A few years ago, when slashdot was about the only real blog out there, the idea of a weblog – a dynamically generated “newsfeed” that allowed for posting and commenting via the browser, was a novel and cool idea. Along came other alternatives, phpnuke, scoop, geeklog, radiouserland, (Flip!), and all the others, and it caught on. There’s nothing quite like having your own dynamic corner of the internet.
Of course, now, as my on-again-off-again relationship with my own blog illustrates, blogging is practicaly the norm. In fact, it’s so mainstream, that AOL is planning to offer it as part of AOL 9.0. The real problem is not just that it’s caught on, but that 99% of blogs, this one included, really offer nothing to anyone but the author and perhaps his immediate circle of friends. A blog without content is a search engine pollutor, a bandwidth sucker, a spam harvester, and a general waste of time. Blogging without a purpose is pointless. Get a friggin diary and keep it. No one else cares.
Now, I, of course, will not heed this advice, as I harbor delusions that there are people who actually read this blog –well, I know of a few at least — and will continue, hopefully, on a more frequent basis, to mumble publically. But you, you shouldn’t keep a blog. Really. They’re lame.
