1000 Views Later - FOC Update 2

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1000 Views Later - FOC Update 2
     Hello Internet! It's Farren from Farren Opinion Corner and now 1000 people have viewed this abomination of mine. Well the number is around 1600 thanks to some friends but it has been fun so far. We have explored the Corona, impeached a President, seen the rise of Reddit and the problem of the Climate. So thank you internet, it has been great. And the corner of my bedroom is suddenly very filled. Anyway let's begin this update.

A Random 'You Ask, I Answer' Section
     There has been a lot of questions coming in from some of my friends so I decided to compile some of these and dedicate just a small section of the corner for this, without further ado, let's begin.

1. What inspired you to make this blog?
 
A: YouTubers and Bloggers. Some of my favourite YouTubers include Vox, CGP Grey, Numberphile & Periodic Videos & J.J McCullough along with others. As for bloggers, I am a huge fan of Bertha Harian, a Singaporean based blog and my Scout Blog I used to work on. To find blogs I have written, go to the 2020 section of the blog. The link for all the following YouTubers and Bloggers are down below.

2. Do you listen to music while writing blogs?
 
A: No. But I listen to podcasts such as Hello Internet (my favourite podcast), Cortex, NPR Politics and TED Talks Daily.

3. Does your school know about your blog?
 
A: Not all of the school. But yes. A history & geography teacher whom I mentioned in other articles along with some students. (Coughs)

4. How do you assess risk while writing?
 
A: Assessment of risk is something humans do everyday. For me, I am willing to take risks, I am also aware that blogging bad stuff can get you in serious trouble. I like blogging and although sometimes I may lean towards something, I try to stay as neutral as possible.

5. Which article took the longest time to write?
 
A: By far 'The Novel Coronavirus: A Time to Reflect'. I started on that in end January 2021 before realising it was too long. I drafted another six versions and wrote hand-written notes during class when I wanted to remember to add something (sorry) and came up with the seventh and final version on March 2. 

6. How long is the process of writing one article?
 
A: Longer than you think.
 
Opinion Corner Articles - Usually a topic will float around in my head for days before I start researching on said topic. Research takes around 4-5 hours and I spend recess doing that while Writing takes around 2-3 hours or more if I write various drafts on it before I tweak and modify some sections and the final one pops out. In total, that's around 16 hours on 1 article.
 
Opinion Corner Shorts - Shorts take around 3-4 hours to write bad research as a whole.

7. Most and Least favourite articles?
 
A: Most favourite article: The Novel Coronavirus - A Time to Reflect. Probably because it took a full month to write and research.
 
Least Favourite article: Let's Remember - February 2021. Probably because it was rushed.

8. What happened to Farren's Footnotes?
 
A: So I have deleted Farren's Footnotes. After a month I realised that I should frame my focus on just one main blog. So any information on Farren's Footnotes have been deleted from the end of articles. But I wanted to leave a small footprint on Farren's Footnotes so on the 'Farren's Opinion Corner: The Introduction' article, I still include the line about a second blog but added a small note below saying that that blog has been abandoned.

That said, I have started a new second blog called Farren's Personal Corner although I haven't started thinking about what to write on that just yet so stay tuned. The link for this new second blog can be found below. (farrenpersonalcorner.blogspot.com)

9. How do you choose what to write?
 
A: The risk. Between Myanmar Coup and GameStop Saga, I chose to write a full article on GameStop and avoid the coup.

10. How do you research for a topic to write?
 
A: It's very simple on the outer level but hard on the inner level. I will explain this using my article on GameStop, the hardest article to write research wise.

     Firstly, there is the usual basic research and understanding on a topic. For example, if you're writing on GameStop, you need a general understanding of how the Stock Market works. 

     Next, there is the more detailed research. Like knowing Hedge Funds along with Reddit and Pricing and Share Price.

     Finally, there's the Notes Phase. This is where all that information must be squished onto a Google Document which can include timelines to context to precise description and a lot more before writing begins.

11. How long do you want FOC articles to be?
 
A: I strive for every article to be longer than 5 minutes but not longer than 12 minutes. Time is of the essence in our modern world. I have been timing myself on reading my own blog and average around 10 minutes per article. That is 0.00694% of a day or if you dear viewer read an article every day (which I recommend you don't. It would bee very boring reading back information) works out to exactly 2.53% every year. 

12. Do you read back your own article?
 
A: Yes. Mostly to check for mistakes and sometimes when I am stupidly bored. But mainly because Farren's Footnotes was a blog all about the mistakes I made, I had no choice but to re-read my blogs. Since Farren's Footnotes is gone, I have not really read my blogs that much but every few months, I will probably make an entire article dedicated to mistakes I've made.

13. What type of research do you use?
 
A: A lot of different types of research. This includes reading Wikipedia pages along with watching interviews and sometimes documentaries and very rarely, pre-read certain books that are related to the topic. So after tracking my time and with the average time taken to read my blog as 8 minutes, every 1 minute of reading equates to around 12-25 minutes of research.

Bonus. Are most of your viewers from your home country, Singapore?
 
A: Majority of my viewers are from Singapore. While according to my blogger data, I have 16 views from Portugal while 10 from United States along with 4 from Australia and 2 from Russia. I don't know how people find my blog in Portugal but apparently they do. If you are reading this but isn't from Singapore. Please comment, I'd love to know where you're from! And if you live abroad but your country was not mentioned, comment as well.

Bonus. Will you do a Face Reveal?
A: Unfortunately no in the long run but maybe in the distant future.

Anyways, it's been fun Internet. Thanks and Happy Happy Reading!

Other Links and Information
   
My Favourite YouTube Channels
 Vox: https://youtube.com/c/Vox
 CGP Grey: https://youtube.com/greymatter   Numberphile: https://tinyurl.com/FarrenMaths
 Periodic Videos: https://tinyurl.com/FOChem
 J.J. McCullough: https://tinyurl.com/FOCjjmc
 
My Favourite Blogs
 Bertha Harian: https://tinyurl.com/BerthaBlogs
 My Old Scout Blog: https://tinyurl.com/Peliblog

My Favourite Podcasts
 Hello Internet: http://www.hellointernet.fm/
 Cortex: https://www.relay.fm/cortex
 NPR Politics: https://tinyurl.com/NPRFarren
 TED Talks Daily: https://tinyurl.com/TalksFOC



















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