photo by HA! designs
Outspoken Media’s Lisa Barone wrote a nice little rant the other day on why bloggers are mostly pathetic, boring, whiny, bad writers who should be expunged from the internet. Can’t say I disagree with her, although I think she painted this particular barn with a mighty broad brush. She and her partners, for example, blog in an interesting, entertaining and informative manner. And I’ve run across many others … OK, dozens … who do the same.
But as Lisa points out, one big problem with blogging is that the printing press is now free. When everyone has one and the license to use it, then you’re going to be wading through fields of blogcrap in search of those little pearls of wisdom.
When someone publishes a bad newsletter or magazine and it doesn’t find an audience, it tends to go away. The costs associated with traditional publishing make it next to impossible for poorly conceived, badly written and pointless publications to survive. Bad blogs, on the other hand, flourish in ever-growing numbers. If you’re willing to invest the time and don’t care if no one ever reads your posts, you can be pointless and annoying to your heart’s content.
But let’s not confuse the source with the tool. Blogs are just another vehicle for either great content or bad content. It’s no different than books or magazines, newsletters, TV shows, radio programs, etc. Good content is good. Bad content is bad. Good blogs good. Bad blogs bad.
If you choose to blog, don’t be a whiner. Don’t annoy. Strive for at least competence in your writing (bonus points for good spelling, grammar and punctuation). Be sure there’s a point to your writing. Entertain, educate and inform us. Or else Lisa will get you and your little blog, too.
Happy blogging.
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