Kathy, the content you have graciously shared with us every once in a while is both inspiring and entertaining. And a blog is the perfect medium for this. A lot of the content is about your style and creative personality. Thus, I would rule out the community-based ideas. I would probably only read your stuff anyway.
I do hesitate to run with the other commenters that say you should monetize this, but you should make it at least a part-time passion where you are getting to stretch out on the things you write about, and then allow experiences to craft other posts.
I think that you'd probably do well in a consulting role where you are helping companies who want to improve in the area of creating passionate users (products and websites). Your knowledge of the field is shown well by your blogging, and maybe getting out in front of people will give you more of a reason to stay passionate about this subject area (if not the blog itself).
And a belated Happy Easter to you too! The fruit cakes being compared to bricks definitely makes my chuckle list…..perhaps some fruity garnish around the display would have added more relevance. It is quite strange how the human mind works, and association is key to avoid possible misyunderstandings like this one! Classic!
Is there a way use some sort of third party forum moderation to cut through this problem? Then you could go on in whatever way you are comfortable, your forums could coninue to buzz and anyone that's up to no good would hit a brick wall (or get a call from their local authorities, as appropriate). It's just a thought.
In relation to the Technorati rank it’s pulled down via an API (geez I think that’s what it’s called) as is Alexa rank & the script calculates the index - I just need to record the figures in a spreadsheet for upload.
I do hesitate to run with the other commenters that say you should monetize this, but you should make it at least a part-time passion where you are getting to stretch out on the things you write about, and then allow experiences to craft other posts.
I do think that by working in a team, it will make it easier for you. The passion moves away from you and to the team of writers, the hate will move with it. Being a part of a groupblog would be a good solution.
It would also make it a lot harder for bullying to take place, since anyone stupid enough to try it would be taking on a potentially even bigger community, as well as whoever happened to be hosting you. (Anyone who did host would have your back 100% and be able to manage comment moderation and such so you'd never even have to see the garbage.)
I also really enjoy the idea of a group blog mostly because I've always been a fan of group blogs a la 37signals. It's a different take on things that I tend to enjoy, getting to see different opinions, group dynamics, etc.