12:01 AM
Gil Student
As this blog nears a major milestone -- it’s 100,000th hit (in under 8 months), I would like to take some time to meditate on the merits of a blog as opposed to other forms of internet publication and communication (thanks will come after we hit the milestone). I am more than a little familiar with other forms of internet discussion, most prominent among them e-mail lists (or listservs), posted articles, message boards and forums. I think reviewing those venues will help explain the values I see in a blog.
An article can address any topic that a blog can. In fact, at first glance there seems to be very little difference from the two. Blogs are updated frequently and kept in a central location. However, with a little organization, the same can be done with articles. The difference, however, is that blogs allow comments. An article is a monologue while a blog post is, one hopes, the beginning of a discussion that includes the blogger and readers. This is an important point for two reasons. First, it allows the blogger to be corrected or to be otherwise informed. This is no small matter because few people can claim omniscience or faultless judgment. Second, this feature draws readers into the blog and makes them part of the experience. By joining in the discussion, readers feel that to some degree they are also a part of the blog, and that builds comradery and loyalty. All of this is lacking in an article where there is no participation by the audience.
This participation is available on a forum and a message board. However, I have yet to find a forum or message board that has a lot of content and is easily maneuverable, especially to people with limited time. One has to dive in and out of discussions to find new and interesting topics, and frequently the interesting parts are drowned out by frivolous (and anonymous) discussion that clogs the threads.
An e-mail list has that danger as well, but a little moderation frequently goes a long way. Additionally, the relative absence of anonymity can stop a good deal of the nonsense that takes place on forums. However, even a properly moderated e-mail list lacks something that is present in articles and blogs. On an e-mail list, everyone is equal. In an article, the author has full control. He is the master and the sole voice. On a blog, the owner is less than the complete controller but his voice is the strongest. He is the one whose words are in the posts while readers are relegated to the comments. This creates a less-than-equal status that is enticing to someone who wishes to control the content and tone.
However, a blogger certainly lacks complete control of the site. Even one who is quick to delete comments cannot control which topics spark interest and which do not. A blogger can post something he considers extremely important and readers can ignore it. Alternately, they can take the discussion in the comments to a totally different topic, something that is difficult to control.
To me, a blog is a more satisfactory venue than any of the others discussed. There are others with more time than I who, on an e-mail list, can simply drown me out by sheer volume. On my blog, my voice is heard. I may be contradicted and disproved, but I will be heard. I can control the topics to a degree, but can still benefit from active discussion when the readers choose to engage in one. To me, it is currently the best of all possible venues.
On the other hand, articles can be held onto for a long time and more properly thought out and edited. Blogs are updated frequently -- I try to post at least once each weekday* -- and that does not always leave me time to think things through or to edit my writing (hence the frequent spelling and grammatical errors -- sorry). However, I submit that this very nature of blogs is a positive aspect rather than a negative one. It makes readers feel more comfortable and more ready to comment. If every blog post were a literary masterpiece, I suspect that most readers would be too intimidated to comment. The informality of blogs is what helps make this place into a community rather than a lecture hall.
And with this, I conclude my thoughts on blogs. It seems to me that they are currently very much in vogue. However, they are only the current fad and probably will be considered out-of-date within a few years once they are supplanted by a newer concept. So enjoy it now until it becomes passé.
* Confession: I added an hour to the time I posted this so it would register as Monday morning and take me off the hook for the day.
