Poll: Do you have your own Web Log (Blog)? [Archive]

Dahl

Sep 26, 2003, 03:45 AM

Originally posted by KAKOsc
Personally, i hate weblogs
I mean, god, does anyone actually want to read about whats happening in your life? I cant think of anything more boring. Oh look, you said and did this! wow! you have a life, i dont, so i will read about your life!
Agree, most web blogs are boring. I only have a couple bookmarked, but they are good to have, if you (like me) live far away from you family.

sebimeyer

Sep 26, 2003, 05:01 AM

Yup, sure do:
http//:www.sebimeyer.com

I post all my writings to it because, well, I am a writer.

true777

Sep 26, 2003, 05:14 AM

I sure don't. I find it somewhat impertinent to impose one's humble life's mundane occcurences onto anyone stumbling by. I think those folks pretty much take themselves way too serious. Look - you're not Brad Pitt, so noone cares what you had for dinner or whether you clipped your toenails. It seems like people think having a blog makes them a rockstar or something. I mean, I don't tell strangers at the bus stop why I chose to wear green socks today, and bloggers in all their coolness remind me of folks who do just that.

SiliconAddict

Sep 26, 2003, 05:50 AM

Livejournal.com however I don't advertise and my post are locked private. I suppose I use it more like a personal journal more then anything else. Its somewhat interesting to go back and see what you were doing a year ago. How things were going, etc. Sometimes it puts one's life in perspective.

robbieduncan

Sep 26, 2003, 06:11 AM

I do now. I was going to write my own code to do it, but iBlog seems to be just as good! Not sure if I'll really use it though...

esheep2001

Sep 26, 2003, 06:35 AM

Can't stand weblogs! What a waste of time and energy. Both for those writing them and those that read them. What's wrong with a diary? Who on earth wants to read a pile ego-centric drivel by someone you've never met, will never likely meet and, more often than not, don't give a fig about.

Thanks Apple but no thanks, iBlog coupled with the US specific $30 offer means people outside the US get shafted again. Typical!

e.

pyrotoaster

Sep 26, 2003, 07:30 AM

MacUnderground (http://macunderground.blogspot.com/).

It's a rumor site. In blog form. I've been posting since last December.

I think it's important for people to remember that blogs don't have to be about what you had for lunch and whether or not it was worth $5.50. You can use a blog for just about anything. It's just really nice to able to add new stuff without bothering the HTML.

Jerry Spoon

Sep 26, 2003, 07:34 AM

Not really sure what the point is...putting yourself out there for all the world to see. I'm sure for some (not all though) it's a way to get attention that they just don't get in their offline lives. I'm not nearly as put off by the idea when everything is locked up like a previous post mentioned.

There's a kids book (I'm a teacher, so I read a lot of kids' lit.) called TurnAbout by Katherine Haddux (I think) that has an interesting perspective on the increasing overexposure of individuals through the use of technology and media and what that does to the societie's persona.

When I first started hearing about blogs, that was the first thing I thought of.

X-Baz

Sep 26, 2003, 07:43 AM

they don't have to be an online diary - they can be focused ...

one of my favourites is www.joelonsoftware.com - basically he describes the trials and tribulations of running a software company. as a developer it's very interesting.

and mine's a way of sending out match reports on football (soccer) matches that I attend - as most of my friends live miles away, i get to give them my opinion on the important stuff (style of play, haircuts, funny chants, the opposition's digusting coloured shirts) that you don't get in "official" match reports.

fixyourthinking

Sep 26, 2003, 08:13 AM

Originally posted by true777
I sure don't. I find it somewhat impertinent to impose one's humble life's mundane occcurences onto anyone stumbling by. I think those folks pretty much take themselves way too serious. Look - you're not Brad Pitt, so noone cares what you had for dinner or whether you clipped your toenails. It seems like people think having a blog makes them a rockstar or something. I mean, I don't tell strangers at the bus stop why I chose to wear green socks today, and bloggers in all their coolness remind me of folks who do just that.

My blog (not really a blog, more like a journal) I think is interesting and I have over 30 regular readers. There's some interesting insider info that you won't see here, tech opinions, and political speech. I never talk about my days. I'm quite proud of it:

http://slashdot.org/~adzoox/

I consider my /. posts as part of my journal as well as having a seperate journal entry page. I often discuss the poll questions here.

esheep2001

Sep 26, 2003, 09:09 AM

Originally posted by adzoox
My blog (not really a blog, more like a journal) I think is interesting and I have over 30 regular readers. There's some interesting insider info that you won't see here, tech opinions, and political speech. I never talk about my days. I'm quite proud of it:

http://slashdot.org/~adzoox/

I consider my /. posts as part of my journal as well as having a seperate journal entry page. I often discuss the poll questions here.

That's you opinion, here's mine.

Ugh! That's even worse than a blog! A random concoction of posts to a bulletin board with no context and no flow whatsoever.

Either post on /. or keep a blog. This list of "articles" is next to useless (IMHO of course).

Sorry bud but I'm not going to be your 31st reader. Keep it up though, one day you'll see /. for the waste of web space it's become over the last few years.

e.

pimentoLoaf

Sep 26, 2003, 09:29 AM

someContent (http://somecontent.blogspot.com)

NicoMan

Sep 26, 2003, 09:29 AM

Originally posted by pyrotoaster
blogs don't have to be about what you had for lunch and whether or not it was worth $5.50. You can use a blog for just about anything.
Well, if I had a weblog, I would have trouble talking about anything but that...:confused:

I guess that it's good then that I don't have one... I'll keep you guys posted on that:D

nslyax

Sep 26, 2003, 09:45 AM

Yes I do, though its completely useless. Started on blogger.com, then moved to iblog on .mac when the MacWorld article on blogging came out.

http://homepage.mac.com/nslyax/iblog/

BTW, just (like within hour) got my 10GB refurbished g2 ipod from Apple, $169, I love this thing!

Nick

notjustjay

Sep 26, 2003, 10:11 AM

I do keep a weblog on LiveJournal. As far as I know only one of my friends reads it, but that's OK.. I use it mostly as an outlet for myself. Like last week some jacka$$ poured sand in my car's gas tank, and I needed to vent, so... I did. :mad:

It is cool to go back and read what was on my mind ages ago, but often I find myself being embarrassed or, having some new crisis or whatever in my life, thinking "Gaaah, I can't believe I was so stuck up on that" or whatever..

NightThree

Sep 26, 2003, 10:21 AM

Actually, by the original definition of "blog", it's not a journal. It's a collection of interesting Web links with some focus and usually some commentary. You're logging the Web, not logging you. Blogs then changed (mostly) into online journals.

Don't say blogs are a waste of time - macrumors.com is one, technically.

And don't complain about it being a waste of money - go to blogger.com to get one for free. Again, like a lot of other things, if you want the Apple name, you'll have to shell out a little money.

Online journals are a good way to keep in touch with people you don't see every day. I don't think they're meant for everyone, but people like Lawrence Lessig and Cory Doctrow have some really great commentary on theirs. Do people say web pages are a waste of time just because most of them don't have good content? Then why say that about blogs?

MCroft

Sep 26, 2003, 10:32 AM

Yep. I use MovableType. It's running on a B&W 350 using Apache and Perl. Part of the goal of setting it up was to see if I could. I know a lot more about Unix administration now.

I agree that many blogs are boring, unless you happen to know the person involved, but there are some fascinating ones out there.

Dave Hyatt has an irregularly updated blog on Safari development. Greg Costikyan talks about game design and the industry. Laurent Bossavit on Agile Development. Andy Iknahto's Colossal Waste of Bandwidth. Mark Evanier. Neil Gaiman. Perversiontracker. Lore Fitzgerald Sjöberg. Bruce Sterling (moving to WIRED, but still blogging). People who know things and think interesting thoughts

Blog software is a tool to make it easier to update content without great effort. I'm not against lowering the cost of entry of putting info on the web, even if Sturgeon's Law applies.

innervision

Sep 26, 2003, 10:43 AM

i used to have a blog, my own domain, all that but i just kinda got tired of it. first of all, i know people don't (and shouldn't) give a **** about my mundane life which is just like evereyone else's mundane life. that's what i hate about a lot of blogs out there - BORING - no content beyond 'my cat did the cutest thing today.' well, that's great, but i don't care! i think some blogs that have a theme, such as news analysis or whatever are good, but i opted out from the 'blog-scene' because too many people were jumping on the bandwagon and dragging the quality of the whole thing down.

wdlove

Sep 26, 2003, 12:09 PM

I voted no, don't have a Web Blog. Not sure that I would want to post my Journal on the Internet!

Chealion

Sep 26, 2003, 12:14 PM

I have a JournaBlog. Half journal, in that I can rant about what happened to me, but half blog in that it contains information following a project, or a point of view. At the moment, I'm using Blogger onto a server, but I should be moving to Movable Type as its much more convenient to use.

Journals are not blogs. If someone is saying that "my cat was cute today", thats not a true blog, thats a journal. A lot of people confuse the two. I don't have a cat so I don't say my cat was cute, I just analyse my day in about a sentence or two to keep it simple.

Chealion

Sep 26, 2003, 12:46 PM

Also, everyone who uses .Mac, now can access iBlog for free, which makes doing a Blog or Journal or more likely a JournaBlog very easy for everyone.

mrsebastian

Sep 26, 2003, 12:50 PM

if ranting and raving about apple stuff in these forums counts, then i guess i have a blog.

rueyeet

Sep 26, 2003, 12:55 PM

Originally posted by Chealion
Journals are not blogs. If someone is saying that "my cat was cute today", thats not a true blog, thats a journal. A lot of people confuse the two.

Absolutely. LiveJournal isn't really a blog, it's a journal; but there are some people with formidable enough writing skills to actually craft some fairly interesting entries without overt reference to the mundane details of their lives. Also, the reason for the whole friend system on LJ is that the readers of a journal are most likely going to be people who do care what's going on with the author.

A blog isn't a journal, and shouldn't properly include "what I did today" posts. It's actually a pretty effective mechanism for the dissemination of particular types of information, such as the progress of a project, or a content digest tailored to the interests of a specific community. MacRumors and AtAT (http://www.appleturns.com) are essentially blogs serving people interested in Mac-related rumors (even if AtAT is more entertaining). :)

The Internet always has a high ratio of noise to content, and journals and blogs simply aren't any more immune to that than any other part of the Web. That doesn't invalidate either one as a way to convey content, even if too many people take that as an excuse to flood the Internet with their personal effluvia.

Oh, and....I don't have either a blog, or a journal.

DeusOmnis

Sep 26, 2003, 01:16 PM

The options to this poll sucked. You would think that if you did a poll EVERY DAY that you might be better at it. You could have many more options than just 2....

Yes, Ive had one for a long time
Yes, I started one recently
No, I'm considering however
No, I didnt know what they are but am interestd now
No, I didnt know what they are and I am still not interested
No, I knew what they are and I I'm just not interested
No, I knew what they are and I completely hate them

Heck, it could even break down into a second part for "yes" with a drop down for what you post on it.

skymaXimus

Sep 26, 2003, 01:49 PM

I kinda do
www.handmeadollar.com (http://www.handmeadollar.com)
The site didn't start out to be a blog but I update stuff about my life every so often. Not that I think anyone should read it, its just kinda fun.

Dahl

Sep 26, 2003, 02:05 PM

I'm a designer, so I love http://www.whatdoiknow.org/
Todd is a great designer and a Mac user, he has a passion for great web design and he doesn't post silly stuff all the time. But I think you can start writing more intimate things as you go along, but you almost have to "earn" your viewers first. :) First write stuff people care about, then you can get away with posts about your cat/ex girlfriend/whatever since the viewers already feel like they know you.
The site is beatiful too.

Another good blog is http://www.underconsideration.com/speakup_v2/
Another great looking site about design and typography.

fixyourthinking

Sep 26, 2003, 02:24 PM

Originally posted by esheep2001
That's you opinion, here's mine.

Ugh! That's even worse than a blog! A random concoction of posts to a bulletin board with no context and no flow whatsoever.

Either post on /. or keep a blog. This list of "articles" is next to useless (IMHO of course).

Sorry bud but I'm not going to be your 31st reader. Keep it up though, one day you'll see /. for the waste of web space it's become over the last few years.

e.

I say those of us with a blog write about what an arrogant bore esheep2001 is.:D

amin

Sep 26, 2003, 02:28 PM

Originally posted by SiliconAddict
Livejournal.com however I don't advertise and my post are locked private. I suppose I use it more like a personal journal more then anything else. Its somewhat interesting to go back and see what you were doing a year ago. How things were going, etc. Sometimes it puts one's life in perspective.

I've come across more than a couple such "personal" "secure" sites by mistake when clicking on Google cache.

nick8ascot

Sep 26, 2003, 03:07 PM

I'm not sure how they are craeted. I have a website but can someone tell me how do you create one?:)

esheep2001

Sep 26, 2003, 03:12 PM

Originally posted by adzoox
I say those of us with a bolg write about what an arrogant bore esheep2001 is.:D

Feel free, at least I know no one will read it :)

But you _MUST_ write it in your bolg and NOT your blog ;)

e.

DStaal

Sep 26, 2003, 03:17 PM

Yes, I have a blog. My own domain and everything (running Blosxom (http://www.blosxom.com/). Free and easy to set up).

It's not a journal though. Just a place for me to store overflow links from my bookmark list. (And a place where I can store or access them when I'm not at home.)

MongoTheGeek

Sep 26, 2003, 04:17 PM

I don't Blog. I write letters to friends who read them or perhaps just delete them :) I and rant at my wife over dinner.

Blogging is an onanistic act. It is done for release and self gratification. There is nothing wrong with it.
:D
I think Heinlein foresaw blogging when he wrote, "There is nothing wrong with writing, just keep it to yourself and wash your hands afterwards."
:D
One final thought. If the Catholic church ever wants a patron saint of bloggers St Paul would be a good one. Pauls blog to the Phillipians.
:D

edit: why the hell does the submit button introduce errors :)

Rower_CPU

Sep 26, 2003, 09:30 PM

http://www.organicallydigital.com

I decided it would be a fun PHP/MySQL project, so I made my own. I don't update it often, but it's a nice way for family and friends to check up on what's new in my life.

I also try to put portfolio stuff up there, too, on the off chance someone who comes across it wants to see more examples of my web design work and hire me as a consultant. :)

mislabeledstar

Sep 26, 2003, 09:58 PM

myself and a few friends of mine use them due to us being all over the country..... we don't live a town away like we used to so we use it to let the other know whats up with us, on another note, i don't believe people who don't know me read mine, nor would i really care for them to, and i don't read those of people i don't know

while a waste of time for some, it's great for easily keeping in touch with some people

MrMacMan

Sep 26, 2003, 10:35 PM

Read my Profile.

To Tired to waste my time copy/pasting it.

Yes I do blog.

rjrufo

Sep 26, 2003, 11:21 PM

I used to have one, similar to someone else who said that it would be a fun php/mysql project. I spent quite a bit of time installing FreeBSD, Apache, and MySQL, and setting up the blog on an old HP computer that was stuck in the closet for a while.
My family is spread out all over the USA, and e-mail addresses change a lot. I thought that having a blog/forum would be much easier than keeping track of e-mail addresses.
I guess I could've said I wasted a lot of time with the project, because I got about 1000 hits on the system the first month, (900 from my mother) and then it dropped to about 30 the following month. I set it up so that everyone in the family had a username and password, so that it would be "secure", and each member of the family could add their own content.
Either everyone in the family has no life, or they didn't see the use, so I unplugged the damn thing and threw it back in the closet.
So much for having a blog...

KAKOsc

Sep 27, 2003, 12:53 AM

I like rant-like blogs, if you would call them that. I'm a total webcomic freak and i like to read the rant the author has written to go along with the comic. The rant usually includes crazy, funny or important stuff that dont really relate to anything, but entertain.
Blogs that crap on about the authors life and what they're eating for dinner are soo boring. I wouldnt care if they were a celebrity, a good friend or a relative. I have better things to do than read all about someone elses life with reality tv show interest.

mstecker

Sep 27, 2003, 01:27 AM

My little discussion forum (I refuse to call it a Blog!)

http://www.stovepipehat.com

gotohamish

Sep 27, 2003, 04:05 AM

Originally posted by Macrumors
Vote: Poll: Do you have your own Web Log (Blog)? (http://www.macpolls.com/?poll_id=283)

Kind of, so I voted yes, but it's photo only.

http://www.fourdegree.com/TakeMorePhotos

xjohn

Sep 27, 2003, 09:33 AM

it just hit me that macrumors is really an insanely successful blog. it fits the definition of a blog almost perfectly. so, i guess arn's got a blog.

sXe

Sep 27, 2003, 04:30 PM

i have a weblog.

http://www.livejournal.com/~brad260

if you want to listen to a 16 y/o kid bitch about life...

Dahl

Sep 27, 2003, 05:58 PM

While I think it's great what some have photo blogs, most of them end up just like regular blogs. Mostly boring pictures, what people doesn't care about.
Now everybody is shooting photos like crazy with their digicams and posting them online, even if they aren't that good to begin with.

wdlove

Sep 27, 2003, 08:29 PM

My wife just discovered today that a free blog comes with her .Mac account. With trial and error she is trying to set one up!

iDONTsteal

Sep 28, 2003, 03:38 AM

Originally posted by wdlove
My wife just discovered today that a free blog comes with her .Mac account. With trial and error she is trying to set one up!

what a sweeet icon.gif!:cool:

wdlove

Sep 28, 2003, 02:31 PM

Originally posted by iDONTsteal
what a sweeet icon.gif!:cool:

Thank you for the compliment on my Avatar iDONTsteal! It is vinow that deserves the credit!

Thank you for your service to our country in the Navy. Where are you stationed? How long have you been on active duty and plan to stay?