This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Hello Everybody
I published today on our Websites Blog an Article that attempts to explain Blogs, RSS, XML, ATOM to normal people that are not very tech-savvy. It tries to point out the difference to older but similar technologies and what the benefits for the average internet users are if he starts using those new technologies without fearing it. The Article became pretty long and comprehensive that I though that it would be a valuable addition to the "Blog" and "RSS" Post here at Wikipedia.
I added the Link to the External Link Section in the Blog Article and "History and Context" Block in the RSS Article. Shortly after I added it was it removed by User:rodii and User:Monkeyman. Reason: SPAM
I assumed that they did not check the Article at all and just focused on the Domain (which is a Commercial Website), but they assured me that they also think that the Article is not worth to refer people to which try to find out about Blogs and RSS. rodii recommended to post the Link to the Article here and have other you, the community take a look at it and provide comments.
Do you think it's a good article and should be added? Do you think it's not? Why? What exactly do you not like? Something in the Article is Wrong? Incomplete? too Detailed? too Confusion?
Your Feedback is appreciated.
Here is the Article.
Blog, Atom, RSS, XML and Syndication/Aggregation ! ?
Blogs, Blogging, XML, ATOM, RSS explained in simple Words. Written for the regular people using the Internet and not for tech-savvy Geeks.
Article by Carsten Cumbrowski
http://www.consumermatch.com/blog/2006/02/blog-atom-rss-xml-and.html
-- Roy-SAC 02:09, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
Please remember, Wikipedia is not a blog host. -- Thesquire ( talk - contribs) 09:23, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
I think the article could benefit from a short list of 5-10 well known blogs, or else a link to source that would provide such a list. Does anyone have any ideas about a good source for this type of information? Thanks. Johntex\ talk 19:08, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
Reading the section "Blogging Appears" it seemed as though the sentences about Justin Hall and Xanga were somehow related. I checked his article and straightened things out, then edited the article to make it clear that there's no connection. However, I'm wondering whether that reference to Xanga's expansion should be reworded or moved (possible to a section on mass-market blogging), since it covers such a wide time frame, far beyond the years of blogs' first appearance. Thoughts? -- Cantara 22:58, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
Hello, I have just added TheWeblogProject to the external links section. TheWeblogProject is a free, non-commercial open-source video documentary of what blogs are. Popular bloggers (Robert Scoble, Chris Pirillo, Dave Sifry, etc.) and blog readers report their uncensored opionions on what blogs are, what are their key advantages and whether they are competitive with mainstream media.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.140.19.119 ( talk • contribs) 05:26, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Blogosphere should be a subsection of Blog. It is not large enough to be an article itself in my opinion and on top of this, the article goes on to explain what a blog is in the first place... "Weblogs tend to be about a variety of subjects. The form weblogs can take ranges from a simple list of personal links to diary-style. From the beginning, many weblogs have dealt with current events and politics." Thepcnerd 04:04, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
Added more blog articles to the list, not including exact reasons for each one as they are obvious. Thepcnerd 04:17, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
"blogging has quickly emerged as a popular and important means of communication, affecting public opinion and mass media around the world."
Just because a few techno freaks, or some people turning a profit out of the tec industry, have a tendency to call whatever passing fad arises the it thing, doesn't mean that an encyclopedia should have it's ojective stance compromised. I am therefore removing this, one of the opening sentences, because it's downright erroneous. "Blogging" is another form of keeping a diary, or writing articles over the internet, or even just another term, and in no way has it even commenced affecting "public opinion" or the mass media in the western world, let alone in the world at large where the internet is not even a known word in wholed continents such as africa or where it's use is a rarity such as in the middle east. Just because a few self important webaholics in the most modernized and technologically advanced countries think that people around the world actually care for their ramblings it doesn't mean they do. So, neither popular, and popular in terms of what, if you mean readership then of the what 5% around the world that actually use the internet, nor important. Media hype and frenzy should have no place in an encyclopedia. I am removing it, i expect a rational answer if someone decides to reinstate it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.5.22.112 ( talk • contribs) 21:18, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
I still disagree. The premise that you say is correct is the very premise that I am arguing is incorrect, blogging is neither particularly popular nor particularly important. "The around the world" clause is clearly wrong as both of you have admitted, based on worldwide internet use if nothing else. The fact that some major news networks have "started using" only "well known blogs as sources or as the other user said "occassionally" cited as sources for stories does not qualify for the term popular, more popular still on the internet are traditional news media, such as news papers or tv stations with a web presence (alexa this and you ll figure it out), original internet media outlets, chatrooms, forums (very important), mail lists and marginally blogs too, so blogs are only a part of a very large set of options of discourse, not particularly popular over the rest, and certainly not popular in terms of discourse outside the internet. This for me is clearly an overeaction by tech oriented people frequenting this site which generally have the notion that the world revolves around the internet, and not the righ way which is the other way round. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.5.35.193 ( talk • contribs) 08:23, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
I am removing it again, as the reference stated, as if some guys 9 page paper at mit should be stronger evidence than common sense..., is both wrong and misleading. First of all it's a sociological analysis with little data on the prevalence of blogging. The only limited sample that this guy tests (obviously NOT statisticall important) are about 4,000 articles from newspapers and magazines which site 500 blogs. That like I said is a very small sample number, with very limited sources, but even in itself it implies a 1/8 refernce to blogs only in newspaper and magazine articles, none from television, and only some u.s. sample. Disregarding the lack of scientific validity like i said this still is 1 of 8 of 1 out of something of the news medias of 1 out of something of the countries of the globe. This is not popular, this is negligeable. I won't have this encyclopedia be the victim of a media frenzy or anyone here to advance their tech agenda. The article is enough pro blogging in its main body, there's really no need for misleading vast exaggerations in the opening paragraph.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.5.35.193 ( talk • contribs) 08:37, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
First of all implying that I have a hidden agenda with blogging is an argumentum ad hominem which I am sure isn't compatible with wikipedias policies of argumentation in the talk page. Secondly, preserving and insisting on my anonymity is again one of the cornerstones of this project and I can't see why I should get another ad hominem for that too. I have contributed to discussions and articles in many sections without ever feeling the need to establish a nickname and presence here and I have every right to do so. Instead of anyone actually answering any of the points I am making I am getting this. One person said "The whole point of doing studies is to uncover truths that go against 'common sense.". That is wrong, studies are either for validating, falsifying or expanding on common sense. But I again can't see how a "paper", from some mit alumny which is not peer reviewed as far as I can tell, and more importantly is not even relevant to blogging's prevalence because it doesn't have any scientifically, statistically, valid research can be used as a source here. And arguments such as "There was just a cover story on blogging in New York magazine!" won't cut it I am sorry to say, and not only that, but they actually strengthen my argument that this form of communication is only a marginal, western, big city hype phenomenon. Unless people start responding to my rational arguments with counterarguments instead of ad hominems and irrelevant faux "papers" I will keep removing this sentence. I don't have an axe to grind with blogs but I like this collaborative effort too much to see it fall prey to the sort of media hype and hysteria which goes against its very raison d' etre.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.5.29.155 ( talk • contribs) 07:22, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
Tbis is turning to a very rambling, very incoherent and very irrelevant adage from those who disagree with my thesis here, very much akin to blog actually, and very ironically. The issue here is not my anonimity, and I am well aware that my service provider is open to the public, but unless one uses a court mandate or malicious means one cannot find anymore details about my person from that, but, so as to not get caught up in the irrelevancy myself as well here, I do not care. I was responding to an adhominem and reclaiming wikipedia's rights to post without chosing a nickname. I am well aware of wikipedias concensus policy but you should also be well aware that unless one decides to offer a rational reply to my arguments I am not considering a few techies crusade to have an encyclopedia succumb to the media frenzy and claim that their favourite pastime the blog is an important, influential media around the globe instead of the very marginal position it holds, is actually any consensus at all. And I will furthermore not reply to any of the blogging mentality trying to ramble on irrelevant things, or make ad hominem attacks against me, and will solely respond to anyone who adresses the issue. As it stands right now, and it's going to change in a few seconds, we still have an unscientific non peer revied irrelevant article (for the purpose it is supposed to serve here) supporting a view that empirical research and rational thinking finds it to be completely erroneous. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 195.134.69.93 ( talk • contribs) .
You can look at this argument from two angles. Suppose that blogging is truly not popular. Clearly, then, a minority of the population is using blogs and the blogs that exist are not influential. Therefore, media outlets would not compel their reporters to create blogs, nor cite blogs in their articles. Additionally, blogging would be confined to certain types of people in certain areas of the world. But here we have contradictions with reality, and therefore blogging must be popular. I have cited a source for blogging popularity in the main article. I cited this rather than the peer-reviewed version of the paper because it is must shorter (see C. Marlow's web page). Please read the source and then post your reply on this page. Also, remember that "rational thinking" does not apply to facts. If the facts don't line up with "rational thinking," then in fact the logic must be wrong. Bwabes 07:12, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
Rhodite, go over my arguments, I won't do it for your, nor ramble blogwise about it as you would have me. Bwabes, the rational thinking should be based on facts of course, but like I ve mentioned a thousand times and no one bothers to respond to the article you are posting does not contain a proper survey with any statistical significance but merely a sample for arguments sake, the argument being irrelevant to our issue here, so I can't see how you keep reposting it and claiming it is of any value. Secondly, you are using a reductio ad absurdum here, which as a logical structure is valid, but is wrongly implemented here. Blogs mgith be used by media outlets not for their popularity but for their novelty value, one can claim amongst other things, making your argument invalid, it would be valid if the potential aitiology was clearly linear, but it isn't. The internets prevalence around the world is very limited at the time being to mostly the westernized nations, which are a minority in terms of population, from the internets activity blogging is a again a marginal affair competing with news media, internetic news media, chat rooms, forums, newsgroups, message boards, internet portals etc. etc. I ve said this again. By this syllogism it's neither very popular nor very influential and certainly NOT around the world. Like i ve said a lot of times i don't have a "thing" against blogging as people have suggested in their ad hominems, but I do despise mindless media frenzies, esp. if we cannnot keep wikipedia out of these as it should be. The article as it stand is already a blogging advert, and I can't see why you keep insisting on the outrageous hyperbole in the opening paragraphs. I could tolerate as a compromise a phrase such as, "blogging has gained some attention from new media in the western world recently", but I find this version, let alone the grandiose "very influential popular and important medium in the 21st century", unacceptable. It does reinforce my view of what the blogging community is petty, self important, rambling imbecilles (and I don't want to offend anyone here, but that's the way I see it) who think the world at large finds their online rantings of grave importance, while the reality is that the world at large goes on mostly unaware of what their lonely pastime is, or at best equally spending their time between the vast possibilities the internet offers, amongst them the blog.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.5.22.30 ( talk • contribs) 17:21, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
I missed rodii's reply and I am responding to it now. "So what kind of evidence would satisfy you, o skeptical anon? How does one evaluate the importance of a medium? " Α proper statisticall significant prevalence study for starters would be a good idead, that would verify the prevalence for certain. Of course importance a very qualitative term, and a very subjective one too, to quantify, i think the only way one can do it is by associating importance with prevalence, or find some way to quantify public opinion reactions with respect to a news medium. I d take for example a sample in certain community and do a questionaire on thema about the news they read recently, the where they read them, they how they reacted to...etc..that's how a proper sociological study is done.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.5.22.30 ( talk • contribs) 17:30, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
To Rhodite: "I normally don't play the logical fallacy game" If we are to have any discourse we ll have to abide by the laws of reasoning, either implicitly or explicitly, it's not a "game" as your loaded language would have it. I wasn't quoting the orinal phrase I removed verbatim, still according to what you are saying "The words "influential" and "important" aren't used in the actual phrase you removed. For this reason you are using a straw man argument" so here I quote the original sentence: "blogging has quickly emerged as a popular and important means of communication, affecting public opinion and mass media around the world." The word "important" is there verbatim, and the second part of the sentence is what I described as "influential". Next time you try to catch me on semantics instead of replying to my actually arguments, and while not attacking me personaly as you have a habit to, try reading for a change.
To Rodii: "You're asking for a standard of proof that's higher than just about anything else we have on Wikipedia, which, although it tries to reflect scholarly consensus, is not in itself a scholarly organ." No I am not asking that wikipedia becomes a review of scholarly articles, although in a broader sense than mere peer reviewed papers wikipedia does aim at being scholarly, in the sense that the originators of the first encyclopedia in France a few hundred years ago aimed at. What I find unacceptable is to use irrelevant unscientific (wrt to the issues at hand) here to base an otherwise erroneous hyperbole on. "I think it's clear from everything that you write above that the reason you set the bar so high is because you dislike blogs and feel contempt for the people involved with them. I don't think we really need to worry too much about satisfying anyone's hidden agenda." It's not very helpful if you keep insisting that I reply to ulterior motive accusations instead of arguments, but with the same logic i am not here to satisfy anyone else's hidden agenda of promoting their medium of choice by mean of unfounded exageration. "I think the way to approach this is to report that such claims have been made, and that they have been criticized by others, and in the absence of any definitive studies leave it at that. That's not what you're doing, though, o anon. You're just blanking the passage without any attempt I can see to improve it..." Ι am actually the only here bothered to propose an alternative phrasing for the guilty sentence, no one from the apparent blogophile camp has bothered to, chosing instead to attack me personaly, withour ever actually bothering to reply to any of my arguments. They have reverted my changes persistantly hoping that they d halt any discourse on the issue and have their hyperboles validated by wikipedia on sheer force of insistence. 213.5.26.158 20:52, 10 March 2006 (UTC)
Here and on the Swarthmore College page, it says that Hall is "widely considered" to have been the first blogger. Is there any source for this? I have just spent 15 mins googling for one, to no avail. The SF Chronicle (and his own Wikipedia page) says he was a "pioneer" blogger, but I haven't found a citation that he was first (at least from a credible, non-Wikipedia-linked source). I don't necessarily doubt it (someone had to be first), but whenever I see the phrase "widely considered" without a couple of citations, I get the willies. -- Gnetwerker 02:16, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
I edited the article to more explicitly state that this is unconfirmed. I also removed the word "celebrity", since his public stature does not warrant that term. If someone can find sources, please list them in the article and change the wording to reflect that this is confirmed. I lean against removing it from the page, since it still provides some valuable information to people who want to know about the early history of blogging. -- bwabes 23:27, 7 March 2006 (EST)
It is well-supported in sources that he was a "pioneer". Perhaps that is the solution. -- Gnetwerker 07:10, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
He is "widely considered" the first blogger documented as such unless someone can come up with an earlier candidate. JWZ has been suggested but I don't know dates. Several others are noted as precursors in the article. And of course there's Vigdor Schreibman. :) There's an essential arbitrariness to picking out any "first" in an evolutionary process, but if someone has to have that spot, it is true that Justin is "widely considered" to be the one. · rodii · 13:41, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
I think the issue is that no one "has" to have that spot. If we can list a source stating that he was an early journaller, that would would definitely help the validity. But if no one can be definitively stated as the first, then saying "early" is all we can do. If there are lots of sources that cite him as the first journaller and if you can put them up on the article then we can be confident to add "widely considered". Bwabes 16:36, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
I have a pretty good memory of Justin's Links from the Underground, and I'm pretty sure that they were not of the "online diary" style in 1994. It depends on what you consider a blog, but a list of links with a description is not a blog in my mind, even a list of links that is updated frequently. Was Cool Site of the Day a blog? There are a couple of diaries that certainly started in 1995, but I'm a skeptic of Justin's.
Hello, fellow editors. I stumbled upon this Weblog FAQK and was wondering if the things he says about the coming of age of the weblogs after the WTC disasters. Is it true? -- rolandog 07:27, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
Traditional what? What is this supposed to be saying? · rodii · 16:22, 10 March 2006 (UTC)
There are several different types of references and footnote links in this article. I thought (for about ten seconds) about trying to covert them to a uniform system (ideally using <ref/>), but realized I was just not confident of my understanding of the system. Any ideas on how we could improve this? · rodii · 00:49, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Hello Everybody
I published today on our Websites Blog an Article that attempts to explain Blogs, RSS, XML, ATOM to normal people that are not very tech-savvy. It tries to point out the difference to older but similar technologies and what the benefits for the average internet users are if he starts using those new technologies without fearing it. The Article became pretty long and comprehensive that I though that it would be a valuable addition to the "Blog" and "RSS" Post here at Wikipedia.
I added the Link to the External Link Section in the Blog Article and "History and Context" Block in the RSS Article. Shortly after I added it was it removed by User:rodii and User:Monkeyman. Reason: SPAM
I assumed that they did not check the Article at all and just focused on the Domain (which is a Commercial Website), but they assured me that they also think that the Article is not worth to refer people to which try to find out about Blogs and RSS. rodii recommended to post the Link to the Article here and have other you, the community take a look at it and provide comments.
Do you think it's a good article and should be added? Do you think it's not? Why? What exactly do you not like? Something in the Article is Wrong? Incomplete? too Detailed? too Confusion?
Your Feedback is appreciated.
Here is the Article.
Blog, Atom, RSS, XML and Syndication/Aggregation ! ?
Blogs, Blogging, XML, ATOM, RSS explained in simple Words. Written for the regular people using the Internet and not for tech-savvy Geeks.
Article by Carsten Cumbrowski
http://www.consumermatch.com/blog/2006/02/blog-atom-rss-xml-and.html
-- Roy-SAC 02:09, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
Please remember, Wikipedia is not a blog host. -- Thesquire ( talk - contribs) 09:23, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
I think the article could benefit from a short list of 5-10 well known blogs, or else a link to source that would provide such a list. Does anyone have any ideas about a good source for this type of information? Thanks. Johntex\ talk 19:08, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
Reading the section "Blogging Appears" it seemed as though the sentences about Justin Hall and Xanga were somehow related. I checked his article and straightened things out, then edited the article to make it clear that there's no connection. However, I'm wondering whether that reference to Xanga's expansion should be reworded or moved (possible to a section on mass-market blogging), since it covers such a wide time frame, far beyond the years of blogs' first appearance. Thoughts? -- Cantara 22:58, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
Hello, I have just added TheWeblogProject to the external links section. TheWeblogProject is a free, non-commercial open-source video documentary of what blogs are. Popular bloggers (Robert Scoble, Chris Pirillo, Dave Sifry, etc.) and blog readers report their uncensored opionions on what blogs are, what are their key advantages and whether they are competitive with mainstream media.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.140.19.119 ( talk • contribs) 05:26, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Blogosphere should be a subsection of Blog. It is not large enough to be an article itself in my opinion and on top of this, the article goes on to explain what a blog is in the first place... "Weblogs tend to be about a variety of subjects. The form weblogs can take ranges from a simple list of personal links to diary-style. From the beginning, many weblogs have dealt with current events and politics." Thepcnerd 04:04, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
Added more blog articles to the list, not including exact reasons for each one as they are obvious. Thepcnerd 04:17, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
"blogging has quickly emerged as a popular and important means of communication, affecting public opinion and mass media around the world."
Just because a few techno freaks, or some people turning a profit out of the tec industry, have a tendency to call whatever passing fad arises the it thing, doesn't mean that an encyclopedia should have it's ojective stance compromised. I am therefore removing this, one of the opening sentences, because it's downright erroneous. "Blogging" is another form of keeping a diary, or writing articles over the internet, or even just another term, and in no way has it even commenced affecting "public opinion" or the mass media in the western world, let alone in the world at large where the internet is not even a known word in wholed continents such as africa or where it's use is a rarity such as in the middle east. Just because a few self important webaholics in the most modernized and technologically advanced countries think that people around the world actually care for their ramblings it doesn't mean they do. So, neither popular, and popular in terms of what, if you mean readership then of the what 5% around the world that actually use the internet, nor important. Media hype and frenzy should have no place in an encyclopedia. I am removing it, i expect a rational answer if someone decides to reinstate it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.5.22.112 ( talk • contribs) 21:18, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
I still disagree. The premise that you say is correct is the very premise that I am arguing is incorrect, blogging is neither particularly popular nor particularly important. "The around the world" clause is clearly wrong as both of you have admitted, based on worldwide internet use if nothing else. The fact that some major news networks have "started using" only "well known blogs as sources or as the other user said "occassionally" cited as sources for stories does not qualify for the term popular, more popular still on the internet are traditional news media, such as news papers or tv stations with a web presence (alexa this and you ll figure it out), original internet media outlets, chatrooms, forums (very important), mail lists and marginally blogs too, so blogs are only a part of a very large set of options of discourse, not particularly popular over the rest, and certainly not popular in terms of discourse outside the internet. This for me is clearly an overeaction by tech oriented people frequenting this site which generally have the notion that the world revolves around the internet, and not the righ way which is the other way round. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.5.35.193 ( talk • contribs) 08:23, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
I am removing it again, as the reference stated, as if some guys 9 page paper at mit should be stronger evidence than common sense..., is both wrong and misleading. First of all it's a sociological analysis with little data on the prevalence of blogging. The only limited sample that this guy tests (obviously NOT statisticall important) are about 4,000 articles from newspapers and magazines which site 500 blogs. That like I said is a very small sample number, with very limited sources, but even in itself it implies a 1/8 refernce to blogs only in newspaper and magazine articles, none from television, and only some u.s. sample. Disregarding the lack of scientific validity like i said this still is 1 of 8 of 1 out of something of the news medias of 1 out of something of the countries of the globe. This is not popular, this is negligeable. I won't have this encyclopedia be the victim of a media frenzy or anyone here to advance their tech agenda. The article is enough pro blogging in its main body, there's really no need for misleading vast exaggerations in the opening paragraph.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.5.35.193 ( talk • contribs) 08:37, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
First of all implying that I have a hidden agenda with blogging is an argumentum ad hominem which I am sure isn't compatible with wikipedias policies of argumentation in the talk page. Secondly, preserving and insisting on my anonymity is again one of the cornerstones of this project and I can't see why I should get another ad hominem for that too. I have contributed to discussions and articles in many sections without ever feeling the need to establish a nickname and presence here and I have every right to do so. Instead of anyone actually answering any of the points I am making I am getting this. One person said "The whole point of doing studies is to uncover truths that go against 'common sense.". That is wrong, studies are either for validating, falsifying or expanding on common sense. But I again can't see how a "paper", from some mit alumny which is not peer reviewed as far as I can tell, and more importantly is not even relevant to blogging's prevalence because it doesn't have any scientifically, statistically, valid research can be used as a source here. And arguments such as "There was just a cover story on blogging in New York magazine!" won't cut it I am sorry to say, and not only that, but they actually strengthen my argument that this form of communication is only a marginal, western, big city hype phenomenon. Unless people start responding to my rational arguments with counterarguments instead of ad hominems and irrelevant faux "papers" I will keep removing this sentence. I don't have an axe to grind with blogs but I like this collaborative effort too much to see it fall prey to the sort of media hype and hysteria which goes against its very raison d' etre.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.5.29.155 ( talk • contribs) 07:22, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
Tbis is turning to a very rambling, very incoherent and very irrelevant adage from those who disagree with my thesis here, very much akin to blog actually, and very ironically. The issue here is not my anonimity, and I am well aware that my service provider is open to the public, but unless one uses a court mandate or malicious means one cannot find anymore details about my person from that, but, so as to not get caught up in the irrelevancy myself as well here, I do not care. I was responding to an adhominem and reclaiming wikipedia's rights to post without chosing a nickname. I am well aware of wikipedias concensus policy but you should also be well aware that unless one decides to offer a rational reply to my arguments I am not considering a few techies crusade to have an encyclopedia succumb to the media frenzy and claim that their favourite pastime the blog is an important, influential media around the globe instead of the very marginal position it holds, is actually any consensus at all. And I will furthermore not reply to any of the blogging mentality trying to ramble on irrelevant things, or make ad hominem attacks against me, and will solely respond to anyone who adresses the issue. As it stands right now, and it's going to change in a few seconds, we still have an unscientific non peer revied irrelevant article (for the purpose it is supposed to serve here) supporting a view that empirical research and rational thinking finds it to be completely erroneous. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 195.134.69.93 ( talk • contribs) .
You can look at this argument from two angles. Suppose that blogging is truly not popular. Clearly, then, a minority of the population is using blogs and the blogs that exist are not influential. Therefore, media outlets would not compel their reporters to create blogs, nor cite blogs in their articles. Additionally, blogging would be confined to certain types of people in certain areas of the world. But here we have contradictions with reality, and therefore blogging must be popular. I have cited a source for blogging popularity in the main article. I cited this rather than the peer-reviewed version of the paper because it is must shorter (see C. Marlow's web page). Please read the source and then post your reply on this page. Also, remember that "rational thinking" does not apply to facts. If the facts don't line up with "rational thinking," then in fact the logic must be wrong. Bwabes 07:12, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
Rhodite, go over my arguments, I won't do it for your, nor ramble blogwise about it as you would have me. Bwabes, the rational thinking should be based on facts of course, but like I ve mentioned a thousand times and no one bothers to respond to the article you are posting does not contain a proper survey with any statistical significance but merely a sample for arguments sake, the argument being irrelevant to our issue here, so I can't see how you keep reposting it and claiming it is of any value. Secondly, you are using a reductio ad absurdum here, which as a logical structure is valid, but is wrongly implemented here. Blogs mgith be used by media outlets not for their popularity but for their novelty value, one can claim amongst other things, making your argument invalid, it would be valid if the potential aitiology was clearly linear, but it isn't. The internets prevalence around the world is very limited at the time being to mostly the westernized nations, which are a minority in terms of population, from the internets activity blogging is a again a marginal affair competing with news media, internetic news media, chat rooms, forums, newsgroups, message boards, internet portals etc. etc. I ve said this again. By this syllogism it's neither very popular nor very influential and certainly NOT around the world. Like i ve said a lot of times i don't have a "thing" against blogging as people have suggested in their ad hominems, but I do despise mindless media frenzies, esp. if we cannnot keep wikipedia out of these as it should be. The article as it stand is already a blogging advert, and I can't see why you keep insisting on the outrageous hyperbole in the opening paragraphs. I could tolerate as a compromise a phrase such as, "blogging has gained some attention from new media in the western world recently", but I find this version, let alone the grandiose "very influential popular and important medium in the 21st century", unacceptable. It does reinforce my view of what the blogging community is petty, self important, rambling imbecilles (and I don't want to offend anyone here, but that's the way I see it) who think the world at large finds their online rantings of grave importance, while the reality is that the world at large goes on mostly unaware of what their lonely pastime is, or at best equally spending their time between the vast possibilities the internet offers, amongst them the blog.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.5.22.30 ( talk • contribs) 17:21, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
I missed rodii's reply and I am responding to it now. "So what kind of evidence would satisfy you, o skeptical anon? How does one evaluate the importance of a medium? " Α proper statisticall significant prevalence study for starters would be a good idead, that would verify the prevalence for certain. Of course importance a very qualitative term, and a very subjective one too, to quantify, i think the only way one can do it is by associating importance with prevalence, or find some way to quantify public opinion reactions with respect to a news medium. I d take for example a sample in certain community and do a questionaire on thema about the news they read recently, the where they read them, they how they reacted to...etc..that's how a proper sociological study is done.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.5.22.30 ( talk • contribs) 17:30, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
To Rhodite: "I normally don't play the logical fallacy game" If we are to have any discourse we ll have to abide by the laws of reasoning, either implicitly or explicitly, it's not a "game" as your loaded language would have it. I wasn't quoting the orinal phrase I removed verbatim, still according to what you are saying "The words "influential" and "important" aren't used in the actual phrase you removed. For this reason you are using a straw man argument" so here I quote the original sentence: "blogging has quickly emerged as a popular and important means of communication, affecting public opinion and mass media around the world." The word "important" is there verbatim, and the second part of the sentence is what I described as "influential". Next time you try to catch me on semantics instead of replying to my actually arguments, and while not attacking me personaly as you have a habit to, try reading for a change.
To Rodii: "You're asking for a standard of proof that's higher than just about anything else we have on Wikipedia, which, although it tries to reflect scholarly consensus, is not in itself a scholarly organ." No I am not asking that wikipedia becomes a review of scholarly articles, although in a broader sense than mere peer reviewed papers wikipedia does aim at being scholarly, in the sense that the originators of the first encyclopedia in France a few hundred years ago aimed at. What I find unacceptable is to use irrelevant unscientific (wrt to the issues at hand) here to base an otherwise erroneous hyperbole on. "I think it's clear from everything that you write above that the reason you set the bar so high is because you dislike blogs and feel contempt for the people involved with them. I don't think we really need to worry too much about satisfying anyone's hidden agenda." It's not very helpful if you keep insisting that I reply to ulterior motive accusations instead of arguments, but with the same logic i am not here to satisfy anyone else's hidden agenda of promoting their medium of choice by mean of unfounded exageration. "I think the way to approach this is to report that such claims have been made, and that they have been criticized by others, and in the absence of any definitive studies leave it at that. That's not what you're doing, though, o anon. You're just blanking the passage without any attempt I can see to improve it..." Ι am actually the only here bothered to propose an alternative phrasing for the guilty sentence, no one from the apparent blogophile camp has bothered to, chosing instead to attack me personaly, withour ever actually bothering to reply to any of my arguments. They have reverted my changes persistantly hoping that they d halt any discourse on the issue and have their hyperboles validated by wikipedia on sheer force of insistence. 213.5.26.158 20:52, 10 March 2006 (UTC)
Here and on the Swarthmore College page, it says that Hall is "widely considered" to have been the first blogger. Is there any source for this? I have just spent 15 mins googling for one, to no avail. The SF Chronicle (and his own Wikipedia page) says he was a "pioneer" blogger, but I haven't found a citation that he was first (at least from a credible, non-Wikipedia-linked source). I don't necessarily doubt it (someone had to be first), but whenever I see the phrase "widely considered" without a couple of citations, I get the willies. -- Gnetwerker 02:16, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
I edited the article to more explicitly state that this is unconfirmed. I also removed the word "celebrity", since his public stature does not warrant that term. If someone can find sources, please list them in the article and change the wording to reflect that this is confirmed. I lean against removing it from the page, since it still provides some valuable information to people who want to know about the early history of blogging. -- bwabes 23:27, 7 March 2006 (EST)
It is well-supported in sources that he was a "pioneer". Perhaps that is the solution. -- Gnetwerker 07:10, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
He is "widely considered" the first blogger documented as such unless someone can come up with an earlier candidate. JWZ has been suggested but I don't know dates. Several others are noted as precursors in the article. And of course there's Vigdor Schreibman. :) There's an essential arbitrariness to picking out any "first" in an evolutionary process, but if someone has to have that spot, it is true that Justin is "widely considered" to be the one. · rodii · 13:41, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
I think the issue is that no one "has" to have that spot. If we can list a source stating that he was an early journaller, that would would definitely help the validity. But if no one can be definitively stated as the first, then saying "early" is all we can do. If there are lots of sources that cite him as the first journaller and if you can put them up on the article then we can be confident to add "widely considered". Bwabes 16:36, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
I have a pretty good memory of Justin's Links from the Underground, and I'm pretty sure that they were not of the "online diary" style in 1994. It depends on what you consider a blog, but a list of links with a description is not a blog in my mind, even a list of links that is updated frequently. Was Cool Site of the Day a blog? There are a couple of diaries that certainly started in 1995, but I'm a skeptic of Justin's.
Hello, fellow editors. I stumbled upon this Weblog FAQK and was wondering if the things he says about the coming of age of the weblogs after the WTC disasters. Is it true? -- rolandog 07:27, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
Traditional what? What is this supposed to be saying? · rodii · 16:22, 10 March 2006 (UTC)
There are several different types of references and footnote links in this article. I thought (for about ten seconds) about trying to covert them to a uniform system (ideally using <ref/>), but realized I was just not confident of my understanding of the system. Any ideas on how we could improve this? · rodii · 00:49, 24 April 2006 (UTC)