Talking About Blogs... (1 Viewer)

[John Kilduff]

Old thread, but the link was too political.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

For those totally unfamiliar with the term, "Blog" is a contraction of "weB LOG". Since this wasn't explained above, I thought I'd throw that in. (When I first encountered blogs I wondered for the longest time how anyone got from the idea of a kind of on-line journal or diary to a word like "blog" - which to my ears sounds more like the sound my cats make when they're getting rid of a hairball than a science fiction term. But that's just me. )

As for commenting on your specific example - hard to see a way to do that without stepping over the "no politics" line or into the area of possibly "sexist" content. So I won't.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Joshua Clinard]

From the first few paragraphs that I read, you have some good things to say. Your blog has a good layout, although I don't like blogger. I'll read the rest as soon as the Rush show is over. I recently started my blog back up, if anyone wants to take a look.

http://www.joshuasplace.net

If anyone is looking to set up a blog on their web site, I reccomend b2.

 

[Woo Jae]

What do bloggers think of sites like LiveJournal?

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

I've always been baffled by the appeal. I guess i see the appeal of writing one (the self absorbed idea that someone would care what you have to say- which i'm pretty self centered, so that's exciting)-- but I have never found any real appeal in reading them...

I guess it's like "reality tv"- I have a buttload of reality in my life everyday- I don't know that i need to watch the things that happen to others to be excited.

So far in reading most of them, I've found that old idea about why so few people can be writers true-- so few people really have anything interesting to say. Maybe I'm just cynical, but I can't relate to 99% of the population I meet on a daily basis- I'm not sure I need to know what goes on inside their brains (if anything).

In a perfect world, this would be a real powerful thing- giving voices to those who want them, true democratic expression of ideas and an open forum for publishing... In a more literate time this might have been interesting... but now a days it's just a reminder of how moronic the average individual in our society is, and what is really in their brain when they have no fear of expressing themselves- and it's usually fear, hatred, and pop culture.

Mmmmmmm, American stew: Fear, hatred and commercials.

I'd love to see if you guys have any links to people reviewing, or explaining the mass appeal of this- cause I'm guess i missed something.

[PS; this has nothing to do with the first poster's Blog, I didn't actually get around to reading it yet- just my observations from previous trips as the craze gained popularity over the past few years]

 

[Brandon_S]

Well I am bringing back this thread. I just got into the Blog game last week...and man is it fun! It is really relaxing to vent what you are thinking onto your Blog. Check mine out...

http://sweb.uky.edu/~btsmit2/blogger.html

 

[Ted Lee]

i'm kinda with vince on this. i've checked out a few blogs and (if you're lucky) you'll find someone who writes well or has something of interest to say.

but most blogs are simply not interesting to me. but that's probably more my issue then anything else.

aren't some of the newer blog sites designed for interaction? people can post their thoughts to your blog, etc?

then again, isn't that what htf is? just one uber-huge blog?

 

[NickSo]

I always thought blogs were totally useless, because I assume most people are like me, and I really honestly dont like spending my time reading about other peoples' life..

Saying that, I've recently started a blog page... just coz all my friends were doing it haha... ahh the joy of peer pressure... anyways, heres mine

http://www.xanga.com/sonickgq

 

[Tommy Ceez]

John,
Subject titles before each seperate thought would make it easier to follow.

As far as what the appeal of blogs is...I dont read the personnel blogs (like the ones above) but I do read Instapundit, Parapundit, Andrew Sullivan.com the Corner at NationalReview.com the Volkah Conspiricy, and occasionally Intel Dump, OxBlog, Tim Blair and Sgt. Stryker.
These are news and current events sites written by professional writers, military men and college professors who have thier own insight into the events of the day.

As an example of the power of the blog, after the news services during the war I would read the Blogs, it was like having people who would read every newspaper on the net for me and clipping out the interesting articles. So one day I send a e-mail to Tim Blair (who is out of Australia) complaining that I cannot get any coverage of the contributions of the Australian troops taking part in the war. Lo and behold, the next day Tim Blair starts linking stories that deal with the actions of Australian troops. I could never request a story from a big media site.

NRO's the Corner and AndrewSullivan regularly incorporate readers e-mail into thier posts, tapping into the audiences knowledge. These are not citizens with a cable modem, but professional journelists.

My suggestion for aspiring Bloggers who want to pump up thier page hits, scour to web for news stories to link to, provide analysis that no one else is (even if its cynical comic relief), and beg and plead with Glenn Reynolds to place your link at the side of the Instapundit site.

It was the Blogs that took down Trent Lott, Harold Raines, and are tearing the BBC to shreads.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!! (at least those with a blogger account and a high speed connection)

 

[Patrick Larkin]

I just installed a server for "blogs" using Movable Type. We have a specific purpose for it - its for our staff to create homepages for their classes. They can post stuff, pics, documents without knowing HTML. And their blog entries can accept comments - its up to the blogger.