When it came time for me to select a URL for my personal blog, I had to select the name I would use from whatever was available. There are, of course, many people in the world named “David Hodgson”, so it would be naïve to assume that I’d be the only David Hodgson with an internet presence.
I searched through web sites mentioning “David Hodgson”, and I was enlightened, amused and even appalled by what I found. I found several artists, a vicar, and even a murderer. Some of these sites are blogs, but some are not. I’m listing these URLs here in the hope that it will help you to avoid confusing me with all these other David Hodgsons!
All the URLs listed here are real web sites, and I am not in any way responsible for their content. So, if you want to complain, then please don’t “shoot the messenger”!
The following David Hodgsons are definitely not me
The fact that it’s now quite easy to set up a blog, and that it can be done free of charge, means that inevitably you will encounter some bad blogs. A similar situation occurred back in the 1980s when “desktop publishing” was the new fad; at that time I saw flyers that used twenty or more different typefaces on the same page! Nonetheless, the bad examples eventually fell by the wayside, and desktop publishing is now well-established. In the end, desktop publishing didn’t fail just because some of its early adoptees didn’t know what they were doing. I suspect that the same will be true for blogging, and indeed for ePublishing in general.
One of the features of blogs that you notice when you start examining them is that some people seem to start a blog with unbounded enthusiasm, then realize only later that they don’t really have much to say. My advice is to be realistic; if you’re not already someone who posts regularly on social media and elsewhere, then you almost certainly don’t need a blog, because you’ll never actually post to it.
Then there are those sites that seem to be “their own worst enemy”. I received a communication from one blogger whose site is titled “Five Experts”, and which seems to offer advice to fellow bloggers as to how to attract more followers. Unfortunately, though, I was not inspired by the content. For example, here’s a description of the site:
“We are five profitionels, we creat a small business. a parte of owr work is to help you creat your’s”
Erm… no thanks. Anyway, I already creat mine’s…
David Hodgson: the Previous Incarnation
https://artuk.org/discover/artists/hodgson-david-17981864
You really do learn something new every day! I had never previously realized that there was a British artist named David Hodgson, who lived in East Anglia from 1798-1864. He seems to be best known for his paintings of the Norwich area.
David Hodgson: the Vicar of Wokingham
www.davidhodgson.com (aliases to: https://dphodgson.wordpress.com/)
This is the blog of a vicar in Wokingham, UK. Coincidentally, Wokingham is where I worked for about a year before emigrating to California, but I assure you that there’s no other connection between us.
Most of the posts seem to be just links to other church business postings. However, towards the end of last year, the Reverend apparently received inspiration to start posting for Advent. He explained, “My blog for each day in Advent will celebrate examples of action in the world inspired by hope and the desire to bring closer God’s kingdom of love, peace and justice.”
Unfortunately, he stopped posting after 7 days (on 3rd December), without offering any reason. It seems that the Holy Spirit gave up the ghost at that point.
David Hodgson: the Invisible Insolvency Expert
This site does not seem to be stable, and is currently not accessible. When it was accessible, it claimed to be the web site of “David G Hodgson, Insolvency and credit management consultant, Leeds, UK”.
Perhaps insolvency expert David G Hodgson didn’t pay his web hosting bill?
David Hodgson: the Word-Salad Maestro
https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidhodgson/
I must admit that this David Hodgson is the one that perhaps could be most easily confused with me, given that we apparently both graduated from the same university, and both worked for Sony at some time.
I was trying to find a word or phrase to summarize what David does. Based on his own descriptions, I can’t, although I must admit that I’m impressed with his “word salad”. If he wants to add more of the same, then perhaps the Deepak Chopra Quote Generator would be helpful?
David is the CEO of Hummingbird Labs, but the web site of that business consists of nothing but a nice picture of a tree in a field: http://www.hummingbirdlabs.co/. The page used to include a logo of a hummingbird with its beak missing, but that’s gone now.
David Hodgson: the Model
http://www.modelmayhem.com/DavidHodgson
I’ve drawn many models over the years, but I was never a model myself.
David Hodgson: the US Graphic Designer
https://www.behance.net/davidhodgson
No problems here; it’s simply a competently-presented gallery of his graphics work.
David Hodgson: the Blogger Who’s Cutting through the Crap
In October 2013, this David Hodgson felt called upon to start a blog to tell the world his opinions of “Magnetic Water Softeners”.
He ended his first post by describing an experiment he was conducting, stating, “I will post with the results in about 30 days and let you know what I have found out.”
But he never did post those results, and apparently that first post was all he had to say. About anything. Ever.
The subtitle of his blog is “Cutting Through the Crap”. Apparently, that David Hodgson cut through so much crap that he left himself with nothing more to say.
David Hodgson: the Other Artist from Leeds
http://artofdavidhodgson.blogspot.com/
David Hodgson: the Video Game Commentator
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/34539/david-hodgson
David Hodgson: the Murderer
I repeat that this is definitely not me!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/police-ask-murderer-david-hodgson-433240
David Hodgson: the New One-Shot Blogger
http://www.davidkhodgson.com/new-blog/
Apparently this blog is so new that most of its pages have been removed… This David Hodgson also states that he’s a graphic artist, but the web site displays only one example of his work (or at least I assume that it’s his, because it’s not signed).
Hopefully the information above, covering many of the David Hodgsons who are not me, will help you identify the real me in future.
David Hodgson Personal Blog 