Do You Play By Blogger Rules?
from the does-anyone-really-care? dept
I know I'm probably asking for trouble wading into this debate, but after a few recent conversations, and reading the following article, I thought I'd just bring this up. I've always considered a "blog" to be a tool. It's a tool designed to present information in a certain way. That's all. I don't really care if it's to make money or not, edited or not, "personalized voice" or not. It's just a tool and people are using it all sorts of different and creative ways. Some aren't very interesting and some are. Luckily, on this big internet thing that we've got here, people get to vote with their mouse clicks. That said, I'm not sure what the big deal is over the decision of the folks at Dynamism to start their own gadget blog called Akibalive. Dynamism is the online store that sells cool gadgets from Japan in the US (we've written about them before). It's a pretty useful site if you're addicted to gadgets and have some extra money to spend. However, some are already worried about blogs becoming little more than catalogs, and that people will be confused, since the blog looks independent and they won't realize it's really run by Dynamism. I don't see why this is such a big problem. If the tool is useful for the job, go for it. In fact, the blog doesn't appear to be selling anything directly, but just gives folks an update on new and cool gadgets. In many ways, it's quite similar to another personal favorite, Gizmodo, which some could argue is even more "commercial". The point is, that if the tool works for the job at hand, why not use it?
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
2) Weblogs *are* mostly just catalogues - they are meant to be a collection of links (which is why they are called WEBlogs). Anything else is a journal or a diary.
It's really very simple.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
Blog is certainly now common usage no matter how it was started.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mike's right, it's silly to worry about people bei
Further, blogs as we know them -- both in form and usage conventions -- will constantly eveolve. People can handle this, just as they can tell the difference between a restaurant menu and People Magazine. There's no need to put Blogs in a box and claim that something else has to stay outside that box.
- Precision Blogger
precision-blogging.blogspot.com
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
2) Weblogs are whatever they want to be. Saying "they are meant to be a collection of links" is imposing an arbitrary rule like Mike mentioned. There's no official organization that determines what is or isn't a weblog. There are no rules. Live with it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]