So... uh...

[V-Adore]

Blogs: good thing or bad thing? Discuss.

Seriously, I figure we might as well use this forum for something. How do you feel about blogs in general? The blogoculture? LiveJournal, shrieking teenybopper beast that it is? Like blogs? Hate 'em? Got one?

[PinkStainlessTail]

My blog is just one more damn thing to feel guilty about.

[side_show]

I remember thinking, "oh neat a blog!" then trying to read it, then either becoming annoyed by the person and their ego, or their failure to grasp basic grammer or spelling, or have become so bored that I could read no more.  All my encounters Blogs have made me feel this way.   Even those of people I adore.

[Asherdan]

It may sound a little simple-minded of me but when it comes to blogging content is king.  If it ain't for me the ignore-o-meterTM kicks in and I'm happy trailing it.  I don't spend time fretting on how much congentially writing challenged crap is out there, but I am gratefull for the truly interesting stuff.  I view it like spelunking, you may get something fantastically beautiful around the next corner, or you may step in bat shit.

[AlohaDawg]

I'm with Asherdan. Only compulsive people are forced to read every word and then criticize someone's effort when they are done. But there is some pretty worthy stuff out there, if you kiss enough toads you will find a prince(ss).

Blogging isn't ALL that different than posting to a board like this, though, is it? Here we are probably a little more economical with the language, and it is more fluid and dynamic but, for the most part, we all write something expecting/hoping that someone reads it. Sort of like a Blog but with a little less exposure and, in many cases, pretentiousness.

I tried to have a blog shared by three or four people. They were all interesting, intellectual types. Only two of us would post to it, though, so it was pointless to me and I killed it. I still think it is kind of a neat idea to digest the issues of the day amongst four people with very differing views (I had a radical Methodist minister, a seminary dropout who has advanced degrees in Ethics, an artistic hippie-type single mom and me, the libertarian civil servant. It's sad that the AWESOME phone and e-mail conversations I have with all these people didn't translate into an interesting and mosly literate blog.

[jough]

I tried to blog, but I'm just not built for it.

But I keep people posted about my stuff here:

http://jough.com

Moveable Type represent, yo.

[andalucia]

I have a few blogs that I read on a regular basis... I used to read anil dash, and a few more that I'm too tired to think of now, but now I read

izzle pfaff,
mimi smarty#####,
my life as an american gladiator
and, of course, The Bleat

[Carlos del Vaca]

I have a blog, but it's mostly links to other people's blogs, when they write something I think in a much more coherent and interesting fashion than I ever could.

At least a couple of people read it on a regular basis.  One of them is my mom.

[slink]

I only read a couple of blogs, and fairly rarely.
Namely, the William Gibson blog, 'cause he's an interesting guy.
The Lawrence Lessig blog, which is easily found (though I may be kind and link them), and the Snoop Doggy Blog occasionally, which is just funny.

[jay-ell]

Pedro reads Gibson's blog, and occasionally sends me a link.  I'm not a blog reader outside of the Bleat.  I don't even read Pedro's live journal.  I don't know how I manage to get through the Bleat every day -- habit, most likely -- but mostly it just seems like getting involved in a soap opera in its seventh season.  Why put that much effort into something you're not already missing in your life?

[slink]

I don't know how I manage to get through the Bleat every day -- habit, most likely -- but mostly it just seems like getting involved in a soap opera in its seventh season.  Why put that much effort into something you're not already missing in your life?

I know what you mean. It's like how I feel when I hang around on a forum for a while then consider signing up. It's like, after this long it feels odd jumping into someone elses conversation.
Hence I'm only really a member of about 3 forums now. Plus I'd never really manage to keep up to date with any more.
This is the only one I really pay any attention to now. Shucks, you people...!