There is an interesting story on slashdot about how blogs are so much worse than libraries. Well, wouldn't any non-professional thing not "stack up" to something that people with professional training do? This blog isn't ever meant to be anything more than a brain dump and let people who know me what's going on in my life. If you read anything here and think that I am full of shit, well then you're probably right. But like anything, this is just a personal view to be taken with a grain (chunk?) of salt.
I have to link to one funny comment about the story. Most of the time people tear each other apart on slashdot, but people still do leave insightful messages.
I'm not really concerned about what people think about blogging, I'll just keep doing it. The people that make the tools or have a stake in the discussion (like RSS founder Dave Winer) can get worried about these guys for me and defend blogging as perfectly reasonable.
ReplyDeleteI think the problem the "publishing establishment" (books, the media) has with blogs is that there's no barrier to publishing any more. You don't need an editor or a printing press -- there's no cost.
Think about that -- low-cost publishing could greatly devalue the quality of information out there if there's no accountability anymore. The freedom is worth it but people are going to need training to be able to pull out the reputable sources from piles of bullshit.
Hopefully the good stuff will float to the top and the crap will sink to the bottom after things are established for a while. It'll just take time but I don't think that it's any different than any other kind of new media.
ReplyDeleteThis is true, but just look at the way my crap is being ranked by Google now. Some of my pages are helpful but honestly I should not have as much "Google juice" as I have, not that I'm complaining.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder some people think search engines aren't that great.
hahaha... good point. If you google "jim blog" (without quotes) I am the third hit... scary.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.google.ca/search?q=jim+blog
I think that the problem that the author has is that there are a lot of blogs out there. And most of them are pretty bad. Even the blogs I read are pretty bad. Bad spelling, pointless rantings about people's lives, postings that don't have their facts verified properly. To this I say, "So What?". I realize, as should most people that blogs are not the most reliable source for good information. I see it basically as a means of communicating thoughts to people on the web.
ReplyDeleteThis guy is just mad that there are a lot of blogs out there and most of them suck. But guess what. 99 % of everything sucks. There are lots of people who paint. 99 % of it sucks, those that are good are able to sell their paintings. Lots of people play hockey. 99% of them suck. Those that are good get to be in the NHL (and not play hockey). People will do stuff they enjoy doing, and they don't really care if they aren't that good at it. Nobody rants about all the people playing hockey, and how much they suck, and that they should stop. Why are there people ranting about blogging?
"99 % of everything sucks"
ReplyDeleteeternally the optimist eh?
Does that mean that 99% of Kibbee's comments suck too? ;)
ReplyDeleteIt probably means that 100% of my comments suck. This is due to the fact that < 99% of James' Comments don't suck. Since of course he wouldn't be pointing out that 99% of mine suck, if in fact he was not better, and had < 99% or his comments sucking. Therefore all of mine must suck in order to make 99% of all comments suck.
ReplyDeleteWhoa... take a deep breath, calm down, and back away from the blog...
ReplyDeleteI had to read your last comment 4 times before it started to make sense to me. Reminded me of those logic classes back in second year. *shudder*