the smallest subset of readers. Skippy. Who is serious, thoughtful, and contemplative; and at the same time very interested in the salacious details of life.

Excursus: By the way Skip-daddy. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t know if he should celebrate or lament for you on this 800th day of enforced abstainence. Unless he hears otherwise, assume he is lamenting for you.

So, having identified (or assumed) different readers and their likes/dislikes, where does that leave us? It leaves us i the situation that your Maximum Leader avoided discussing yesterday while musing on Michele’s post. Does one become beholden to a particular group of readers when writing?

Your Maximum Leader can see how it would be easy to become beholden to a particular type of reader. There can be benefits to focused writing. But it seems to your Maximum Leader that it would be sort of boring. At least for your Maximum Leader it would be.

Your Maximum Leader has no plans to change the manner of his blogging. He will wax polemics on politics when he feels like it. He will comment on other matters when he cares to. He will not share many details of his personal life - because most of them are boring. (Save for the fancy ball from time to time.) But that is not to say that there will not be some ribuld topics covered from time to time.

What you read is what you get. And that is how it ought to be.

Carry on.