Arbitrary Thoughts on Weblogs

Update: Read Dr. Rob Potter's reaction to this posting here.

I started this Weblog to force me to understand the new medium. In some ways I am closer. In some ways I am farther.

There are four or five Weblogs that I read regularly. I often read Dr. Rob Potter's The Audio Prof. Rob was the pioneer who unintentionally persuaded me to have a try at this.

Rob's been busy lately. He doesn't post as much. This disappoints me, even though I understand he is busy. But I feel as if I am standing in the driveway waiting for my morning paper, and it does not come.

I like it when Rob writes about the profession (example). But I usually like it more when he writes about his life (example).

People seem to comment more on this Weblog when I wax about something personal than when I pontificate about my research. Somehow it makes me real, I guess. Yet I have started and then deleted dozens of posts because they seemed too personal. So I start over with something work-related.

Rob wondered about the future of his Weblog (read here). I wondered, too (read here).

I love comments. But I do not get them often enough. The whole point is that it is interactive. Heck, I am forced to mention the Ohio State football team at least once a week so that my one regular commenter will chime in. Instead, most people lurk.

I used to leave comments on Rob Potter's Weblog. Then he enabled the function where the owner has to moderate comments. I understand the reasons (I think). But I stopped commenting anyway. I think there may be a social scientific lesson there somewhere (N = 1). So mine are unmoderated. I just delete the occasional whacky one.

Of the two Weblogs I enjoy most, neither have anything to do with my research. They are about people's personal lives. One is from an old college friend. She uses a lot of photographs. This has inspired me to use more images (but ironically not today). And weirdly enough, since I know her and you don't, I feel as if I shouldn't link to it.

The other is by a young woman whom I have never met. But she went to high school with a buddy of mine. And for some reason he had me read it one day. And she's a pretty good writer, so I read it pretty often. It's my link to "real" bloggers. But she's a stranger, so you can read that one.

It's the trivia of their lives that is interesting. There are tons of Weblogs in my field. But I don't read them. For some reason, I don't care. I'd prefer to keep up on the progress of my friend's dissertation.

So, it's almost 300 postings later, and I am still learning. I am forming new opinions. I am learning that if I mention a product name, Google will find my post. If I write about some teacher's naked pictures, I will have more readers in one day than I normally have in a month.

I am convinced that any Weblog purporting to track the life and times of a teenage girl will easily gets hundreds of hits a day (e.g., the breakaway Youtube hit -- and fraud -- Lonelygirl15).

I like it when I find cool things, such as the fact that the Albuquerque Journal has a page that finds my Weblog and links to it because I link to them (I used to work for them).

Please leave a comment from time-to-time. They can be anonymous, you know? And then it will seem more like a Weblog and less like my Christmas letter.

P.S. If you think I was picking on Rob, I am really mad at my friend Johnny Sparks for not writing in his Weblog for SIX MONTHS!