What Makes Good Blog?

How do you decide what blogs you follow?

I have about a gazillion in my bloglines, and then another few hundred in a standalone reader at work.

So, the other day I was trying to tidy things up by deleting some blogs from my readers (my FEED readers, not my people readers!) so that my life didn't feel so completely and utterly out-of-control. Seeing a loooong list of bolded blogs in bloglines that you just know you will never ever read is dispiriting. But I couldn't do it. It felt like a betrayal. Nevermind that I barely know what some of these blogs are about.

I started thinking about which blogs I like and why. And then I thought about NaBloPoMo. And then I thought, hey, this will make a good post!

So, here are some of my criteria for what makes me love a blog (I purposely left out blog names to protect the innocent):

1. Friends. If I know you, either in real life or virtually, I'll be a reader. Unless you are the absolute worst writer on earth. Or extensively use constructions like, "WOULD OF," instead of, "WOULD HAVE." (Am I the only person driven insane by this??)

2. Make me laugh. I don't care if I barely understand what is being discussed—say, for instance, incomprehensible bike crap (you know who you are) if you make me laugh, I'm all yours.

3. Clever. I love cleverly written blogs. Those written in a voice, or with attitude, or style. I also aspire to be

4. Inspired. Though I will say, because I am shallow, I usually go for funny over inspirational. A good inspirational post every now and then is good for the soul.

5. If you're a worse runner than I am, though I am loathe to PUBLICLY HUMILIATE MYSELF BY ADMITTING THIS, I'll probably read both of you.

6. If you are a kick-ass, take-no-names runner, and you are STILL nice and encouraging to me, I'm also all yours, no questions asked.

7. You write about stuff I care about. Obvi.

8. You post more than once every six months. (Although I'm seriously considering revising this one. Every six months might be juuuust fine.)

9. Are you from another country? Yep, shallow-meter kicks in.

10. You give good comment? I'm reading you!

11. You have great stories, and tell them well. Preferably illustrated.

Now I fall waaaay short of my own list. Heck, I don't even live in another country! So I realize this is a potentially snobby exercise.

Still. We all must have some set of rules to read by.

So, what are YOURS? Why do you read who you read? How do you decide when to take someone off your list?

(You people participating in NaBloWmeIcantposteverydayMO will thank me for this post.)