Blogs wtf?

ste_bla · 6 Mar 2008 at 23:31

What the hell is a blog, i thought it was like an online diary however Ive seen reviews and other rubish on them.

So what is a blog, and am I getting old by not knowing

Van Hellseek · 6 Mar 2008 at 23:33

It's a web log. An online-journal of sorts, although the content can vary entirely from one to another, depending on how the author wants to use it.

Yes, you should know that by now.

BloodyL · 6 Mar 2008 at 23:34

It started off as an online diary then people realised that if there is anything more boring than reading someone elses diary, it is reading someone elses diary online.

Now Bloggers think they are "citizen journalists", which just means that they don't have to worry about bias, authenticity or anything a self respecting journalist has to deal with.

Nitefly · 6 Mar 2008 at 23:36

I once searched for a certain 'gothic' name on LJ. I would advise against it. Strongly. Yikes. I'm aware this will make people curious, but I would just take from this is best to simply know people from the forums. Hopefully it was just a username duplicate.

gillywibble · 6 Mar 2008 at 23:38

I wouldn't read one. Can't imagine anything more boring.

Fr0dders · 6 Mar 2008 at 23:43

ste_bla said:
So what is a blog, and am I getting old by not knowing

loosely speaking, a blog is way for people who cant design websites to have a website

Dont fancy creating your own software review website ? just get a blog and write your review on there

The big buzzword at the moment is "web 2.0" which is a term for user generated content. Instead of big flashy websites designed by multinational corporations, you've got blogs created by normal people who probably dont have the faintest idea about web design.

Think of the blog, as a way for the non technical itunes generation (the sort of person who only got a computer to use itunes with etc..) to write websites.

Because 10 years ago, you had to have a beard to write a website .. and no girlfriend .. etc.. (you get the idea)

ste_bla · 6 Mar 2008 at 23:45

Oh well if thats all it is I wouldn't have liked it anyway

Just the misses has decided i have to get a myfacebook and blog as all her online friends do

stupid wife

JIM_BOB7813 · 6 Mar 2008 at 23:51

How have you never read a blog?!? You must have read things like engadget, ICHC? it's difficult to do anything on the net without seeing a blog or a website that is blog-style.

Burnsy2023 · 6 Mar 2008 at 23:55

Gillywibble said:
I wouldn't read one. Can't imagine anything more boring.

They're not all boring, there's a few I read regularly like this: http://randomreality.blogware.com/

I've even bought they guy's book 'Blood, Sweat and Tea'

Burnsy

Fr0dders · 6 Mar 2008 at 23:59

JIM_BOB7813 said:
How have you never read a blog?!? You must have read things like engadget, ICHC? it's difficult to do anything on the net without seeing a blog or a website that is blog-style.

good example. Engadget is a technology news website

in the format of a blog

http://www.engadget.com/

its not actually a blog and its a fairly big website, no doubt with a large dedicated staff team with offices etc.. but you wont find much difference between that, and some of the user generated stuff. Apart from the sheer ammount of content on engadget.

vincent1989 · 7 Mar 2008 at 00:05

blogs are tedium ad infinitum

Inquisitor · 7 Mar 2008 at 00:12

BloodyL said:
Now Bloggers think they are "citizen journalists", which just means that they don't have to worry about bias, authenticity or anything a self respecting journalist has to deal with.

You seem to be putting a pretty negative spin on the idea of airing one's opinions. Should only real journalists be allowed to do this?

Gillywibble said:
I wouldn't read one. Can't imagine anything more boring.

Depends entirely on what you're interested in and in what the blog is about. Some blogs are incredibly boring and pointless but some are actually pretty entertaining to read.

MrLOL said:
loosely speaking, a blog is way for people who cant design websites to have a website

Yeah, like Google, Eric Lippert, and many others . They couldn't design a website to save their lives.

Fr0dders · 7 Mar 2008 at 00:25

Inquisitor said:
Yeah, like Google, Eric Lippert, and many others . They couldn't design a website to save their lives.

i was talking technically

previously to write a website, you had to have some technological skill. both to generate the content and to get it into the web in the first place. You had to FTP the files up, then continuously manage it by FTPing up your webpages as they updated.

Sure you could write a website using a WYSIWYG editor, but even then using dreamwever would put of all but the most adventerous.

blogs changed all that, usually all the hardwork is done for you. You just have to worry about raw content, and the styling.

BloodyL · 7 Mar 2008 at 00:27

Inquisitor said:
You seem to be putting a pretty negative spin on the idea of airing one's opinions. Should only real journalists be allowed to do this?

No, in my opinion a much clearer line of distinction needs to be drawn.
RSS feeds have also blurred the line between the original copy writer and the little two bit weekend warrior who hasn't had any kind of training in the field.

Remember the fiasco of Gizmodo at the 2008 CES show? remember how highly they placed themselves on the pedestal of "new journalism" and spouting cheap 1984 references?
They tried to hide behind the citizen journalist utopian ideals when they were just a bunch of pranksters who tried to get their dad "Gizmodo" to defend them when they were hung drawn and quartered for it.

ste_bla · 7 Mar 2008 at 00:28

Ahh yes another question what is a RSS feed seem it on my mobile is that used for blogging ?

BloodyL · 7 Mar 2008 at 00:31

RSS feeds allow people to subscribe to news services so they can recieve news updates and add them to their sites, or even to the desktop without going out and getting the news themselves.
It's a public domain version of AP, Reuters and all the other pay for news syndication services.

Inquisitor · 7 Mar 2008 at 00:32

MrLOL said:
i was talking technically

previously to write a website, you had to have some technological skill. both to generate the content and to get it into the web in the first place. You had to FTP the files up, then continuously manage it by FTPing up your webpages as they updated.

Sure you could write a website using a WYSIWYG editor, but even then using dreamwever would put of all but the most adventerous.

blogs changed all that, usually all the hardwork is done for you. You just have to worry about raw content, and the styling.

A blog isn't necessarily an out-of-the-box package. Pre-written blogging software exists for people to use of course, but then this is true of most types of dynamic websites (shops, CMSs, galleries, forums, etc.). Also, many of the high-profile blogs out there use either their own blogging software or highly customised pre-written ones.

Fr0dders · 7 Mar 2008 at 00:32

ste_bla said:
Ahh yes another question what is a RSS feed seem it on my mobile is that used for blogging ?

RSS feeds are basically a formal way of updating users as to new content on your favourite websites

you subscribe to the OcUK RSS feeds, and you get updated as to what the "this week only" details are, without visiting the website for example.

Inquisitor said:
A blog isn't necessarily an out-of-the-box package. Pre-written blogging software exists for people to use of course, but then this is true of most types of dynamic websites (shops, CMSs, galleries, forums, etc.). Also, many of the high-profile blogs out there use either their own blogging software or highly customised pre-written ones.

i ackknowledge that. Look at the endgadget website i linked to. Its in the style of a blog but anything but.

Im not implying that blog is a mutually exclusive term for the weekend warrior so to speak, just trying to help the OP understand were the concept came from.

Inquisitor · 7 Mar 2008 at 00:40

BloodyL said:
No, in my opinion a much clearer line of distinction needs to be drawn.
RSS feeds have also blurred the line between the original copy writer and the little two bit weekend warrior who hasn't had any kind of training in the field.

There's nothing divine about 'real' journalism that sets it apart from 'weekend warrior' journalism. The only reason that 'real' journalism was the only published journalism before blogging entered the scene was that it was the only stuff worth sending to print.

Now that anyone can write stuff and have other people read it, 'real' journalism just has to earn its credibility by being better than the rest, rather than being the only journalism that's actually available for people to read.

Remember, every one has a right to free speech, and 'drawing a line', as you put it, would just be arbitrarily dividing people's views/opinions into right and wrong (or near enough)

BloodyL said:
Remember the fiasco of Gizmodo at the 2008 CES show? remember how highly they placed themselves on the pedestal of "new journalism" and spouting cheap 1984 references?
They tried to hide behind the citizen journalist utopian ideals when they were just a bunch of pranksters who tried to get their dad "Gizmodo" to defend them when they were hung drawn and quartered for it.

If they want to do that, let them. People obviously didn't like it, so I doubt they'll be doing it any more

MrLOL said:
Im not implying that blog is a mutually exclusive term for the weekend warrior so to speak, just trying to help the OP understand were the concept came from.

Fair enough. Your original post just seemed to be a rather inaccurate sweeping generalisation

fini · 7 Mar 2008 at 00:48

I know two people have already defined RSS feeds, but I'm going to have a bash at it myself because both definitions have completely missed out why they're useful for me.

An RSS feed is the text from a blog or news site. Whenever a new post is added the RSS feed is updated. RSS reader programs, such as Google Reader, allow you to 'subscribe' to many RSS feeds. The program thus gathers all the new articles from the websites you've subscribed to whenever they're published. They're then displayed in a common format inside Google reader. It ends up like having your own fully customised newspaper.

For example instead of having to visit the following sites:

BabyBarista - Times Online - WBLG
bar council blog
Binary Law
BriefBlog
Class 46
Copyright in a Digital Age (Comm/IS 429, fall 2007)
Engadget
GeekLawyer's Blog
IMPACT®
IPKat - IP news and fun for everyone
Law News from Times Online
Little Gamers
opencontentlawyer.com
OUT-LAW News
p a b s t - p h o t o . c o m
Penny-Arcade
Pupilblog
SCRIPT-ed
Sky News | Home | First For Breaking News
Technology law
The Barrister Blog
The Magistrate's Blog
View From The Bench
xkcd.com
ZDNet UK Blogs - Rupert's Diary

I just have to visit 1 - google reader. So instead of having to remember to check 25 sites regularly to see if they've been updated - sometimes checking only to find they haven't been - I just click on google reader and 'boom' all the latest posts from those sites. I can easily tag them if I think they're important for later or e-mail them to a friend that I think might find it interesting. I have them pre-filtered into different categories so if I just feel like reading on legal issues that day I can do that to.

There is no way at all I'd read that many sites per day if it weren't for RSS feeds. RSS feeds keep me 'in the loop' as to what's happening.