Saturday, March 20, 2004
(2:21 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
The Weblog: In Retreat?
Today is a sad day for the Weblog: all my illustrious co-bloggers, from the stolid and dependable Robb Schunemann to Michael "Johnny-Come-Lately" Hancock, have been scrolled to death. This is the first time that I can remember this happening. I understand everyone's reasons, but it still seems somewhat sad. But hey, at least we're producing at a faster clip than The H is O or a house falling in the sea.
We would be living in a very different world today if I ever figured out a clever way to blog at work. I do occasionally use lynx for web browsing, especially on slow days, but the blogger interface is rather clumsy in that format. Even worse, I haven't figured out an easy way to cut and paste URLs (or even to know what the URLs are for the page I'm on). The most I can squeeze out is usually a comment or two at Chun or John and Belle's. If I had the normal Internet Explorer at my disposal with the Google Toolbar, the "Quick Links" sidebar would be filled at a startling rate. I read a lot of good posts this morning, but going back and finding them all, then linking to them all at once seems to defeat the spontenaity that is that the heart of the blogging genre. The "Blog This!" button is truly a godsend -- I cannot recommend the Google Toolbar enough, to bloggers and non-bloggers alike. Yes, I am getting paid to say that, but I stand behind my product 100%!
For all that, though, the real obstacle to adequate blogging is clear: school. I keep thinking that I need to take time off of school so that I can finally get down to the business of reading, and now it's becoming clear that I need to get down to the business of blogging as well -- because when you've got a blog, you've got a commitment. You don't just let your blog lay fallow for six days (and counting), and you certainly don't start a blog and then invite a hundred people to write for you, hoping that a couple of them will write a substantial amount so that you can get all the glory with none of the work. No, when you've got a blog, you get on the computer, and you post on the fucking blog!
I wonder if my page rank would be higher if I didn't use such foul language? That's one feature of the Google toolbar I probably need to turn off, since it drives me crazy -- I know for a fact that more people are blogrolling me now, yet I'm stuck at 4. This summer, when I was a young unknown, I was coasting at 5. Do I just need to comment at CalPundit more? Is that it? Maybe the New York Times (please note, fellow bloggers, that The Weblog follows the latest edition of the MLA Handbook, though I don't know what edition that is, since I'm now involved in a discipline with whose documentation style I am unfamiliar and which I am deeply opposed to learning -- curse you, Kate Turabian!) needs to start posting comments on CalPundit, too, because its page rank has fallen from 9 to 8. Is it David Brooks, driving people away with his outrageously bad columns? Or is it just that people are starting to realize the Washington Post (take note again) is a better paper? Or, even worse, is it possible that Andrew Sullivan has convinced the vast right-wing blogging conspiracy (and is it any wonder that one of the most popular right-leaning blogs contains the word conspiracy in its title -- is this the point we've reached, where ideology can show its cards so clearly, yet still function, as Zizek maintains?) to stop linking to the Grey Lady? And while we're on the topic, is it possible that SullyWatch mentions Lacan more often than any blog outside of me and à Gauche?
In conclusion, to make up for a missed opportunity, I would like to point out the similarities between the incident in which I am rumored to have punched a 12-year-old girl and academic mega-star Michael Bérubé's satire of academic conferences, in which he brilliantly lampoons the "this is more a comment than a question" phenomenon.
In real conclusion, a question: do you think it's better to have a rather spare blogroll to reflect the blogs that I actually read on a regular basis, or a huge one to reflect my sense of self-importance? I'm willing to add some stuff if the latter turns out to be preferred. I know Atrios has been in agony ever since I de-blogrolled him, so maybe it's time to bring the poor guy back. (An idea: Is anyone doing an "Atrios-watch" blog? Would it be possible to do such a page critiquing Atrios from the left? Would it be a good idea for a one-time gimmick when I have a day off this summer?)
