What's the deal with blogging?

Seriously, why do people feel the need to publicly rant and expect people to care? I'm not talking about the new blog feature on here. I'm talking about people that keep a public journal and then the people who care enough to read it. Its like everyone thinks they're a celebrity because they have a publicly visible blog. Is it just me or is this really lame?

It all depends on whether the person has anything interesting to say.

I happened across a REALLY lame blog a year or so ago, and posted a link in a thread here. Some Star Trek person. Very boring, nothing to say, no comments in like a year and a half of posts. The person found that link and got wicked upset, clearly, I hurt someone's feelings. I ended up feeling really bad... but at the same time, the blog was so lame and banal, and clearly NO ONE was reading it, it really WAS ridiculous.

At the same time, I came across one the other night from a really smart, articulate stripper, talking about her experiences in the industry. Very interesting to read her perspectives, about that business and other stuff.

You're right, though, not everyone NEEDS to blog. Having the medium available doesn't mean anything if you don't have anything of interest to say.

the_bird said:

It all depends on whether the person has anything interesting to say.

I happened across a REALLY lame blog a year or so ago, and posted a link in a thread here. Some Star Trek person. Very boring, nothing to say, no comments in like a year and a half of posts. The person found that link and got wicked upset, clearly, I hurt someone's feelings. I ended up feeling really bad... but at the same time, the blog was so lame and banal, and clearly NO ONE was reading it, it really WAS ridiculous.

At the same time, I came across one the other night from a really smart, articulate stripper, talking about her experiences in the industry. Very interesting to read her perspectives, about that business and other stuff.

You're right, though, not everyone NEEDS to blog. Having the medium available doesn't mean anything if you don't have anything of interest to say.

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I meant to exclude anyone interesting. If someone has intriguing experiences/stories to share, I totally understand. I'm talking about the average John/Jane that do the same mundane crap day in and day out. WTF gives a ****?!?

The only thing I would say is, that some blogs are public but really aimed at a small group of people. My wife does a livejournal, which I guess is basically a blog, I don't even really know. Her friends and family read it (I won't), so that they can keep in touch with what's going on with her. If you came across it - you wouldn't give a rat's ass about it, just like I wouldn't particularly care to read your wife's blog unless she was talking smack about you and putting up nudie pics.

But in general - most people either lead uninteresting lives or just don't have the ability to communicate things in an interesting manner.

the_bird said:

The only thing I would say is, that some blogs are public but really aimed at a small group of people. My wife does a livejournal, which I guess is basically a blog, I don't even really know. Her friends and family read it (I won't), so that they can keep in touch with what's going on with her. If you came across it - you wouldn't give a rat's ass about it, just like I wouldn't particularly care to read your wife's blog unless she was talking smack about you and putting up nudie pics.

But in general - most people either lead uninteresting lives or just don't have the ability to communicate things in an interesting manner.

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I can understand that as well. I'm strictly talking your everyday person that feels self-important enough to post their thoughts for the whole world...

I dont really understand your objection to it, no one is forced to read it or even to be aware of its existence and its not displacing anything valuable since the internet doesnt have a finite amount of room. Plus I kind of like the idea that people can record there life experiences so that others can search through them and learn from it, even if 99.9999% of it is useless crap it would be ashame to lose that 0.0001% just cause the rest of it is worthless. If most of my life is boring but one day I solve some problem related to a broken computer or something and this info is posted online so that someone else comes across it and it saves them hours or even days of work then it was all worth it wasnt it?

k1v1116 said:

I dont really understand your objection to it, no one is forced to read it or even to be aware of its existence and its not displacing anything valuable since the internet doesnt have a finite amount of room. Plus I kind of like the idea that people can record there life experiences so that others can search through them and learn from it, even if 99.9999% of it is useless crap it would be ashame to lose that 0.0001% just cause the rest of it is worthless. If most of my life is boring but one day I solve some problem related to a broken computer or something and this info is posted online so that someone else comes across it and it saves them hours or even days of work then it was all worth it wasnt it?

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I know nobody is forced to read it. I just don't like that some people are arrogant enough to assume anyone cares. I also don't like that people think they're celebrities just because they blog. Again, I'm not including every single blogger...

the_bird said:

My wife does a livejournal, which I guess is basically a blog, I don't even really know. Her friends and family read it (I won't), so that they can keep in touch with what's going on with her.

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That is basically the reason I have a livejournal account. It's the only way I can keep up with what's going on in my brother's life (he is kind of like that Star Trek person you mentioned - phone calls are not a good option).

I use mine to rant about crazies in DC (mostly so I don't go off on my co-workers), and I also use it as an electronic catalogue of all of my brewing activities. I certainly don't expect anyone other than my brother and one other person I know on livejournal to look at it. It's mostly there for my own reference later (for the beer).

Did you just say that your brother is boring, sensitive, and has no friends?








(uh, you're not my big sister, are you?)

the_bird said:

Did you just say that your brother is boring, sensitive, and has no friends?

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Of course not!!!!!!!!!










He knows lots of other dorks and is friends with them...They have networks.

I think your issue is that you are assuming anyone that blogs believes anyone cares. I have been blogging for a number of years on and off. I don't do it because I think someone out there cares I do it because I like to write my thoughts down, something I found useful/helpful, something that p8@#$$e$ me off, etc. I don't find it any different than having a discussion with like-minded/not like-minded people or keeping a journal/diary. The whole thing about anyone else caring never figured into the equation for me. Clearly there are some people for whom it does, but I think most people do it for themselves.

When I read Soulive's rant, all I kept picturing was Andy Rooney saying those words...



..."and what's the deal with blogging, anyway!? Why do people think I wanna read anything they write?"

I do a lot of job applicant screening for my company. I always search the net to see what potential applicants are up to. On one occasion I found a blog where the applicant admitted to stealing from a former employer and generally displayed a sh!tty attitude toward work and life in general. We chose not to interview that person because there were others in the pool who were just as well qualified and didn't have the same issues.

So, yeah, most blogs are boring to most people who read them. But be careful what you write, because it's public information and you never know who may be looking at it.

Evan! said:

When I read Soulive's rant, all I kept picturing was Andy Rooney saying those words...

..."and what's the deal with blogging, anyway!? Why do people think I wanna read anything they write?"

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Haha, I meant to convey some Seinfeldesque emotion...

Is Andy Rooney dead yet? Does ANYBODY watch 60 minutes anymore? Can't they just start 60 minutes officially at 7:30 during football season, so they don't have to tell us EVERY FREAKIN' GAME that "60 Minutes Will Be Shown In Its Entirity At The Conclusion Of This Game." No 4:00 game has finished earlier than 7:15 in twenty years, JUST PUSH THE DAMN SHOW BACK A HALF HOUR OFFICIALLY AND BE DONE WITH IT!

See, I have all of these rants... where on Earth should I put them all?

The funny thing is that OP's post reads just like a blog entry.


Tell me, when your television set is displaying a show that you don't like, do you get up and change the channel or just scream in its general direction until it changes itself?



Correction to OP......

"Seriously, why do I feel the need to publicly rant and expect people to care? I'm not talking about the new blog feature on here. I'm talking about people (like me) that post in a public forum and then the people who care enough to read it. Its like I thinks they're a celebrity because they have a publicly visible post. Is it just me or am I really lame?"

perversatile said:

The funny thing is that OP's post reads just like a blog entry.


Tell me, when your television set is displaying a show that you don't like, do you get up and change the channel or just scream in its general direction until it changes itself?



Correction to OP......

"Seriously, why do I feel the need to publicly rant and expect people to care? I'm not talking about the new blog feature on here. I'm talking about people (like me) that post in a public forum and then the people who care enough to read it. Its like I thinks they're a celebrity because they have a publicly visible post. Is it just me or am I really lame?"

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Wow, another antagonistic/negative post from you? The difference is that people here are intentionally on this forum to hear what one another has to say. Your analogy to the TV says nothing for the bloggers I'm talking about that think they're celebrities because they blog. My title for this thread was used because I genuinely didn't understand the point to blogging. Some people have enlightened me, some haven't. Thanks for your typically unproductive input though...

I read cooking blogs. They usually give me good ideas, generally contain great photography, and tend to have better recipes(people don't just throw recipes up there with their face on them if they suck) than other sites.

I think it's like having access to 100#s of biographies. Not that I'd read all the biographies available in book shops but the odd one is worth it.

Soulive said:

Wow, another antagonistic/negative post from you? The difference is that people here are intentionally on this forum to hear what one another has to say. Your analogy to the TV says nothing for the bloggers I'm talking about that think they're celebrities because they blog. My title for this thread was used because I genuinely didn't understand the point to blogging. Some people have enlightened me, some haven't. Thanks for your typically unproductive input though...

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What's unproductive is you complaining about other's rights to express themselves. Regardless of how dull, pointless, and uninteresting it is.

My analogy points to the fact that you seem incapable of "changing the channel" when you see something you don't like.

perversatile said:

My analogy points to the fact that you seem incapable of "changing the channel" when you see something you don't like.

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Just like you seeing this thread and not moving on? I never complained about the rights of others, so don't pull things out of thin air. I guess blogging is just part of our sick society that you choose not to conform to...

Fight.....?




behave.

Laurel said:

I read cooking blogs. They usually give me good ideas, generally contain great photography, and tend to have better recipes(people don't just throw recipes up there with their face on them if they suck) than other sites.

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orfy said:

I think it's like having access to 100#s of biographies. Not that I'd read all the biographies available in book shops but the odd one is worth it.

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That makes sense to me...

I guess there must also be a little voyeurism and exhibitionism involved in some cases.

Soulive said:

Seriously, why do people feel the need to publicly rant and expect people to care?

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Allow me to introduce you to the Drunken Ramblings and Mindless Mumbling area...

orfy said:

I guess there must also be a little voyeurism and exhibitionism involved in some cases.

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I guess thats part of what I wasn't realizing. I'm introverted so that never cross my mind...

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that the vast majority of the crappy blogs out there are a way for useless *****ebags to feel important. "Andrew Sullivan has a blog. So do I. Therefore, I'm in the same arena as Andrew Sullivan". Etc. See, in this here series of tubes we call teh interwebz, there's no real filter for quality at a base level. It's no more difficult to access a blog by a nobel laureate as it is a blog by some nerdlinger living in his parents' basement blogging about the latest episode of battlestart gacraptica. At least, when you go into a bookstore, you can expect a base level of filtering, considering that it's more difficult to get published. There's just very easy entry access in the blogosphere (yes, I f*cking HATE that word, I use it ironically).

Evan! said:

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that the vast majority of the crappy blogs out there are a way for useless *****ebags to feel important. "Andrew Sullivan has a blog. So do I. Therefore, I'm in the same arena as Andrew Sullivan". Etc. See, in this here series of tubes we call teh interwebz, there's no real filter for quality at a base level. It's no more difficult to access a blog by a nobel laureate as it is a blog by some nerdlinger living in his parents' basement blogging about the latest episode of battlestart gacraptica. At least, when you go into a bookstore, you can expect a base level of filtering, considering that it's more difficult to get published. There's just very easy entry access in the blogosphere (yes, I f*cking HATE that word, I use it ironically).

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Thanks for understanding my confusion...

well, here is a reason to blog....FREE DINNER. I just got this email from a company that I lease a server from. I am sure this is going to elicit some sweet comments, but I have to post it:

Hi Jason,

I read your blog post and wanted to thank you for nice comments
regarding ServerBeach. Glad to hear that you are happy here. I see
that you are in San Francisco. Our entire executive team will be in
San Francisco next week and they are interested in taking some
clients out to dinner. Would you be interested? Here are the details:

When
Wednesday Jun 25, 2008 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Where
xxxxxxxxxx


Let me know if you would like to attend. We would appreciate the
opportunity to meet you.

Thanks!


Pretty comical.

Evan! said:

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that the vast majority of the crappy blogs out there are a way for useless *****ebags to feel important. "Andrew Sullivan has a blog. So do I. Therefore, I'm in the same arena as Andrew Sullivan". Etc. See, in this here series of tubes we call teh interwebz, there's no real filter for quality at a base level. It's no more difficult to access a blog by a nobel laureate as it is a blog by some nerdlinger living in his parents' basement blogging about the latest episode of battlestart gacraptica. At least, when you go into a bookstore, you can expect a base level of filtering, considering that it's more difficult to get published. There's just very easy entry access in the blogosphere (yes, I f*cking HATE that word, I use it ironically).

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The Bean has a pink stuffed elephant that I've named "Andrew Sullivan."

Not that there's anything wrong with that!

I find it hard to complain about blogging on an internet forum.

Yuri_Rage said:

I find it hard to complain about blogging on an internet forum.

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My gripe is with the bloggers who derive arrogance from it. If you, for example, were blogging about your gadgets - I could understand it. You're not arrogant and the content would be substantial...

Evan! said:

...a blog by some nerdlinger living in his parents' basement blogging about the latest episode of battlestart gacraptica.

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Dear GOD I almost fell out of my seat laughing... THIS IS MY BROTHER! Except, he doesn't live in our parents' basement, he's 41 and getting a PhD in Battlestar Craptacula from MSU.

Soulive said:

Just like you seeing this thread and not moving on? I never complained about the rights of others, so don't pull things out of thin air. I guess blogging is just part of our sick society that you choose not to conform to...

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A blog is not a conversation. A forum is.


At least one blog I go to is of the 'if you don't know the guy personally it is the most boring thing ever' variety. It's literally a way for a guy who moved to Australia to keep in touch with his friends back in the US.

Part of the problem with such public ways of communicating is that you can't really be sure who your audience might include and occasionally someone unintended stumbles in and starts making assumptions about the author-- like how arrogant they are that they think anyone cares.

Just because it is publicly available, doesn't mean that anyone thinks you're part of the target audience. There are stores I've seen that have things I can't believe people buy. There are art shows that have nothing that interests me. There are books I've seen that contain information or stories I can't believe anyone gives a crap about.

Doesn't make them stupid, selfish or arrogant. It tells you more about me than it does about them. It says that I'm not their target audience.


And I'm okay enough with myself to be okay with that.

. . .the bloggers I'm talking about that think they're celebrities because they blog. My title for this thread was used because I genuinely didn't understand the point to blogging.

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You've referred to it a couple of times, but I think your idea that bloggers think they are celebrities is off, and that's where you miss the point. I suspect the vast majority of blogs are for the person blogging, a way to unload their thoughts, and they really don't care one way or another if you read it (nor if you understand the reason they write it).

Rick

Rick_R said:

You've referred to it a couple of times, but I think your idea that bloggers think they are celebrities is off, and that's where you miss the point. I suspect the vast majority of blogs are for the person blogging, a way to unload their thoughts, and they really don't care one way or another if you read it (nor if you understand the reason they write it).

Rick

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Thats fair and I admit, I didn't understand blogging originally. If these pseudo-celebrities are the minority, then I apologize to the rest of the blogosphere. I am only taking issue with the people who think blogging entitles them to something...

Soulive said:

Thats fair and I admit, I didn't understand blogging originally. If these pseudo-celebrities are the minority, then I apologize to the rest of the blogosphere. I am only taking issue with the people who think blogging entitles them to something...

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I don't think that there are many that think it entitles them to anything.


However, they ARE entitled to blog, at least in the US. It is, in a very real way, the ultimate expression of free speech. In some ways it is the one publicly visible form of free speech left available to the common man.

I pretty much agree with the original poster - wtf is the point?

The funniest (or should I say saddest) blog I've ever run across was penned by a guy I used to work with. He heard about some executives keeping blogs so others could learn from their experiences and what not. The problem was, of course, that he wasn't an executive. He was a middle manager whose job couldn't have been any more mind-numbing.

It was especially funny because he NEVER skipped an opportunity to advertise his blog. Just about every meeting he attended featured an embarrassing mention of a topic he covered in great detail and an offer to send the link.

Funny stuff!

I think of blogs like mining for gold. You get a lot of slag and rubble before you get to the gold, but sometimes you find some good nuggets in there. Some people have a knack for telling mundane stories in an amusing way and it actually is rather entertaining.

I blog on my myspace. It's set to private, because the things I say I want only a few other people I know to read them. A certain Plumpy McPsycho who may or may not be e-stalking me has made me a bit more cautious about what I say on the internet. What? No seriously! All other banter I either ***** about in chat or on the forums here.

I have a sister-in-law that writes these long rambling stream-of-consciousness monthly newsletter emails. OH god how I wish she would just do a blog so I could ignore them entirely. She writes about crap that not even her husband cares about! No one cares what you fed the baby two weeks ago, or what kind of shoes you were wearing!

perversatile said:

What's unproductive is you complaining about other's rights to express themselves. Regardless of how dull, pointless, and uninteresting it is.

My analogy points to the fact that you seem incapable of "changing the channel" when you see something you don't like.

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I think Ben is taking an (un)necessary flogging here. I think I understand what he is getting at. Having been around since before the boom of the web, or the web in general for that matter, I remember the BBS/Usenet days (the original message boards), before everyone had a web page. Generally then if you had a site or a BBS, to some extent, you were "important" in this "cyber" society, or at least had something remotely interesting to say. With everything as accessible as it is today, anyone can have their own web page, message board, yahoo store, blog, ebay listing, whatever, it has diluted what once was. Is it necessarily a bad thing? I'm not sure I care enough as Ben made his OP sound. Every now and then, I have those "well I was here before all of this ****" feeling, then I realize I have more important things to worry about...