Some Notes On My Philosophy of Blogging

• You Become What You Think About. There are lots of potential subjects and potential stories out there, so why not pick something of value?
• Every post should be of value. Not necessarily serious, though.
• I don't post Darwin Award-type entries. Somebody does something really stupid. Somebody dies. So what's the point -- entertainment? Aren't we all way past that now?
• It's easy to let a blog slip into a reaction against people doing stupid stuff, or promoting stupid policies. But if you do that, then you're letting them set the agenda. So then, who's the stupid one?
• A lot of what floats around the blog-o-sphere can be classified as "eccentric mediocrity", a term I first heard used by Nathaniel Branden. It's like candy: a bite here or there is just fine, but a steady diet will cause the rot to set in.
• People could stop posting new stuff to the internet right now and I'd still have enough to post here for a long, long time.
• I kind of assume most of you read J-Walk, Grow-A-Brain, and The Presurfer, so I try not to duplicate too many links from them. Or if I do, I try to put a new twist or spin on it.
• I post four entries almost every day. Too many more than that would get overwhelming for the reader, while with four I have a decent chance that at least one of them will interest you.
• I don't feel I have to answer every comment that disagrees with me. There's always tomorrow's entries.
• I try to include a short excerpt with every link entry that will have value on its own, even if you don't click on the link. And I try to grab a quote good enough that you'll want to read the article from whence it came.
• Generally, I don't like to use words such as "whence" and especially "whither".
• I just can't wait for Web 2.0   It all sounds so exciting.

Comments

[Roz]

For those of us who must be missing the boat, could you please hyperlink to J-Walk, Grow-a-Brain, and Presurfer?

[Guy]

Check out the "Tom Roll", below the archives on the left. J-walk's on the bottom, the other two are near the top.

[Guy]

checked out Grow-a-Brain, found this link (on a linked site) which might interest you:
http://www.5ives.com/archives/2005/08/16/five-pet-peeves-about-eating-out-with-ayn-rand/

[June]

I teach how to start and maintain an online business and have pointed a lot of my students to your blog. Especially Your post on "Some Notes On My Philosophy of Blogging" Its nice to know we still have people blogging with great philosphy.

[Nonchalant Savant]

The Darwin Award types of posts are amusing to me only in that they are often a reminder of the old adage, "Sometimes our only purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others."

The bigger picture is often the series of wrong choices that must be made in order for a Darwin recipient to be "successful." That type of thinking never ceases to amaze me.