4/3/2003
Well, like my usual self I went from one blog site to the next, and found myself face to face with a level 10 boss: Blogatron (no the site does not exist, email me if you ever register it or find out it is).
So here are my presents for you. First up, is a list of weblog items, both tools and blogging software brought to you by our friends at Yahoo. At this point I’m no longer really looking for much else other than sites that syndicate blogs, but some of the tools looked neat. This site also had a list of weblog syndicators, readers and tutorials. If you enjoy Java, or like to brag to your friends about it, or you want to dabble with something new, check out Roller — a Java-based weblogger.
Next up, is a post discussing the Blogger.com buyout, from a MT user - Jay Cross. I thought his comment in response to Dave Winer’s post was worth mentioning because, as I have mentioned a couple of times now, most of my time each day is spent educating and explaining what blogs are and why you would want to use one. Fortunately most of the discussions take place over instant messaging, so I’ll say something like:
“If you can take the time to message me on this, you can take the time to put something up on a blog. If you are really lazy, just cut and paste - oddly enough people will read it and you will generate traffic.”
Here is a quick rebuttal to some arguments I had not heard regarding RSS. I think it’s foolish to claim that RSS is anything but a great solution to a problem (lack of standardized, simple, easy-to-use, cheap syndication) and ranks right up there with Bob Metcalfe’s statement’s about how the Internet is going to collapse (yes, the founder of 3Com and inventor of ‘Ethernet‘ said that).
Lastly, it appears Blogshares has an ‘official’ blog maintained by several moderators at the forum - nothing much to see as of now, but I’ll keep you posted (do the same for me). While perusing the forum I came upon a thread in Market Observations called: Mena Trott = Bill Gates?!?. What struck my fancy was a post by a user named Stefan who mentioned his use of Pivotlog. Pivot was one of the first blogging software that I came upon in my initial research for Collectrix. I managed to befriend a couple of the developers and still talk to one of them on a semi-regular basis. Anyways, it’s a sweet & simple solution for blogging, packing many of the needed goods into a easy to use install — yes, there are some downsides, but their new version should take care of them.
Anywho, I went to Stefan’s site and noticed the Blog 40 icon. I clicked on it and found myself in the Netherlands once more, and I can’t speak a lick of Netherlandanese, but I managed to submit my blog into their system (it is quite similar to BlogHotorNot). I couldn’t figure out how to copy a customized script for my site, so that I can be rated with the click of the neat-o button, any ideas? Everything ended nicely though, as I pointed Jason to the site and reminded me of a neat word: Hollish, which ranks up there with Cthulhiana - and that’s really what matters at the end of the day.
For those of you looking to watch one of the newest and hottest blogging thingamabobs, check out Blogshares.com. It’s basically a stock market for blogs and prices are gauged based on incoming and outgoing links — be sure to check out the online Manual put together by the sites owner: Seyed Razavi.
And now you’re wondering what I did with all the money and shares given to me by default (you get 1000 shares in your own blog once you claim it, but an additional $500 if you register it). Well, truth be told, in my excitement at being listed I bought an additional 800 shares — all at about $0.01/share — a bargain! — of my own stock. I thought about buying the MovableType stock too, but it is quite overrated (P/E 5+), so I did what any other geek would do and bought 22 shares (at $20.30/share) of Slashdot. No, I didn’t even bother to look at the P/E — it was over 7.3 and it crashed on me, all the way down to $2.72/share. So I did the only thing a man in my shoes would do, buy more at that price. You can now go and brag about knowing me back when I was “dirt poor” and “still making bad decisions.”
On a quick note, check out the Top Players and their valuations. I’m familiar with maybe a dozen of those blogs, but I completely forgot about Jason DeFillippo’s blog (he did a spot on Call for Help before). It appears he’s also the fellow that started up Blogrolling (something I still haven’t figured out, even though I have it linked). Dave showed me Jason’s site a month ago after a meeting with all the big movers & shakers of blogdom in San Francisco (sans me).
Oh, and another site on the Top Users that I had come across before was Gnome-Girl. I actually thought the gal at the top (the babe) was the gal that ran the site, but Jason clarified that with these pictures.
For the time being, I have placed a list of about 20 sites that will add your blog to their directory and/or syndicate your feed. I was actually talking to David a few days ago and at the time concluded that I could use the 25 blog syndication sites as ‘intellectual property’ for Collectrix. That is, my list could help promote their blog and I would keep it as a ’secret’ to add yet another reason someone would want to be hosted by us.
Well, I’ve changed my mind about that. Firstly, because many of the sites require you to put specific personal information like: birthday, gender, topic & location. I really have no desire to pry or seem like I’m prying into the lives of potential or current clients, so I wouldn’t ask them that information. Several of the links also ask for ‘keywords.’ Despite the best efforts of Collectrix to build a community of bloggers around particular topics (like Aggie’s, libertarians, Anime, etc.), I would have very little information to place into these particular keyword sections for clients – simply because I would not know exactly what the blogger will write about.
Yes, I could write some sort of script in Perl (actually, I’d get Jason to do that) but in the end, sufficiently answering the selected syndication sites would require more information than I am comfortable gathering from clients.
So, I put most of the ones I’ve found on the right under “Blog Syndication” — there are a few more under “Links” too.
Also, for those that were wondering where I was for the better part of the day, my router decided to turn off. I ended up calling SBC to find out what the deal was, they didn’t know so they sent out a repair crew. The repair crew didn’t know what was wrong but blamed the router for all the mess. They didn’t bother looking at it or resetting it. So after they left I did what any Curious George would do and reset it. Guess what? Yea, it worked. What a waste of time. And no, when I moved into the current abode I was not informed of what switches/routers/modems were being used, I just plugged in and went from there. All is good now, thank the Internet gods and their minions: the microwave oven.
Dave sent me this link from Forbes discussing the ‘Best Celebrity Blogs’ online. I don’t care much for WilWheaton as a person or for his blog. Dave Barry’s is alright — I prefer P.J. O’Rourke a bit more (there really isn’t a great libertarian comedian, at least, none since H.L. Mencken).
What did catch my eye, was yet another article discussing the Blogger.com buyout (of Pyra Labs actually). Stating:
“Potential targets for acquisition include Moveable Type, a software-based Web-log service, and Radio Userland, another desktop software product used for publishing Web logs produced by privately held UserLand Software of Acton, Mass. Another is LiveJournal.com, a free online blog community.”
Although I just started this blog, once I began researching blogging software both Movable Type (MT) and Radio caught my eye (I’m using MT). LiveJournal (LJ) is really a disappointment to myself and probably others. LJ has been around for years, it is open-sourced and yet graphically and feature-wise, ranks just above Yahoo Groups in my book. Anyways, I’ve mentioned to both Jason and Dave several times that Microsoft would have it easy if it purchased Radio (as would any of the other portals, but MS particularly because Radio works seamlessly with Windows [and even Macs]). Just about anyone could be happy with MT, although I think SixApart could really hit the big time if they restructured their business to emulate the successes of MySQL AB [crosses fingers]. And LJ, because of the very large community and potential for banner advertising, any of the portals could use it as another revenue stream.
Oh and d’ebutant is a good word to explain the state of blogging today, simply because Collectrix.com hasn’t hit the big time! Seriously though, I spend 95% of my time each day explaining and educating to people what blogs are and why someone would want one — and my audience surfs the net hours on end each day, even participating in forums. Imagine how intimidated granny and soccer moms are towards this new contraption.
Some of you may be wondering if, when and how I’m licensing my writings on this blog. Other than flat out copyrighting, one of the ways that is becoming increasingly popular with weblogs is the ‘Creative Commons License.’
My professional opinion as a writer, is that the entire notion of ‘copyrighting’ or licensing-backed by ‘the law’ to be not just logically flawed, but violent (and anti-human for Roids).
First, one must explain how the copyright holder (CRH) owns the photons radiating through the monitor (or book) and captured by my eyes. Next, one must explain how the CRH now owns the biochemical matter inside the various portions of my brain that store, analyze and compute the photons. Then, one must explain how the CRH owns some or all the positive monetary ramifications I gain because of what I read.
A few questions: Why doesn’t the CRH also get the negative ramifications? If the CRH gets to enforce his responsibility and ownership onto me, does it not follow that he has to endure all fiscal responsibility as well?
Indeed, writing can be a tough profession, just like any other job. Having job security is certainly a nice thing to have, that is why unions and guilds are popular among certain professions. However, this is anti-competitive and anti-economic growth. If you are going to condemn a company for using anti-competitive actions, such as the clichéd example of Microsoft, then to be consistent you cannot yourself practice such behavior. Similarly, granting an agency or department monopolistic powers (like the Department of Transportation or NASA) yet having an act called the Sherman Anti-Trust act, is inconsistent (as is the whole State, see below).
Additionally, monopolies can only exist through force or the threat of force (ex: the State has a monopoly on itself and must squash rebellions or else it ceases to exist). So, proponents of any sort of ‘law‘ or ‘copyright’ should be labeled properly as statists and more accurately: well-intentioned boobs (I’ll give them all the benefit of the doubt).
And now to the State. This collective of individuals must use aggression, it is its Modus Operandi (MO). In order to carry out this ‘law’ (as that is what a ‘copyright’ is), force or the threat force is used to subdue 3rd party groups and individuals. That is uncivilized and is flawed as an argumentum ad baculum (Appeal to Force) and argumentum ad verecundiam (Appeal to Authority). In fact, those two flaws alone are all the justification needed for an individual to ignore the State, its actions (MO) cannot be supported logically.
Economically, monopolies operate inefficiently and only hinder economic growth and prosperity. In order to explain this thoroughly I would need use graphs, lines and many definitions/acronyms. So to cheat, click on these links to read more on this reasoning.
And no, this post will not be the last time I will discuss this matter. This topic can fill bookshelves and libraries — whole professions could live off the wages of those involved in crediting and licensing written works. Oh wait, there are.
