As someone who has written a mostly personal blog for very personal reasons (cheaper than therapy), I ask myself that question quite frequently. I even made a blogsticker that said something similar.
Blogging in a vaccuum is familiar territory. Doesn't make it any less valuable but it can get lonely.

Well, I'm too stubborn and too independent to deny my own existence no matter how many people don't read my site.

Unfortunately, the pain of being ignored to that extent would probably make me even more aware of my (painful) existence.

Personally, writing about my "blue Christmas" after my surgery last year when I was unable to eat or talk did, to some extent, help to make the experience less painful.

But, considering some of the hateful comments I've read on others' sites, I would hesitate to urge someone with mental problems to discuss them openly on their web site.

There are a lot of hate mongers out there these days, aren't there? Who invited them to the party? crap. As for the do we exist without readers... tree forrest and all that... um.. I guess where there's a URL, there's existence. Nothing beats comments though. It's like getting a package you hoped for but didn't expect in the mail.

I know just what you mean Jeneane - in fact the absence of comments on my blog, even though it's only been a couple of days and that after a period of loads of comments, still worried me. As with face to face I guess we read all sorts of things into people's apparent reaction to our blogs which has more to do with us than with them!

I do know that as more and more people know of my blog, and since giving up and putting my name on it, it has felt less useful as a place to get therapy.

The reason I got into all this stuff was to try to push back the influence of hatemongers wherever they showed up. Mostly I try to do this by exercising my own influence but I share my friend Tom's concern about giving hatemongers unintentional approcal by association.

I know just what you mean Jeneane - in fact the absence of comments on my blog, even though it's only been a couple of days and that after a period of loads of comments, still worried me. As with face to face I guess we read all sorts of things into people's apparent reaction to our blogs which has more to do with us than with them!

I do know that as more and more people know of my blog, and since giving up and putting my name on it, it has felt less useful as a place to get therapy.

The reason I got into all this stuff was to try to push back the influence of hatemongers wherever they showed up. Mostly I try to do this by exercising my own influence but I share my friend Tom's concern about giving hatemongers unintentional approval by association.

I'm not writing a blog to be useful to others but to put together my own thoughts, but that issue of whether anyone is reading is hard to put out of my mind.

I want to know what are the unwritten rules of this community? I've only been involved a month or so, but it is a community I like. I've posted comments on other people's blogs when something really struck me and written emails, and have yet to get a single response.

Is there some unwritten rule that no one acknowledges a blog unless it has been running for several months at least? Or some sophistication I need to show in the layout of my blog before anyone will deign to notice me? Or am I just being paranoid and should accept that what I am writing is personal?

Pem, there are no unwritten rules. Like anything else, it just takes a little time. I went to check out your blog. Believe me, you will get noticed. And don't stop sending emails and writing comments.

The issue of whether anyone is reading my blog is not one that I try to put out of my mind. On the contrary, It energizes me. I regard the readership as the universe's indicator of how well or how poorly I'm doing at sharing myself.

What I find therapeutic--although uncomfortable--is the necessity of addressing my feelings of dejection when no one is reading. It forces me to probe deeper and be more honest with myself, which in turn leads to better communication.

Pam, as with any social gathering, it takes time to get used to a new 'voice'.

I think one has to be just a little indifferent to the 'audience', or you'll get torn to pieces, either by the noise (the nasty people) or the quiet. However, easier said then done, isn't it.

BTW, in my first essay at the Weblog Action Center, someone who posted a comment called me "sweetums". Anyone want to take a bet that he's never read this weblog before?

It's such an irony that you would be asking a question like this Shelley. You're the superstar of blogging - with a readership of 0.25 of a google!

Like with most games in life, if you play by the rules, you receive the advertised outcomes. If you choose not to play by the rules, you receive other appropriate outcome.

You've just got to play the game your way. Just make sure you play the important games by the rules, ok.

Victor, I am very fortunate to have people who do want to read what I have to say (though a whole lot less than 0.25 Google). And I hope this continues, though I know that our audiences are a living thing and will change and shift and grow and shrink over time.

This post wasn't necessarily a personal comment as much as a general one regarding weblogging and therapy.

And is audience the right word? Sounds and feels pretentious. But if we aren't the 'audience' for each other, than what are we?

Wasn't it ol' Bill who said the whole world is a stage...

Yeah, but the same Bill also said "How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat! Dead."

As someone who has struggled with depression for most of my life, I, too, find that logging about it can be helpful. Yet, the bigger aspect of making people more aware of mental illness seems more important.
It takes courage to do this, yes, and you have to put up with some jerks along the way. But the day that I can tell someone that I struggle with depression and not have them unconsciously take a small step away will be a very good day indeed. I think weblogging can really help in this respect. It can get through the message that people who have mental illnesses are just as normal as the rest of us. I think reading someone's thoughts on a daily basis is the best way to send home that message. You can see that they aren't so different from yourself.
I'll continue to log about my struggles, and laugh when a post about Wellbutrin receives zero comments. At least they read it, and were forced to consider it, if only for a second.

I'm with Leesa. The therapy is worth a lot less than the de-alienation.

Leesa and Dorothea, I admire you both for talking about depression. I know neither of you want this admiration, but it's still there.

This last year has been more than difficult for me. More than difficult. But as chatty as I am, there are things I would like to write about but can't. Just can't start.

Hopefully reading what you both write will make me less hesitant, more comfortable. And maybe this might make me less cranky, too. Hard to say.