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The State Of Bloggery

The blog "community" is morphing into something a little surreal.

Apparently a fair number of bloggers spend much of their time sending Reynolds link after link, and are growing belligerent that he doesn't always credit them in the manner they feel appropriate. Well, guess what? It's dude's blog, and he can do what he wants! You don't like how he treats your "gifts?" Don't send 'em! But, of course, then there's no possibility you might get that coveted link back so the world can "discover" your brilliance, right? Another hint: if it's that brilliant, the world will discover it. If traffic levels aren't what you hope, should you really be bitching at Reynolds? Or looking inward?

Meanwhile, the FoxNews website has started running a regular "bloggers" feature. I can't help but wonder: is it truly a "technological reformation" if bloggers are simply incorporated into mainstream media? One argument has been that bloggers help act as a check on the mainstream media by providing an alternative. So what happens when alternative media becomes mainstream media? Is that the end of the reformation? The beginning? Or its downfall? Or was the reformation overblown to begin with?

People are also bandying about the idea of payments for personal email responses, the load of responding to emails generated by their blogs becoming simply too much to handle for some bloggers. And of course, Wil Wheaton thought it would be nice for his readers to pay for a nice dinner with his wife, which didn't go over too well with some.

In any case, Jaffo is still serving up good stuff, and it's a shame HE is not making FoxNews more lively, or writing about Red America for the Atlantic, or collecting a little online coin, or something. His latest thoughts on polyamory and the "arrow in the head" are hilarious -- hilarious because Jaffo knows how to blend elements of truth and humor into a satisfying mix.

[Posted at 21:57 CST on 02/19/02] [Link]

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