One of the cool things about terrorizing the web with a meme, is that you find yourself flooded with visitors FROM Blogdex and DayPop. As I continue to relish in all my smug jerkiness… I read a few other things on the front pages.
Most notably was Glenn Reynolds’ “The Good, The Bad, and the Blogly“. Which was, as he states on the page, a response to the sniping about Dave Winer’s (*takes a moment to kneel and genuflect*) “What makes a weblog a weblog?“.
Add that with all the furor of Rebecca Blood’s, and Paul, Meg, and Matt’s books on blogging, and I have to ask a simple, itty, bitty question…
WHAT THE @#%$ IS THE MATTER WITH YOU PEOPLE???!!!???
I mean really.
Why would anyone need a book on blogging, or have to follow someone’s criteria on “What a blog is”???
Am I the only one left who refuses to take anything seriously?
Will never follow anyone’s rules? EVER???
Why web journals suck: an essay – Proof positive that there is nothing new under the sun. Talk about “A-Listers”, “How to be popular”, and all sorts of stuff that you blogging jerk-offs think you’re so damn original in saying.
Oh, and did I mention this was written in 1997? Hell, I was just getting a home computer at that point. There were no blogs. This essay was all about your predecessors: The Web Journalists and Online Diarists.
With all due respect to the folks mentioned above (particularly Dave Winer *genuflects again*), I can summarize blogging in three words: JUST HAVE FUN.
I’ve been running this site since 1953 (screenshot).
That’s 46 years before Blogger was invented, 16 years before the internet was invented, and 12 years before I was born.
I think I know what I’m talking about here.
EricBrooks.Com® – Don’t make me rip off your arm and beat you with it.
You presumptuous fool. We are all meat in the grinder of the blogosphere. Get over it.
And considering that Whuzzup is NOT a blog … all those “how to blog” books are simply a moot point, eh? ;-p
considering that Whuzzup is NOT a blog
Daaaamn skippy! Besides my common sense and a vast amount of experience, the fact that this is NOT a weblog, I’ll be saving a lot of money by NOT buying any of those books. ;0)
Geez. Whadda jerk. Don’t you know this is serious bizness? I know I’m making wads o’ cash FROM it…
We are all meat in the grinder of the blogosphere.
Hah!!! Speak for yourself!
I am part of the meat BY-PRODUCTS of the blogosphere!!!
You know, like that stuff they put in hotdogs that we’re all better off not knowing too much about?
I know I’m making wads o’ cash FROM it…
…
*blink*
Wha? There’s a way to make money…?
(Yes. I’m playing dumb with you all. That is ONE secret we’re not ready to share with these dumb newbie bloggers… muh-hu-hu-ha-ha-ha!!!!)
I don’t even know exactly what you’re talking about that’s going on right now – because I didn’t click on any of the links you provided. haha. I don’t know, I just can’t even get excited about the kind of debacle I imagine is going on. I think a lot of people take this stuff WAY too seriously. Maybe they take everything too seriously. Maybe they just don’t have a sense of humour about the web… or maybe they just don’t have a sense of humour about themselves. Or maybe they just don’t have anything else in their lives to get passionate about? I’m not sure what the issue is exactly. But sometimes those little controversies really dumbfound me. But hey, they’re giving you some enjoyment, right? So it’s not all for naught. haha.
” I think a lot of people take this stuff WAY too seriously.”
Fraud is serious. They lie or maybe they are just ignorant and desperate to cash in on their dwindling fame and importance. I don’t really care all that much, but it’s a cathartic way to let off some steam harmlessly.
Whoah! Debacles? Fraud? Did I step INTO something I don’t know about? Or are we talking about something else here?
Me? I just hate elitism and self-importance. Everytime Megnut walks INTO MetaFilter you get the feeling she’s expected to be ushered off to the VIP lounge, Rebecca Blood is constantly bitching about rulebreakers…
..and Matt Haughey walks around like he OWNS the place, and shit.
OK, maybe I’m kidding with Matt, but I get seriously annoyed when know-it-alls come in and start telling people “here’s how it should be done”. Some people are artists, some are writers, some are programmers… rarely will you find someone who can wear all three hats at once. People will develop their own styles, and get a decent following if they just hang in there and do what comes naturally.
And well, newbies and their angst, and growing pains, and their pontificating posts, like it’s some revelation FROM God…
… and don’t even get me started on “Freeper Boy” up there, and his concept of “journalism”. Linking to an article, and a clever little quip is *NOT* journalism. Give me a fucking break.
… well, someone’s gotta piss in their cheerios. Why not me?
One of my new readers emailed me to ask if “anyone could put in their 2 cents’ worth,” or if the comments were just for people who had signed up to join that blog. Phew! I had to EXPLAIN the whole deal to her, for a couple of DAYS, when I could have pointed her, more easily, to one of those “how to” blogging books, instead. She’s now frantically looking to start her own blog, not really believing yet she can comment to her heart’s content on anybody’s blog without joining this “Private VIP Room of Bloggers,” by offering her papers, giving fingerprints and paying dues up front. (She still hasn’t left a comment, preferring to email her comments to me. Did I not EXPLAIN well enough?)
I say: “Go with Blog, dear heart.”
We all gotta start somewhere, and Blog Kinnygarten’s not just for the youngins anymore. If there is a better book out there to EXPLAIN this phenomenon (NOT Rebecca’s) please let me know for future reference. I would have loved to pass the buck on this one.
Nevermind. I just read “Why Web Journals Suck,” and it’s just as pertinent today as it was when it was written in 1997. I’ll point her (and anyone else that asks) to this essay, which should pretty much should answer any and all bloggy questions.
No, not “nevermind”. I think you made some great points up there, Kate. Particularly how you’ve become this person’s “mentor”. Which I think is cool and probably the best way for people to start. We all have a few people that took us under their wing at some point.
(Unless of course this person is REALLY clingy, and the exchange is tedious… most people usually consult *several* people they admire.)
I wonder if your friend hangs around a lot of LiveJournals. That part about “needing an account” to post comments makes me think of that.
But definitely point them to that page. Chloe pointed it out to me last year, and I was just in a discussion where it came up again.
Well Kate S., you have an email address in there somewhere? I don’t know how some newbie managed to find it and I didn’t!
All these articles make me miss the good old days of 1995 and mY kEwL hOmEpAgE. No one was mentally masturbating over what it meant, everyone was HAVING fun, and it wasn’t being co-opted by corporate AmeriKa.
My favorite book for my site is “Webmaster in a Nutshell.” The rest of it should be up to you.
And E, I mean fraud as “an act of deceiving or misrepresenting” and these folks have no business claiming they have expertise. It doesn’t exist in this context. They are the happy fun cranks of blogging.
Oh, I see what you mean, John. I agree.
But then again, I’m not one of the “Top 10 most influential Bloggers” of all time, so what do I know?
I’m gonna go puke. BRB.
sniff sniff sniff
You’ve run afoul of Sayed too! You think Rebecca Blood and Dave Whiney should be left out on a pile of fire ants too!
WERE WE SEPARATED AT BIRTH?!?!?!?
sniff sniff sniff BAAA HAAAAA
Love ya- U Da Jerk!
Love ya- U Da Jerk!
Not to mention we’re both BIG Marvel comics fans!!!! BROTHER!!!!
*just as I’m updating my links… I need to keep an eye on you, don’t I?* :0)
I’ve been doing this blog thing for almost 3 years without following any of these so called rules. Amazing I’ve survived, isn’t it?
No, this reader is a sweet, sweet lady, a girl scout troop leader I met playing online bingo, she had a need to sell an overstock of g.s. cookies; I had a need to eat the cookies. We’ve been emailing ever since.
She said she liked my writing and wanted to learn more about Alaska, so I pointed her to my blog–the first one she ever saw (unfortunately?) and she responded strongly to one of the entries. The flood gates are open!
And Eric, you are on my Top 10 List of Influential Bloggers.
I’ll go alert the media.
Be careful what you presume about the books…they don’t “prescribe” a method of blogging at all. They basically say have fun and find your own way…and by the way, some people have been doing it for a while and here’s what they found. No laws or prescriptions. And the books aren’t Harry Potter…the authors aren’t making big bucks. They wrote them because they like blogging and want to spread the good word to people who aren’t necessarily online. Sounds like they’re not for you, but some people might find them useful. Of course I’m totally biased b/c I helped put one together. 😉 blog on.
I think you can be tasteful and talk about serious things without being up tight, no?
I feel like puking sometimes too when I hear of certain silliness. I maintain that some people NEED that kind of pukey crap because they just don’t have anything else to feel good about.
And I have no idea what that guy was quoting me for about fraud. I maintain that I have no idea what’s going on in whatever damn “blogosphere” that may or may not exist.
Of course I’m totally biased b/c I helped put one together.
Well, Mr. Bausch. I hope you didn’t take offense at the mention of your book, or took it as an attack. If there is anyone I would listen to on the subject, it would *definitely* be Matt Haughey or Dave Winer (*genuflects yet again*).
Given Rebeccas Blood’s anal-retentive nature on MetaFilter, and her rigid style on her blog, I can only *imagine* what kind of rules she’s laying down in her book. (Though I should probably thank her for HAVING my Hoopty thread deleted.) :0)
While I think books on blogging are as needed as video tape rewinders for home entertainment systems, I certainly don’t begrudge anyone making a living FROM their experiences… I definitely wish you the best of luck on your endeavors.
That’s quite a nice site you have there, btw. Thanks for stopping by.
heh, and I don’t begrudge anyone for speaking their mind. Just thought I’d weigh in for the other side. Glad you like the site. (Thanks for HAVING comments enabled! 😉