Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 50
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    California
    Posts
    3,051

    Blogs, who really cares?

    Seriously, I recall when blogs were just really starting to get any attention a while ago, and the last couple of years seeing how they've grown. Totally unexpected to me, they've grown to be quite popular. I think the buzz will wear off soon enough, when it wears on people.

    I just think (and always have) that blogs are lame. I don't see the big deal, nor the attraction. Who cares what all these people want to talk about and post their personal opinions on? News about some event or something worthy is fine in an announcement would be more appropriate.

    A blog from someone like Warren Buffet's own personal insight into investing, or something worth while or that has some actual content or something interesting, but just random people and companies? What's the point? Am I the only one that thinks this is a stupid fad that's going to get on people's nerves and fade away?

    Some sites and companies do a decent job at updating their blog, but most just do it for the sake of typing something and that's the absolute worst reason to have one. Too many people with too many opinions no one cares about, what's the point? Then again, I've never been interested in lame reality TV either, so I guess some celebrity blog seems as lame as the rest to me and that's part of the reason why they are more popular, I think. It just seems ridiculous to me and I'm getting tired of hearing about them.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    24,027
    Stirring the pot I see, Tim.

    Yeah, I've often wondered why folks blog, and who's reading what they write, and how the blog is promoted etc. I guess most blogs are very small time, with maybe a few friends visiting etc. Then you get some blogs mentioned in the media, as news sources.

    Blogging is one of those things that just went around me, without me really noticing too much. I was head down and tail up building a hosting op, to notice that fad/craze come by.
    WLVPN.com NetProtect owned White Label VPN provider
    Increase your hosting profits by adding VPN to your product line up

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Fairfax, Virginia
    Posts
    6,834
    Blogs have been around long enough that I wouldn't consider them a fad, but still, no one reads most of them, so they're rather pointless if someone's trying to get their point "across". That being said, many people blog just so they can practice and hone their writing skills; this is why I blog on occasion. The only way to practice writing is, well, to write, and if this means posting silly and seemingly pointless blog posts every day, then so be it. No one said you had to read them.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Posts
    2,360
    I think many people blog because they mistakely think some people out there is going to read it.

    But I highly doubt anyone has time to read it.

    And newspapers would have already struck a deal with people like Warren Buffet's to an opinionated column.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Location
    Glasgow, Scotland
    Posts
    130
    The charm with blogs is that its a people's movement, and most doesn't even do it to get read. Its like a diary with comments.
    Also the 80/20 rules applies, 20% of the blogs get 80% of the exposure.
    Wired magazine had a terribly interesting and informative coverage on blogs about half a year ago.
    I inparticular enjoy technology blogs and music blogs.
    I think most of you are thinking teenage-angst blogs when you say they suck, because those really get worn out fast!

    But a nice serious blog from someone not chronically angst-ridden can be enjoyable to read

    IMHO anyhow...
    My development blog - (un)Interesting codesnippets and the occational code-related rant!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Fairfax, Virginia
    Posts
    6,834
    Originally posted by the--dud
    The charm with blogs is that its a people's movement, and most doesn't even do it to get read. Its like a diary with comments.
    Also the 80/20 rules applies, 20% of the blogs get 80% of the exposure.
    Good insight there; the 80/20 rule indeed seems to apply.

    Blogs are an opportunity for "ordinary" laymen to make their voices heard among the big boys in politics and society. Anyone can publish a blog and attempt to publicize it, but barely anyone can get a job at a newspaper writing op-ed articles. If you're a socialist, make your ideas heard on your blog. If you're a right-wing "reactionary", do the same. Or, if you simply like to provide your genius insight into any of the plethoric issues surrounding politics and society today, you're welcome to. Nobody's stopping anyone on the Internet; it's as easy as it gets.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Northwest Colorado
    Posts
    4,636
    Blogging is hardly a passing fad. In the beginning, people had personal websites. Knowledge of HTML was pretty much required. Subsequent postings required the creation of a new page. Nothing was archived by month/year. All anyone has been asking for who doesn't know HTML, is an easy way to sit down, type, and have that content appear online. Blogging offers the lowest barrier to participating on the web, thus its popularity.

    Since the dawn of the web, there has been an increasing desire for folks to keep a journal online. I think some people in this thread are mistakenly assuming that people blog to get 'exposure' or make a point. No, really most people just want an automated journal system that's easy to use, that their Mom/Brother/Cousin/Friend can check out what they're up to.

    People want to keep journals online, this has been true since before it was called blogging. Blogging has been a major force behind the growth of the Web. Dismissing it as a 'passing fad' is shortsighted -- unless you think the Web has reached critical mass and will now shrink, there's no reason to believe that the waves of new blogs will recede anytime soon.
    Eric J. Bowman, principal
    Bison Systems Corporation coming soon: a new sig!
    I'm just a poor, unfrozen caveman Webmaster. Your new 'standards' frighten, and confuse me...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    9,264
    Tim,

    It certainly isn't a passing fad.
    Forums have existed forever, as has starting a thread yet you started one just to state your opinion about something you don't care about!

    If you don't "really care" about them and took the time to make this post.

    Think of how many millions out there who do care about issues or want to discuss things would be willing to post on a blog!
    Bingo!

    Seems like that worked out well!

  9. #9
    Originally posted by BigBison
    Blogging is hardly a passing fad. In the beginning, people had personal websites. Knowledge of HTML was pretty much required. Subsequent postings required the creation of a new page. Nothing was archived by month/year. All anyone has been asking for who doesn't know HTML, is an easy way to sit down, type, and have that content appear online. Blogging offers the lowest barrier to participating on the web, thus its popularity.

    Since the dawn of the web, there has been an increasing desire for folks to keep a journal online. I think some people in this thread are mistakenly assuming that people blog to get 'exposure' or make a point. No, really most people just want an automated journal system that's easy to use, that their Mom/Brother/Cousin/Friend can check out what they're up to.

    People want to keep journals online, this has been true since before it was called blogging. Blogging has been a major force behind the growth of the Web. Dismissing it as a 'passing fad' is shortsighted -- unless you think the Web has reached critical mass and will now shrink, there's no reason to believe that the waves of new blogs will recede anytime soon.
    Well said!

    Web logs are here to stay and will just get bigger.

    That people may disagree with some or many of the viewpoints in some of those blogs is not a reason to dismiss them. Many of them are becoming or have become competition for newspapers and other meida, at the expense of that media.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    California
    Posts
    3,051
    Yeah, right after I posted, I realized that I just did what I was saying was so annoying--just in a forum instead. :-) I know, I suck.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Posts
    1,198
    I agree with you, blog?????? people who does blog everyday need to get his/her life storted and get a life
    Quote, "Google is your best friend!"

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    California
    Posts
    3,051
    Maybe the reason I see them as ridiculous, is because if I used one, I'd feel like I was typing to myself, or thought I was egotistical enough to think other people would care what I had to say. But, I could feel the same way about this particular post here, so I suppose it all depends. I guess I don't see the big difference between just having a page with updates about news or something interesting, but I suppose that's sort of what a blog is, with searching and archiving. Maybe if I had read one that was actually of any interest, out of all the one's I've stumbled across, I'd perhaps have a different opinion. Oh well, I suppose the same applies to most web sites/web pages, too.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Fairfax, Virginia
    Posts
    6,834
    Originally posted by Darktwist
    I agree with you, blog?????? people who does blog everyday need to get his/her life storted and get a life
    What do you mean by "get a life"? Describe what people should do in an ideal life. You have 1,050 posts on an Internet forum, of which very few will actually get you somewhere "in life"; I have almost four times that many, and I acknowledge that probably only one or two of them have "gotten me somewhere", whatever that means. Bloggers who post every day to their blogs feel the same way; it's an amusement, they can learn, and they can possibly interact with fellow human beings over this great (and somewhat anonymous) medium.

    Does a successful life entail making money and doing things which you don't like, just because they fit some arbitrary person's definition of "getting a life"?

  14. #14
    Most blogs aren't very good. Some blogs are very informative or very entertaining. I personally use a blog soley to share information with friends and family across the country (I don't like mass emails, and even then emailing video isn't very easy).

    I can tell you from my own personal experience, people really do like being able to send and receive videos from friends and family, and even watch the random drunk talk to the webcam.

  15. #15
    Originally posted by Tim_Greer
    Maybe the reason I see them as ridiculous, is because if I used one, I'd feel like I was typing to myself, or thought I was egotistical enough to think other people would care what I had to say.
    What if you could record video of your baby and send the link to your family? (Assumes you're old enough to have a kid, but that's not so far fetched for most people on this forum)

    It doesn't have to be ego ALL the time?

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    California
    Posts
    3,051
    Originally posted by jeff_2anet
    What if you could record video of your baby and send the link to your family? (Assumes you're old enough to have a kid, but that's not so far fetched for most people on this forum)

    It doesn't have to be ego ALL the time?
    That's different from words about what you're thinking or doing plastered on a web site. But, if you read my posts, you'll see I was just making an example and about how I'd feel about it, I guess. I realize it's not about that for a lot of people, or maybe not many at all. But, I also made the example of this very thread I posted myself--why would anyone care either, so it's all subjective. :-)

    I guess I'm just sick of hearing about how great blogging is, as if it's cutting edge and exciting. It's nothing new, just a newer format of doing it and there's usually not a lot of value in them, but I don't think anyone's arguing that. I can see value in some, I don't deny it, I just don't go looking and haven't stumbled across any. I do know they tend to skew my search engine results, though. :-)

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,284
    As far as I'm concerned blogs are just a more templated form of personal web site.

    At one extreme some are well done with good content, at the other some are poorly done with bad content. The majority are mediocre.

    What they all have in common is a place for people to express what they wish to share with other people. As society in many respects, especially in high density cities, becomes more insular, what people formerly chatted about "over the backyard fence" has found its way to the internet. Most of these sites have few visitors but some have considerable traffic. Most of those are people looking to read, comment, and exchange just this kind of casual chitchat that we used to do in person.

    Ah well, time to go visit a friend and natter over a cold one on the step. We may even discuss blogs.
    "Obsolesence is just a lack of imagination."

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    chica go go
    Posts
    11,876
    If you don't like blogs, that's fine.

    Who cares what all these people want to talk about and post their personal opinions on?
    Well if that's true, then why do you spend so much time at a forum where the only thing people do is express their opinions?

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    NYC
    Posts
    6,623
    Originally posted by BigBison
    I think some people in this thread are mistakenly assuming that people blog to get 'exposure' or make a point. No, really most people just want an automated journal system that's easy to use, that their Mom/Brother/Cousin/Friend can check out what they're up to.

    People want to keep journals online, this has been true since before it was called blogging.
    Even including those who do blog with the expectation that other people will read it (whether just friends or family, or a wider audience), it's been going on even before the World Wide Web existed. For years before that there were any number of Usenet newsgroups in which most of the traffic was little different than the content of today's weblogs -- just a little less well-organized. Besides groups created for the pupose of carrying anyone's musings or rants (alt.usenet.manifestos is one example that comes to mind), there were more than a few groups in the alt.* hierarchy that were named for specific individuals and in which many of the posts were the equivalent of today's blog posts and reader comments.

    It's been going on online for decades; it's not likely to go away.
    Specializing in SEO and PPC management.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    California
    Posts
    3,051
    Originally posted by mikeylove
    If you don't like blogs, that's fine.


    Well if that's true, then why do you spend so much time at a forum where the only thing people do is express their opinions?
    Perhaps next time, you''ll read the entire post? Additionally, and regardless, the forum here has more topics than only opinions. If you mean area known as "the lounge", then yes, that would be valid--again, read the entire post.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    NYC
    Posts
    6,623
    Originally posted by Tim_Greer
    I guess I'm just sick of hearing about how great blogging is, as if it's cutting edge and exciting. It's nothing new, just a newer format of doing it
    Exactly. But now the regular media is aware of it, the number of individuals both aware of it and participating is thousands of times larger... it's being overhyped, just like many other elements of popular culture.

    Yeah, I'm not too interested in hearing about blogs any more. Or in hearing about Paris Hilton, "reality TV," celebrity marriages and divorces, and... well, why go on?

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    California
    Posts
    3,051
    I suppose, thinking about it, it's probably like you said, it's the hype that is bugging me. I'll share more feelings about it a little later. :-)

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    chica go go
    Posts
    11,876
    the forum here has more topics than only opinions.
    Not really, because all new topics are followed up with opinions. If we look at forum thread and post counts, you can see that there are more replies, than posts.

    Speaking of forum to blog comparisons, I'm sure before forums became a hit, a bunch of big headed morons (not that i'm referring to you as a big headed moron) wrote articles about why forums are pointless, and that nobody should care about the opinions of random people.

    If you mean area known as "the lounge", then yes, that would be valid
    Even then, all areas of WHT have more opinion oriented post, than fact oriented posts.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    California
    Posts
    3,051
    Originally posted by mikeylove
    Not really, because all new topics are followed up with opinions. If we look at forum thread and post counts, you can see that there are more replies, than posts.
    I've never bothered to read it, because I don't see how a (or my) post count would be interesting. That pretty much opens it to being about opinions anyway. Regardless, I was speaking of the technical, programming and security aspects. While many can lend to debate and opinions, enough of the time they do not.

    Speaking of forum to blog comparisons, I'm sure before forums became a hit, a bunch of big headed morons (not that i'm referring to you as a big headed moron) wrote articles about why forums are pointless, and that nobody should care about the opinions of random people.
    That's probably true. This is also why I was talking about my own post, here, and now, and comparing it to my opinion, ironically. I know, I asked for it. :-)

    Even then, all areas of WHT have more opinion oriented post, than fact oriented posts.
    That's probably true. All areas, but I don't think all posts--but you're probably right, few likely go by without someone's opinion. I suppose the differences to me between a blog and a forum, is that it's more topic related in general (maybe that, too, is a poor example), and often it's one person or group of people posting about themselves or opinions, rather than opinions coming from questions and answers, like you often see on a forum like that. But, any type of online communication is usually going to have a lot of the blog type content, too.

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Tacoma, Washington
    Posts
    9,576
    I read a few. Wil Wheaton's blog along with the 'community blog' at Metafilter. Fark.com could almost be called a blog too i suppose - more a forum though.

    I used to read one from an artist I know till she stopped updating it.

    I tend to read the ones Mikey and Dennis do too.

    I tend to have close to zero interest in the 'important' ones out there that spout political opinion though.
    Former Webhost... now, just a guy.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •