Comments on: First Post http://msm.runhello.com/?p=4 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 04:00:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: sylvia http://msm.runhello.com/?p=4&cpage=1#comment-12479 sylvia Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:28:07 +0000 http://msm.grumpybumpers.com/?p=4#comment-12479 nice work man 10x nice work man 10x

]]> By: Marcus http://msm.runhello.com/?p=4&cpage=1#comment-8509 Marcus Tue, 27 Nov 2007 06:49:25 +0000 http://msm.grumpybumpers.com/?p=4#comment-8509 I liked this essay. Especially the first half which impressed me as well written and partly about things I'm familiar with (old media, the decline of journalism, a possible transition in American character). Blogs I don't know so much about. In physics blogs there seems to be a lot of media-narcissism. Which can be ok for a while if the person is charming. their flowers. what they ate for breakfast. Everyone seems to want to be a personality. And then there are the yes-men. so the comments often aren't interesting. Or they are witty and socially graceful, but don't leave much to chew on later. you can learn how people think and react from reading comments in physics blogs. what arouses animosity. what they care about. it's like a test-tube or a petri dish. this is the first post of your blog I have read (otherwise i just know you from what you've written at Woit's and at PF) I have hopes. It is interesting enough to make me want to read more of this blog. I liked this essay. Especially the first half which impressed me as well written and partly about things I’m familiar with (old media, the decline of journalism, a possible transition in American character).
Blogs I don’t know so much about. In physics blogs there seems to be a lot of media-narcissism. Which can be ok for a while if the person is charming. their flowers. what they ate for breakfast. Everyone seems to want to be a personality. And then there are the yes-men. so the comments often aren’t interesting. Or they are witty and socially graceful, but don’t leave much to chew on later.
you can learn how people think and react from reading comments in physics blogs. what arouses animosity. what they care about. it’s like a test-tube or a petri dish.

this is the first post of your blog I have read (otherwise i just know you from what you’ve written at Woit’s and at PF)
I have hopes. It is interesting enough to make me want to read more of this blog.

]]> By: dusda http://msm.runhello.com/?p=4&cpage=1#comment-290 dusda Mon, 21 Aug 2006 06:07:49 +0000 http://msm.grumpybumpers.com/?p=4#comment-290 Wow, you really put a lot of time into this. I have a couple points about the 'rigid structure' of the blogosphere. You're right, many supposedly open blogger communities are actually more akin to a cul de sac without an exit, but I'm not sure it's a constant truth. Take my presence on Vox for example (http://dusda.vox.com). Yes, most of the people in my "Neighborhood" are fellow software developers, but the list is also dotted with people in an entirely different direction in life. One is a soldier in Iraq. Another is a chick in the UK. I think that once you hit a group of people who's primary concerns aren't next month's prom, you get into a broader, more diverse crowd. Of course a bunch of 16 year old girls on MySpace are going to spend all their time commenting on each other's crazy high school stories, but check back on them in a couple years. I don't think you'll see the same inward circle. As for the idea of what differentiates a blog from a forum post, well, I think it comes down to the idea of a domain. I probably get ten times the impressions on a Penny Arcade post versus writing an entry on Vox...but once that thread is done, so are my comments. They're lost in the sea of old pages, which will eventually be routinely wiped from memory forever. A forum thread is like a river, constantly flowing. There's no sense of state or foundation to it. But a domain, now, that's a place to call home. No matter where I am, no matter what I'm doing, Dusda.com points right to me. Granted, these days it points to dusda.vox.com, but that's besides the point. That's just Vox kicking my ass at making a blog. Anyway, that's why people love blogs; it gives them a sense of foundation in the crazyness of the internet. Whether or not it actually gives them a louder voice is insignificant. Wow, you really put a lot of time into this.

I have a couple points about the ‘rigid structure’ of the blogosphere. You’re right, many supposedly open blogger communities are actually more akin to a cul de sac without an exit, but I’m not sure it’s a constant truth. Take my presence on Vox for example (http://dusda.vox.com). Yes, most of the people in my “Neighborhood” are fellow software developers, but the list is also dotted with people in an entirely different direction in life. One is a soldier in Iraq. Another is a chick in the UK. I think that once you hit a group of people who’s primary concerns aren’t next month’s prom, you get into a broader, more diverse crowd. Of course a bunch of 16 year old girls on MySpace are going to spend all their time commenting on each other’s crazy high school stories, but check back on them in a couple years. I don’t think you’ll see the same inward circle.

As for the idea of what differentiates a blog from a forum post, well, I think it comes down to the idea of a domain. I probably get ten times the impressions on a Penny Arcade post versus writing an entry on Vox…but once that thread is done, so are my comments. They’re lost in the sea of old pages, which will eventually be routinely wiped from memory forever. A forum thread is like a river, constantly flowing. There’s no sense of state or foundation to it.

But a domain, now, that’s a place to call home. No matter where I am, no matter what I’m doing, Dusda.com points right to me. Granted, these days it points to dusda.vox.com, but that’s besides the point. That’s just Vox kicking my ass at making a blog. Anyway, that’s why people love blogs; it gives them a sense of foundation in the crazyness of the internet. Whether or not it actually gives them a louder voice is insignificant.

]]>