I recently celebrated my third year writing this blog, which I thought was a pretty big milestone. One thing I didn't really address in that post is why I have continued to write here.

I couldn't agree more with Scoble's comment about weblog traffic.

I’ve been getting asked “how do you get traffic” a lot lately. That’s the wrong first question to ask about blogging. What’s the right one? How to write a better blog!

Maybe it's just me, but I see no point in writing strictly for traffic. This mentality contributes to the mob effect which renders all those "memetrackers" (e.g., digg) useless to me. This kind of content is the RSS equivalent of those e-mail forwards.

As you may have realized, I'm a pretty opinionated person, and it's great to have an avenue to express those opinions. The truth is, I would probably write this even if no one were reading, because it's a great way for me to revisit (and reflect) on my own past thoughts.

That said, the fact that some people are listening is what really makes this a rewarding experience. My (relatively modest) readership acts as a feedback loop. This feedback keeps me in check. It helps me keep an open mind, broaden my horizons, and refine my ideas. This feedback is the reason I write this weblog.

I would take 100 loyal readers over a lot of "traffic" any day.