The psychology of weblogs.

January 26, 2002 7:50 AM

The psychology of weblogs. Interesting story about weblogs and why we continue, daily, hourly, to read them. What makes a weblog great? Is it popularity or the quality of the site that draws the punters in? For me its the characters and the links. (mefi shoutout)
posted by spinifex (13 comments total)

I know what a blog is but what is a weblog?
posted by Postroad at 8:10 AM on January 26, 2002

"Most weblogs are drivel, banal shit written by angst-ridden teenagers and adults sharing feelings, thoughts, and mind-numbing details about their daily lives that provide little insight into anything or anyone."

So it's sort of social. Demented and sad, but social.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:51 AM on January 26, 2002

One need not dig too deeply to discover the good doctor's own banal shit and mind-numbing details:

I drive a Nissan Maxima (I am a car enthusiast) and have a cat named Max. When I'm not working, I enjoy woodworking (I've made a few pieces of furniture and enjoy refinishing older furniture, as well as going antiquing), tennis, bicycling, hiking, and doing just about anything outdoors. I'm a perl programmer, and have written and released some open source software. While watching too much television, I usually am editing some sites for the Open Directory Project. Perhaps I have TV addiction disorder? ;-)

(from his about page)

Methinks he doth protest too much.
posted by briank at 10:05 AM on January 26, 2002

No, let's not write about our lives, our thoughts, or our interests... far better to gloss over ourselves and only write about things that are safe and will draw lots of hits from the general public. If people want to get to know us, they can do so by seeing the news stories we link to or which other weblogs (out of the top 100 or so that everyone seems to share...) we choose to link to on our site.

After all, we'd rather save the boring personal details of our lives for our friends instead...
posted by insomnia_lj at 11:03 AM on January 26, 2002

I only like blogs that are interesting. psychoanalyze away, you crazy diamond!
posted by mcsweetie at 11:11 AM on January 26, 2002

That article wasn't psychology: it was a personal opinion, disguised under the veil of educated authority. Oh, sorry ... that is psychology.
posted by walrus at 1:29 PM on January 26, 2002

"One need not dig too deeply to discover the good doctor's own banal shit and mind-numbing details" -- now with writer's embellishments!

I drive a Nissan Maxima (I am a car enthusiast) and have a cat named Max. When I'm not working, I enjoy woodworking (especially with my MaxPower 3000 radial saw), tennis (using my Dunlop CourtMax racket), bicycling (atop my Schwinn RoadMaxx 12-speed, natch), hiking (in my Timberland trailMAX boots), and doing just about anything out-of-doors. While watching too much television -- my favorite show is Max Headroom; I have all the episodes on Betamax -- I usually am editing some sites for the Open Directory Project, a group dedicated to maximizing the Internet experience for the masses. Did I mention my very small penis?

(not really from his about page)

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On an entirely different topic, I happened to respond with exactly the same "methinks... doth protest too much" statement to another thread immediately before this one, without realizing you'd already done so here, briank. No plagiarism intended nor committed. ;)
posted by verdezza at 5:03 PM on January 26, 2002

As The Tick would say, none comprehended, verdezza. :-)
posted by briank at 6:17 PM on January 26, 2002

say what you will, I think this was closer to uncovering the blog psyche
posted by victors at 11:04 PM on January 26, 2002

Isn't he 32 yet?
posted by anildash at 7:20 PM on January 27, 2002

Does he still lurk here?
posted by rodii at 8:07 PM on January 27, 2002

anildash and rodii are referring to this thread where the fellow in question was brought into question for his own blogging efforts.

(many kudos to Follow Me Here for mentioning the connection)
posted by briank at 8:46 AM on January 28, 2002

sorry, didn't mean to be opaque, i should've linked the previous thread for context.
posted by anildash at 3:53 PM on January 28, 2002