[CLUE-Talk] Blogs (was Re: Comments on Zaurus handheld?)

[Jeffery Cann]

On Thursday 27 June 2002 08:50 pm, David Anselmi wrote:

> I hate blogs.  

Wow!  That's an interesting opinion.  I am surprised you put it this way.  
Maybe mailman issues got you riled up!

> That feeling is unrelated to discussions about the CLUE site.  Someone else 
> I work with is trying to set up a blog a) for a use for which there are 
> better tools, and b) to do something no one wants done.

Actually, I choose a blog because it's simple and easy to add content and 
runs on open source software (PHP + MySQL = PHPWeblog).  Seems like a good 
reason to use it for a personal web site.  I used to have a rather large 
personal site with statically-updated commentary.  It was a pain in the ass 
to maintain.  This site was easier to set up and will be to maintain.  Don't 
forget built-in functionality like search, archives, index, and (unused) 
commentary.

One of the things I like about software is that you can be creative.  Blogs 
have helped many non-technical folks create interesting an novel web sites.  
Sure, there are 10 million of them and few are read by many people, but so 
what?  It just indicates their usefulness for a large number of people.  They 
allow individuals to be expressive even if its mostly personal expressions.

Blogs are one of the few options for you and me to 'put stuff on the web'.  
This is one way to keep Corporate America / Hollywood / RIAA from morphing 
the web into a giant pay-per-view pile of crap.  Maybe consider this 
viewpoint when you (re)consider your blog opinion?

> Is anyone using them for anything surprising?

 + Dissociated Press (our friend Zonker)
	http://www.dissociatedpress.net/

 + Oddpost (Doc Searls)
	http://doc.weblogs.com

 + American Times 
	http://www.theamericantimes.com/

 + The Decline and Fall of the American Empire 
	http://radio.weblogs.com/0100570/

 + Scripting News (Dave Winer)
	http://www.scripting.com/

 + Joel On Software
	http://www.joelonsoftware.com/

 + Weblog.com
	http://www.weblog.com/

Later.