DISQUS

I have found the worst offenders for what I referr to lovingly as shit garbage feeds are the MSM one's like CNN and Reuters (which is only slightly better than CNN). Even Ars Technica and Mary Jo have resorted to partial feeds.

Like you I really dislike partial feeds and while I realize that they are being provided free I still feel like I am being connec or ripped off. What is even worse though regardless of full or partial feeds are those bloggers who post one line posts and the ads take up more space than the useless tidbit we are bing tossed. They might just as well say "We're posting something useless just so we can get the ad traffic"

Yup .. time to go through and do some cleaning .. but unfortunately with the revamp of Braincell Soup almost done I'll probably be adding as many as I get rid of LOL

this reminds me of the post I wrote the other day

http://www.winextra.com/2007/11/18/4-simple-rul...

it's their sandbox and until some-one with a better sandbox comes along ... well guess we have to play by google rules

I think as well one has to have a strong believe in one's own value and also one should take into account the quality of one's readership. While setting my rate at what I have might seem high to some I think that given a PR5 ranking and a continually growing readership along with active comments actually brings a better return for a potential link buyer.

I've made a few suggestions myself for both Technorati and MyblogLog with the expected results - nada.

But then I'm just a cranky old fart so who cares what I think eh ... :)

I've always looked forward to your posts Jason regardless of the quantity as the quality is what lives on past a meme's expiry date :)

Myself I have always tried to have at least 3 posts a day - only because as a cranky old fart I have the time - but even that is hard to maintain sometimes given the repetitiveness of the daily news. This is one reason why I branched out to start including software reviews and lucky enough that one of the WinExtra forums members was willing to help out.

You just kept to a posting schedule that you are comfortable with and we'll keep on reading :)

Mark,

While what I was referring to in my post was a bit more specific you are absolutely correct that my premise can be carried across to any site(s) that have made millionaires and billionaires from free content. In some ways I would equate them only a cut above the splogs and screen scrappers. A bit harsh maybe but it sure seems that way some times.

Chris,

I honestly don't believe we can even come close to prognosticating as to what the computing landscape - both online and offline - will look like in 5 years. We are having a hard enough time even looking a year down the road.

Who would have thought a year ago that Facebook would have risen above college hijinks to become the threat to Google that it is. Who would have thought two years ago athat a simple web app that asked "What are you doing" would become a growing social communication tool with an ever increasing 3rd party client developer following.

Who would have thought a year ago that terrabyte harddrive could become commonplace as they nearly are. Who would have thought that broadband providers would be traffic shaping and fighting over the auction rules for the 700Mhz band.

Who would have thought even a few years ago that Apple would be gaining serious traction once again in the PC market or that Microsoft would become a prime visible sponsor of a podcamp.

In some cases it is even hard to tell what will be happening tomorrow let alone next week ... 5 years down the road .... that could be a whole new century in the tech world.

@Corvida

Actually this is kind of a good idea .. I think I'll check into see if they have - or are planning - an API access to this. This is something I would probably use as well.

I actually get quite a number of visitors from that page .. kinda surprised me

I won't make the oh so obvious comment about the improvement .. honest I won't :)

Thanks a lot Mathew … that is not the image I needed to see first thing in the morning over coffee …. now excuse me while I go and get my brain scrubbed …

Vista - a subtle disappointment? .. try a massive letdown ... a WOW withdrawal ... anything but something to look forward to using on a daily basis.

Microsoft dropped the ball on this and while I might seriously be considering backsliding to XP I wouldn't get overly excited and count this as a permanent mark against Microsoft. I have a sneaky suspicion about Windows 7 which for now I am keeping to myself but it might be what Vista should have been.

> Disclosure: I own a tiny amount of Apple stock

Which must be doing much better today :)

I agree with you Jason that the tech blogosphere isn't broken overall but I do think that it does have its weak spots in the mid to lower tiers as you point out. I also think that discussions like these can be good as long as they don't degrade into name calling and the such. Our readers - while they might not think so initially - benefit when they read these "reflective" posts because it help them see where our ethical boundaries are and if it suits them.

Pete,

The end result of my post and the comments that followed it with my replies to them was that I couldn't see where the risk to reputation and revenues would ever be equal to taking money for links; regardless who they were for, or for possible paid reviews.

I have been noticing a drop in my Authority from a high of 237 to now down to 212. I just figured it was the natural 180 day attrition taking it's toll along with my decision to not link as much to the big boys like Scoble but more to the mid-level blogs.

And at 3,000 Doug your ranking is far better than mine LOL

I can understand the need for the 3col design but for some reason this design feels scrunched up with the extra's (sidebars) taking up more space than the content

ooppss .. first line .. was = wasn't .. sorry

I really hope that the comment about a long blog vacation was meant seriously.

For the past little while I have been feeling that blogging is reaching a bit of a crossroads. With the dipsy-doodle A-Listers constantly flitting between every new shiney thing that comes along and proclaiming what ever the hot item of the mement as the next best thing it is going to leave a lot of open territory for those of us bloggers who take what we are doing seriously

The A-list bunch kind of remind me of the paparattzi [sp?] always on the hunt for the hottest pic and the coolest people to be seen with but very rarely do they stick around to do the serious work,

so Jason .. regardless of the crap that is being spewed by supposed big boys of the blogging world in order to try and hang on to their positions at the top ... don't let it get you down or doubt what you and other hard working bloggers are doing. We just have to keep slugging away because our time will come - after all there are always new shiny things around the corner to distract the big fish in the pond.

p.s. .. the notify by email option isn't working

Doug,

Your link to running blog contests was rather timely since I am running my first ever contest over on WinExtra so thanks and if you don't mind a shameless plug for it your readers - specfically Windows readers - can find more about it here:

http://www.winextra.com/2007/10/03/win-a-copy-o...

Depending on how well it goes over I'll be looking at doing it again as long as I can find companies that are interested in dealing with blogs that aren't at the top og the bllogging pile.

I remember the Amero case well Karoli and as an aside it was well covered by the security related blogs like Threat Level, Freedom to Tinker and Sunbelt Blog which is the home blog for Sunbelt Software (Kerio Firewall etc) of which Alex the CEO of Sunbelt was one of the first to come to her rescue. He also testified free of charge as an expert witness for her defense.

But the large point you are trying to make I do agree with - the tech blogosphere in general - and the more popular they are - glosses of social issues with very little involvement past a single line in a post or such. Instead they will bitch at the drop of a hat if their iPod has a scratch or they will discauss ad naseum the merits of social networks over social graphs.

kind of sad in a way.

As a fellow opinionated contrarian (read - cranky old fart) blogger I think I share much of your feelings about this obsession with "the next shiny new thing". You make mention of of what is happening in Burma which I truly displays a real lack of social conscience in this so era of Web 2.0 "do no evil".

We seem to be more concerned with qualifying and quantifying social networks and social graphs rather than giving a damn about real social issues. If we did then survivors of Katrina wouldn't still be living in FEMA trailers, [middle class] poverty wouldn't be a growing dividing line between technological class separation.

Thank you for an excellent post and I've added your blog to my RSS feeds.

as I said the other day in a post there is nothing wrong with ranking (making lists) it is a natural part of our social and personal make-up

http://www.winextra.com/2007/09/26/theres-nothi...

Speaking of the dollar when are you guys down there gonna get that greenback of yours back on track ... I miss those good old exchange rates :)

and no we don't all live in igloos up herer [snicker]

as much as I am inclined to agree with you about this idea being totally bats the fact is if anyone could pull off a true Start Trek like PDA it will be Apple and I think it would be really cool to boot.