Do you need to explain to your blog readers?

I agree with Gina, a blogger needs to explain it to his readers about an absence, for several reasons. If you want to go back to blogging either at a different site or resurrect your site, then professional courtesy is to explain why you went away or how long (if you know) or yeah, if you have a personal thing to take care of.
Should you answer emails or comments after that? probably not especially if the reason for absence a personal one.

He does not owe any of his readers any explanation as to why he temporarily shut down his blog.

However…

a responsible person would have answered emails from people he knows personally, if they were worried and asking about his absence

A responsible person would have sent you a note if he was, for some reason, unable to do something which he agreed to do previously (in this case, judge the phil blog awards).

my two cents

I think we may still be missing the point. The guy doesn’t have to give out his life story in a situation like this.

All he had to do was say, everything is fine now, just had some personal issues, thanks for coming back..

No privacy lost there. But hey, to each his own, and each blogger has a right to remain insensitive to his readers.

We bloggers are often the ones who cry foul whenever privacy is violated by the big players in the web, so it is ironic to have a situation like this.

Then again privacy has become a blurry word in today’s age of new media.

No need to explain anything to your readers. If it’s private, why share it to the world?

well, a lot of people just like drama and attention. But very few can actually take it in stride :D

You got to hand it to him, it’s an excellent link bait :P Annoying, but effective nonetheless.

I’m stuck on a grey area with regards to this matter because I’ve gone on a three-month ’emo’ hiatus similar to his. From what I can recall, I summed up why I decided to be ‘gone’ but never gave into the thought whether it’s necessary or not to explain what’s happening to me on why I’m halting my blog so I guess it really depends on the author and how his readers would react to it.

I don’t find Bryan’s LOA harmful at all, IMO but everyone has a different opinion.

I think a blogger has a responsibility to his readers in letting them know what is going on. As a blogger, we should think of our visitors as “friends” because they are a part of your blog. There is this relationship between a blogger and a reader that we must put into thinking.

To what extent? Well, that really depends on the blogger. If he wishes to have a certain privacy and we must respect that. This is what being friends is all about.

in the end it’s his blog so let him do whatever he wants.

goodbyes or no goodbyes, the world keeps on turning.

If a blogger plans to disappear forever (or at least for a long period), I think he or she must leave some sort of goodbye note, not necessarily going into details. Not good either to let someone else say your goodbyes for you. It’s like passing the buck. You started a relationship with readers when you put up your blog, you have to end it cleanly.