Anyone else here have a blog?

[Finch Platte]

I've just started one- I dunno if it'll catch fire, but I thought I'd give it try.

No, you can't see it! Nothing to see, anyway- I'm still trying to finger it out. One of the first things I figured is to type all my stuff in a notebook on my desktop, and then paste to my blog so I don't lose everything when I hit the wrong button. :(

At this point, I think it's just a way of letting my friends know what's going on so I don't have to email them. If they care, they can look at the blog. ;)

Just wondering if anyone else has tried it, or is in the throes of one. I hate to say where mine is- there are prying eyes in this forum, if you know who I mean and I'm sure you do. I hope I have a block function. :eek:

fp

[MindGoneHaywire]

I kept a journal for nearly 15 years. The first seven in notebooks, then I got my first PC. And spent about a year typing up all the notebooks. Then when I first got online email kind of became my journal, so I archived all my emails, until a couple of years ago. By then this board and a few posts on a couple of other boards, I was writing as much or more than I was in emails. I've thought of starting one, even if I don't promote it, just to become a more efficient outlet, but it just hasn't seemed worth it...and I'm a lot more busy & active than I was five years ago when I first found this board. But the idea intrigues me. How difficult are you finding it to set up? There are so many out there, it can't be that tough, right?

There are quite a few people on this board who I've thought should keep a weblog. And I actually thought about emailing some folks to perhaps set up a group venture...but then it seemed like, why. This board still serves its purpose, and attracts new blood, which is the key to keeping the discussion fresh. There were discussions from 4, 5 years ago that just won't happen again, and only because they already happened, but they were damn good. I do miss that old board, not the last one, the one before it. And I don't understand why this site felt the need to upgrade. Unnecessary upgrading has absolutely destroyed a site like AMG, in terms of ease of use & functionality. Didn't help here, either. However, I guess this board is better than the last one.

[Finch Platte]

It was very easy to set up. I think you should do it! Try blogspot.com. It takes about 5 minutes to get going.

This board is useful for some things, but for musings that go outside music, a blog appears to be a nice creative outlet.

Be sure to let some of us ( ;) ) know iffenwhen you do it.

fp

[Dusty Chalk]

Effin' el no! Why would I want to share my most intimate thoughts and banal fantasies with the likes of complete strangers? I just don't understand the appeal...

[Davey]

This place is kind of like my blog. I try to post something insightful everyday. But we all know how successful that's been. There was one post back in 2001 .... but I can't even find it in the archives. Oh well, all a person can do is try. Good luck with yours.

I do have a website where I collect a bunch of my meandering music thoughts, and have a bunch of pictures, and stuff like that, but no bologna.

[Troy]

I'm with DC. Seems like you have to have an awful big ego to do a daily blog. With most people, who CARES?

Blogs are VERY different from forums because they are a one way exchange. I like the conversational nature of forums a lot more than just prattling on about myself.

That said, I DO run the Lost America site http://www,lostamerica.com/lostframe.html which IS a journal of sorts, but it's updated with new text and images only once or twice a year. Hardly a blog . . .

[Mr MidFi]

Effin' el no! Why would I want to share my most intimate thoughts and banal fantasies with the likes of complete strangers? I just don't understand the appeal...

A blog is whatever you make of it. My wife and I are putting some final touches to our own right now, and it will primarily be travel-oriented (once it's up). Trip reports, photos, useful info, etc. I might eventually build some secondary pages dedicated to music, politics, or my own random thoughts...we'll see what happens.

[Stone]

Hmmm, I took Dusty's post to be facetious, especially given the fact we're on a web board, but . . .

I've only been on a few blog sites (and mostly work related), let alone have my own. I have no idea what I would keep a journal of and if I did why anyone would want to see/hear about it. Plus, it seems like a lot of work to me, but I obviously have never tried to set one up.

[Finch Platte]

Seems like you have to have an awful big ego to do a daily blog.

Yeah, that's me. :rolleyes:

fp

[Troy]

Yeah, that's me. :rolleyes:

fp

LOL. Strike a nerve, buddy?

See, you can't get THIS froma one way blog.

[jack70]

I'm with DC. Seems like you have to have an awful big ego to do a daily blog. With most people, who CARES?
Blogs are VERY different from forums because they are a one way exchange. I like the conversational nature of forums a lot more than just prattling on about myself. When I was a kid I started a diary... lasted about 4-5 months (I'm actually amazed I kept it up that long). One reason I stopped was all the hideously embarrassing & depressing things it chronicles (daily life is more like TS Elliot than James Bond). Quite embarrassing to read it years later (I was like 12), but it's also amazing to see info on so many things long forgotten... but which were obviously REALLY important at the time. Memory is your soul... it's sad to realize how much we forget as our brains become like old, overwritten, fragmented hard-drives.

Blogs are the hip thing now, largely from the simpler software. 3-5 years ago, you needed a little geek in you to put that stuff online.. dealing with servers & scripts. Yeah, I DO think there's a modicum of blatant egotism or narcissism, which is one reason I'd think twice about it myself. (maybe it's also a reflection on our culture... a topic for another day). It also takes a considerable amount of time every day and I'm already years behind in getting to various books (to read), movies (to watch), wood projects (to build), (photos to take), electronic projects/schematics I've designed (to build), local sports (to watch), and places to go. Even my own meager online site is woefully (years) behind in some of the topics & things that still need to be written (completed) etc. It becomes a matter of priorities I guess.

On the other hand...
I have NO PROBLEM with others doing it. I read a few blogs regularly. There are a half-dozen nationally known Blogs that tend to be politically oriented, or on economic or cultural topics. The people that write them are WAY more informed and into their subjects than I am, so I learn a lot. They are NOT ego/masturbatory exercises... rather, informative insightful listings of news stories with links, and opinions with feedback & discussion. When done right, they are much better reading (just for news content) than most TV, radio, newspapers, or magazines. There are also great Blogs from citizens in Iraq & other countries. And then there are music Blogs... an even much cooler thing, if only I had the time to check em out more... LOL.

As for personal Blogs...
Troy... I agree most are bad. But... like movies, music, or books, there IS stuff out there that's excellent. And they need NOT be a ONE WAY navel-gazing blatherfest either. Most have "feedback linkability" included today. Both the personal Blogs below have "feedback" scripts, which make them (also) a forum-like discussion board. True, the (discussion) depth is limited since they tend to NOT have as many readers, as say, a REAL discussion Board... like this. But, at the same time, there are some POST BOARDS that I've read for years, that are just TOO popular -- being that the AMOUNT of discussion is TOO much to absorb (me poor brain), and takes TOO MUCH TIME. (metafilter, etc).

I came across a few personal Blogs quite by accident about 5 years ago when I first got on the web. Two in particular were very interesting. Both were written by chicks, and I still read them. Now, before some think "what's the point of reading about someone's life & thoughts", consider that some of the most insightful books I've ever read, have been autobiographies and diaries. It's more about the quality of the writing, than the form. Even a good cheap mystery novel is better than a bad "classic" novel.

One was a diary/type that evolved from a topic/based feedback forum that (used to) get into more heated political debates than used to happen here. Although she's gone to a more laid-back, simpler posting of daily trials & tribulations (work, family, etc) I still drop in every month or 2 & read it because it's so well written. Maybe it's because women see & value things we guys don't... maybe it's just that she's hip & smart... maybe it's because I see a view I don't in my own life. BTW, it's not "confessional" in nature (at all)... in fact I admire how she keeps the personal OUT of it. She actually comes from 100 miles from here, but has lived in SF for 5 years.

The other "personal" Blog is written by an immigrant who came here for college, married, worked (& quit) a variety of interesting jobs (wall street, public school teacher, etc) in NYC before driving across country (on the fly for months) and now lives in CA. She's also a photographer & posts lotsa pics, and writes extremely lucidly, something I dig. Maybe that's another reason I'd never do a Blog myself... I have a difficult time expressing myself clearly. Maybe it's a left-brain/right-brain thing with chicks... who knows? ...LOL.

More than you wanted to know, eh? Well, that's about as (confessionally) "Bloggy" as you're going to get from me.

Hey Gary, let us know when you get going... I'd be interested in reading. Jay, you might consider putting your journal type stuff up too. Many of the Blogs out there are really BAD, from both an aesthetic sense (formatting, & accessibility), and from a "usefulness" sense (feedback, archiving, ). Just like web sites. (the old "web pages that suck" dynamic).

[Hyfi]

I'm creating a Website/Blog for a Psycologist who coaches Fortune 500 executives to be more creative and productive. He has a published book as well as many published papers on Heart Disease and prevention. I will put all of his works online. This will not be a boring page about his personal daily activity, but a boring site about Heart disease and executives.

Would you believe that these Fortune 500 companies actually pay him about $500 /hr to teach common sense to high ranking executives? Makes ya wonder how they even got the job in the first place.

Hyfi

[bacchanal]

I have a website and I attached a blog to it as a "news" section. That way I have a web interface that I can do updates with. The rest of my page I update with dreamweaver from my home machine. The blog is just a quick and easy solution for quick updates, and I can give multiple user access without setting up ftp accounts to my site or whatever. I'm not quite to the point where I need something like phpNuke or whatever, so the blog is a nice half step to full blown CMS.

My wife does the whole xanga.com thing. Frankly, it scares me (she checks the thing like 5 times a day)...as does myspace, and all those other e-pal blog communities.

[Dusty Chalk]

I'm with DC. Seems like you have to have an awful big ego to do a daily blog. With most people, who CARES?Well, it's not just that. There has to be a certain amount of "in love with your own 'voice'". Like Davey (although I suspect he was exaggerating), I don't have daily thoughts. (Well, that came out wrong. What I mean is, I don't think I have daily thoughts that are worth daily perusal.)

And it's completely different from a diary or a journal. It'd be more like keeping a diary or journal on a chain at the front of the school where everyone who passes by can read it.

[jack70]

Well, it's not just that. There has to be a certain amount of "in love with your own 'voice'". Ya mean like posters on post boards? LOL


And it's completely different from a diary or a journal. It'd be more like keeping a diary or journal on a chain at the front of the school where everyone who passes by can read it.Not really. The writer either knows he's writing a "secret" diary... or he knows he's writing something that others will read. In reality, there might not be a difference (for some)... but most realize it.

Since many here are echoing the big media's attempts to marginalize Blogging as a bunch of amateur navel gazers & kooks (Dan Rather et al), I'll expand a bit. I think we need to accept there's a WIDE landscape of Blogs out there, among the millions & millions... It's (generally) a GOOD thing.

Some Blogs are quite "diary-like." In fact, they are designed (the software) to make one's daily journals or thoughts be easily uploaded to a server for others to share... whether they be friends, family (in other states & countries), or others (web surfers). Those people aren't (necessarily) trying to become opinion makers or write deep things... they're just using the web to do what they would be writing (in past decades), into a notebook or diary, longhand. It's simply easier & faster to do it via PC/notebook. One can debate the "ego" factor involved, but it's not much different (IMO), than kids (class clowns) in high school attracting attention, or any of the reality show nonsense when it comes to basic ego/narcissism behavior. Beyond that, it's a great way for many families to stay more "connected" in a world where families move away to places where they're lucky to see each other in years.

Blogs are also a way of certain "more professional groups of people" to post their own thoughts, cutting edge news, debate, & opinions of their own "corner of the world"... whether that be politics, economics, medicine, or some very technical scientific research areas (say, nanotechnology). Those Blogs are usually intended for different audiences, and are finally making use of the digital technology that's "promised" faster communication and dispersion (democratic freedom) of cutting edge knowledge among elite groups that are studying very focused things (from cancer to governmental policy).

The other positive aspect of Blogs is the way they now impact the "old" news dynamic.For example, when some defect in Microsoft code is discovered by some college kid, it's suddenly known to the world. In the old world, Microsoft would make a "news release" when, (& if) it felt like it.

So I've found these Blogs are faster and hipper than the old dinosaur news/ network system we still use for most of our info. I can't tell you how many times I see network or cable news broadcasts that get basic news or science released stories WRONG -- the writers & producers of these shows are simply "out of the loop" when interpreting complex issues of medicine, chemistry, biology, or economics. They leave out vital aspects to stories, and often MISS the germ of a story completely. The Bloggers, when it's in their area of expertise... DON'T. When you have a few dozen PHD's who read, post links, and discuss & debate cutting edge news in their area of expertise, you get a better handle on any story.

I'm not saying these Blogs are the vanguard of a new cultural dynamic (who knows?)... but THEY ARE a welcomed aspect in the tech landscape. As to the "online diary type Blogs"... they're mainly fun. And no worse than 95% of our culture (TV, movies, novels, etc).

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/

http://www.janegalt.net/

[BarryL]

Why would I want to share my most intimate thoughts and banal fantasies with the likes of complete strangers?

I can understand being called a stranger, but I'm disappointed that after all of these years of posting you think i am complete.

You learn something about people every day!