Gearbox's Not-a-blog

17May2001

I have deep reservations about blogs. 

That's not true. Try: blogs drive me bug-fuck crazy.

On one hand, I read a few of them -- those written
by people I admire and who don't (in their blogging)
drive me further bug-fuck.

And appreciate finding out what my favorite authors have
been up to, how they've been feeling, and the mini-
(and maxi-) essays about whatever.

But even with these carefully screened blogs, the process 
of reading proves intensely frustration *every* time.
Because I want to reply -- I always want to reply to
*something*, and that causes two problems.

First, finding the time to reply -- I'm kinda busy, and I
get addicted to Net-related stuff. I've had to rein in my
fanfic habit, my list habits, even my Tetris habit, so that
I don't neglect my paying job and my family. And I'm not
very good at avoiding temptation, so when I encounter yet 
another potentially addictive activity, I try to run away.
If I let them, blog-related reading and writing can suck 
hours out of my day, every day.

Second, the power inequity pisses me off. If someone's 
posted an essay on the Web, and I have something to say 
about the subject, then I want to reply in an equally public 
venue. Private e-mail to the blogger just doesn't cut it.
If it was a list conversation, that'd be different, I'd
just wing a response on list. But the dynamics of a bunch
of linked blog pages are very different from a private
list.

I suppose that somehow integrating a guestbook into the
blog pages at each journal entry could be useful, but I've
yet to see anyone do this.

And of course, the current method for responding to other
bloggers (having a blog page of one's own), brings me back
to the time problem. Which is why I'm posting this. Which
is why I'm posting this as a text file, and not making it
pretty, or linking, or otherwise futzing around with it.


Some other time, maybe I'll rant about:
Blogging -- doing it in public and do you wash your hands afterwards?
The addictive nature of the Web
Fan removal from source material, and why that can be a good thing
When did the citizens turn into consumers?
Fear and loathing of mass media.