Welcome Slashdot Readers
Bennett Haselton, in a Slashdot article today (thanks)
(My own favorite blog that nobody's ever heard of is Seth Finkelstein's InfoThought, which is usually logical and insightful and is only about 25% of the time about how "nobody ever reads this blog, so what's the point". His Guardian columns are also good and usually don't have that subtext, perhaps because it's considered impolite to use a newspaper's column-inches (column-centimeters?) to complain that you have no voice.)
No, because then they wouldn't publish it! :-)
Though on that theme, I recommend the Guardian column I wrote:
"If you want to change the world, a blog may not be the place to start"
Further, the unread blogger sayeth not, due to irony overload :-(
By Seth Finkelstein | posted in cyberblather | on December 01, 2008 01:41 PM (Infothought permalink)
You do have a voice, and it's not fair that you're using some of it to complain about how little voice you have. You've got a column in a major newspaper and a name that sounds vaguely familiar to me. Sure, that might not sound like a lot. But it's a hell of a lot more than *I* have.
For example, if I had your sort of voice, I probably wouldn't be so carefree about telling people that their vote doesn't count. (I dare you to make a well-reasoned argument for this in your column.)
I do not have nearly enough voice to be heard and to defend myself effectively. This is not changed by the fact that others have even less - rather, it should point out how bad the problem is.
I'm not sure what you're referring to about "vote".
I like the fact that you relentlessly point out that the most intelligently-written blogs have the smallest audiences. There is no more important observation about blogs than that one.
The blog hype reminds me of the hype for digital video. The people who made real break-thoughs, both creatively and commercially, using digital video, did it when DV was regarded a nothing more than a consumer toy (The VX1000 era). By the time the industry started hyping DV as an "everyman's tool for making movies" the door had slammed shut. Too many not every good (mostly pretty bad actually) movies shot on handicams. DV became an easy way to ID an amateur effort, and the DV hype was nothing more than a way to move cameras.
Somewhere out there, there's a new technology or approach that will give voice to the maginalized but cunning. But you can bet your ass that by the time the hype begins about it being a "voice for the everyman" the door will be shut.
Hello Mr Finkelstein!
We don't know each other, but I would like to tell you that I've been reading your blog on and off for several years now, and that I consider it one of my better sources of information and reflection upon new technologies and society. "Please keep up the good work" sounds trite, but that's exactly how I feel about your writing. Cheers!
zer00: Thank you very much for your kind words. Sadly, I can't eat them, wear them, or sleep in them :-(.