A Small Victory

That was beautiful.

I'm in a state of blog-awe.

Hmmmm, obviously, James and Michele have come up with words for the blog writer side of the equation. But, what is the word for us sycophants who check every hour (or every week to see if Rachel will ever post again... whoops that actually worked!!) to see what Michele or Glenn would post?

Blogaddicts?
Blogefficientantos?
LosersWhoNeedToGetALife?(My wife's favorite)

I hate that word as much as I hate the word "blog." Here's what the definition of "blog" should be:

Blog--What barbarians drink after coming home from raping and pillaging.

Hagar the Horrible says "blog," I don't unless I have too.

Sometimes, you have to deal with the laws of diminishing returns when it comes to blogging.

You can measure them accurately with blogarithms.

The instant I read "blogligations," I thought of you. This is not a good thing.

Yes, I know blogathy. Yes, so Sean give us an alternative -- bjournal? And by all means, Michele, feel free to take a week off. In fact, turn off everything and go rent a cabin in the woods with your family.

There's already a name: weblog. It's doesn't sound like crap and it's only slightly less confusing to non-webloggers.

I have blogathy more often that blogligations. And I have this theory that if there were no way, save for direct feedback via email or comments, for me to know the traffic to my site, I'd have blogathy even more often than I already do.

The only reason I sometimes succumb to blogligation is that I fear going back down to six readers a day (which is stupid; I haven't been at that level since my first week of doing it, even when I've fucked off updating for a two-week period). If I didn't care who read or who was angry that I hadn't updated, I could write what I wanted, when I wanted.

More fine examples of cunning linguists.

That's a smurferrific post!

I think blogigations, without the extra "l", gets the point across. Oblogations just looks like a type.

"type" should be "typo". And no, I don't particularly enjoy the irony.

I am often blogathetic.

Hey, maybe we should all start using "blog" in conversation like the Smurfs use "smurf":

"You're bloggin'-A right when you say blogging is sometimes like having a bloggasm, Bloggy. There's nothing blogger than blogturbating to a good blog."

Whoops, didn't see Crank's post.

People misunderestimate the power of blogilation.

Excuse me whuile I go blogurbate

<hides head in shame>

Excuse me while I go blogurbate

<hides head in shame>

Roger that. A n00b to blogging in the forefront, it's nice to discover so much more than ever NINtended.

Mr. Lileks has clearly made a mistake. "Blogligation" trips clumsily from the tongue, almost like a stutter, and sounds to much like "litigation."

"Blogilation," on the other hand, seems both pleasing to read and say.

And I am afraid I do suffer from the malady myself. It's just a variation on a condition called hypergraphia.

How do I know I have it? Well, I wrote the original Wikipedia entry on it, for starters....

Wow. Can we touch you?

all these blogerati...

12 step program version of the reader-side obligations:
"Hi, my name is Jon, and I'm a blogaholic."
"Hi Jon!"

Many years ago, Sydney J. Harris (I think; it was probably actually Al Gore) observed that "eschew" is frequently used in writing, but seldom in speech. I think, in fact, that he claimed that he had never actually heard somebody use it. I guess "blogligations" is in the same class.

Obblogatory Comment - see, it's contagious!

Seriously, it's a constructive form of sheer egoism; the idea that if we develop the habit of commenting responsibly on the matters that matter, our comments might actually come to matter.

It's important for a free, open and interesting society that people speak their minds. It's more important by far that there is a culture of doing so without particular regard for or attention to making a buck on it.
To do it well, persuasively, with responsiblity and integrety is, I think a service long overdue.

It's argued from the left that the media is biased to the right, from the right that it's biased to the left. Me, I think it's biased towards the simplistic, the easy, the soundbyte, and most significantly, not offending the "target demographic" so vital to the Advertising department's agenda.

Ok, that's non trivial to traditional media. But it doesn't make for very informative news these days.

While I'm sure Michelle does better at ad sales that than me, it's still pretty much beer money. But that too is exciting - On A small Victory, on dKos, on other blogs of note, the ads themselves are remarkably different, influenced by the medium, rather than the other way around. They are content and commment as much as advertising.

But then passion well-excecuted is it's own reward. And with that passion, a higher standard is created. Think on that; an entirely new literary form created teeth, toenails, artist and audience in the last three to five years.

There are several excellent blogs for every interest and obsession - and then there are all the others. :)

But hey, even as "one of the others" I'm egoistic enough to think I'm on my way. Michelle demonstrates clearly that all it takes is sheer determination and a second pot of coffee. :)

Well, and being able to write a fair stick. That little thing. But on one hand, that goes without saying, and on the other hand, modesty forbids.

Finally - it's the synergy between blogger and commenter that makes a truly exciting blog. I rarely bother with those blogs who allow no comments, or those who delete comments they don't particularly care for. I like those who have the courage of their convictions in the face of freepers and moonbattery. If I want to be told what my opinion should be, there's Fox and NPR.

When you think about it, left and right-threaded wingnuts are the ones that need an education. Some may be reached, others do their part as embarrasing examples of what such thoughts look like in print - and how easily they evaporate into a public stupidity when seen in the cold light of reason.

Ever notice that people who call Rush (and every other talk-show personality I've heard of late) AGREES with the host?

Gutless wonders. Where's the like of Ira Blue these days?

Oh, yeah. Right here. :-)