Saturday, November 8, 2008

"All one needs is a modicum of technical and writing knowledge and a website": Do I Have A Modicum? If Not, Where Can I Get One?

No sooner do I begin a blog than the blogoshere is over. Via Andrew Sullivan, Nick Carr plays seer:

"Blogging seems to have entered its midlife crisis, with much existential gnashing-of-teeth about the state and fate of a literary form that once seemed new and fresh and now seems familiar and tired. And there's good reason for the teeth-gnashing. While there continue to be many blogs, including a lot of very good ones, it seems to me that one would be hard pressed to make the case that there's still a "blogosphere." That vast, free-wheeling, and surprisingly intimate forum where individual writers shared their observations, thoughts, and arguments outside the bounds of the traditional media is gone. Almost all of the popular blogs today are commercial ventures with teams of writers, aggressive ad-sales operations, bloated sites, and strategies of self-linking. Some are good, some are boring, but to argue that they're part of a "blogosphere" that is distinguishable from the "mainstream media" seems more and more like an act of nostalgia, if not self-delusion."

Well, I am middle aged and much given to existential gnashing-of-teeth, and gnashing-of-teeth in general, which is why I had to get one of those mouth guards from the dentist. However, I'm way out of the realm of commercial venture or popular, so I don't really have anything to worry about.

"All one needs is a modicum of technical and writing knowledge and a website like Blogger or Wordpress.com to host a blog for free." I think there's a lot of truth to that - it's considerably easier, assuming you have a computer and net connection, to become a blogger than to become a ham radio operator, and that should, in theory, mean that a fairly steady stream of new bloggers should continue to enter the field (even if they don't stay in it very long). Still, though, Flood exaggerates the death of amateur radio. There are about 3 million amateur ham radio operators worldwide. That doesn't seem to be radically different from the number of active bloggers, despite the fact that blogging is new and sexy while hamming is, well, old and dusty."

Well, I least I'm new and sexy instead of old and dusty. I'll take that, and so will my team of writers and researchers. Take a bow.

Reminds of this scene from "Almost Famous":

Lester Bangs: Your writing is damn good. It’s just a shame you missed out on rock ‘n’ roll.
William Miller: It’s over?
Lester Bangs: It’s over. You got here just in time for the death rattle. Last gasp. Last grope.

At least I'll get a last grope.

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