Posting Date: August 25, 2002

Dave Winer Says -- "On Blogroots, Jesse James Garrett takes the position that weblogs are not journalism, and I, of course, say hogwash (politely)." (Comments: Does it matter what blogs are? Does it matter what WebWord is? No, it doesn't matter. People write stuff. They post news. They link to stuff. Get over it.)

Reader Comments...

It does matter for those who want to study blogging a little more deeply, an academic interest maybe. OJR.org and Poynter do it, and it isn't silly or meaningless effort. So, the point is: Are we just criticising Dave because he's Dave Winer?

Posted by: Mahesh Shantaram on August 26, 2002 03:33 AM

I'm just tired of 'prominent' bloggers going on and on endlessly about blogging... is blogging this, is blogging that, this journalist hates bloggers, hey cool this one loves us, blogging is the future of journalism, blogging will save the universe, etc. etc..

It's all very inward-looking, self-obsessed and boring. I've stopped reading sites that are full of self-congratulatory hype and found more interesting places to go online.

Posted by: Matt Round on August 26, 2002 05:33 AM

...or more interesting places to go offline :)

Posted by: daniel on August 26, 2002 05:36 AM

Hear, hear, Matt!

To me, a weblog is a personal site with one's views. I couldn't give a rat's arse about what's more "correct" - journal, blog, pig's poo...

To-may-to, to-mah-to, etc.

I too tire of this "blogger clique". Sick of it, I tell you. I don't want to be part of the "cool gang" or any "A list". So many "A list" sites churn out crap, and people put up with it because, hey, it's an "A list" site. I just want to do my own thing, and not indulge in almost incestuous inter-linking. "Hey look, Tim posts about his pet frog, Janice posts about her new car. Oh and over there, Harry is talking about the women in his life..." Bah!

And no, I ain't buying no "Indian blogger" t-shirt either. Like I said, I don't want to be part of any clique.

Posted by: MadMan on August 26, 2002 08:11 AM

It is journo's seeing the death of their industry and profession...basically everyone is a journalist today. Only the best will survive

See I am one right now...hehe

Posted by: JB on August 26, 2002 11:43 AM

Well said, Matt.

My friend and I were discussing this the other day. I asked him why he still does his blog. "It's more for me and my closer friends now," he said. He doesn't put his e-mail address online and doesn't have comments. The people he cares about know how to get a hold of him.

I agree, weblogging isn't necessarily journalism. It can be, but it isn't automatically so. Too many of the blogs I see are simply a way to self-aggrandize.

Posted by: Lydia on August 26, 2002 02:29 PM

I think all those "elite" bloggers are just doing this to each other:

Posted by: Vicky on August 26, 2002 03:06 PM

well, I didn't expect to ever stumble across that at webword.

Posted by: Mick on August 26, 2002 05:37 PM

This is a first for Webword.com.... do you get special porno classification or something.

Shouldn't this site have a MA rating on the homepage for all the kiddies out there?

Posted by: JB on August 26, 2002 07:22 PM

Ew - thanks a lot, Vicky. I'm not a prude, but I do work in an open office and I am horrified to think who may have seen that (including my boss). I come to Webword because it does not have content like that.

Posted by: Lydia on August 26, 2002 07:55 PM

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