Where have all the blogs gone?
Grandad October 15th, 2008
Where are all the good blogs gone?
There are two sites I go to in the morning for a sniff around – my Google Reader and Irish Blogs. I like to know what my compatriots and others are saying about themselves or the state of the world.
I used to get regular laughs, and frequently found articles that would make me think or give me a fresh perspective on life.
Standards are falling faster than the price of a house in Ballsbridge.
There was a bit of a fuss when Twenty chucked in the towel. I didn’t join in the debate, because I felt I had nothing to contribute at the time. Since then however, I have had that post at the back of my mind while trawling the sites, and I have to say that I agree with a lot of Twenty’s thoughts.
There is an awful lot of stuff being written that dilutes the quality of the blog scene. People are becoming lazy. I am deleting feeds from my reader a lot faster than I am adding them. Blogs that were good have become stale.
The reasons I will delete a blog from my reader:
- YouTube videos. Unless, of course they are particularly unusual or good, I’m not interested. If I want to see a YouTube video, I’ll browse YouTube. Videos of songs turn me off.
- Memes. I hate memes, as they tend to be boringly repetitive. Really, they are nothing short of a chain letter where the recipient feels obliged to respond out of courtesy. I have only seen one good one lately and that was the “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” one.
- Incestuous blogs. These are the blogs that have formed a clique and tend to comment about each other. Linking to other peoples blogs is a good thing, but not if a small group just keep referring to one another.
- Meet-ups or Bar Camps, or whatever you want to call them. I get tired of reading about some impending group meet, and cringe in the knowledge that my feed reader is going to be filled with photos of that meet afterwards.
- Film reviews. Your likes are unlikely to coincide with mine so your review is irrelevant.
- Old Jokes. For God’s sake!! I’ve either heard ‘em, or they are not funny.
I know there is the argument that the Interweb is an open platform and that people should write about whatever they like. That is absolutely true, and I have no argument with it. There are also sites that have been set up as a personal diary that are aimed at family and friends. Fine. I have no problem with those and a lot of them are very good, funny and well written. However, there seems to be a proliferation of what I call ‘lazy blogs’ that are swamping the place, and the good reads are becoming ever more difficult to find. They are giving the impression that ‘this is all there is to it’ so people are starting sites with the same lazy style.
When I started a couple of years ago, this was a vibrant place. Wars were started and fought in the public arena. People weren’t afraid to criticise. There was a freshness about the place where you didn’t know what was coming next. It was fun.
I’m not saying that this site is a beacon of light in the fog. I’m certainly not holding my site up as an example of what should be done, though I try to avoid the pitfalls I have listed above. I know I am probably going to be flamed for writing this, but that is good. It means that I have stirred some emotions, even if they are hatred and loathing for Grandad.
I’m not saying all blogs are bad. There are some excellent ones out there that I jump straight into when I see there is a new post. I’m not going to name individual sites for the simple reason that I am not attacking or praising any particular site. It is the general trend that I am concerned about.
I didn’t always like Twenty’s musings, but I got a laugh more often than not.
He was one of the Old School.
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