Weblog

A weblog (usually shortened to blog, but occasionally spelled web log) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles (normally in reverse chronological order). Although most early weblogs were manually updated, tools to automate the maintenance of such sites made them accessible to a much larger population, and the use of some sort of web browser-based software is now a typical aspect of "blogging". Blogs range in scope from individual diaries to arms of political campaigns, media programs, and corporations. They range in scale from the writings of one occasional author, to the collaboration of a large community of writers. Many weblogs enable visitors to leave public comments, which can lead to a community of readers centered around the blog; others are non-interactive. The totality of weblogs or blog-related websites is often called the blogosphere. When a large amount of activity, information and opinion erupts around a particular subject or controversy in the blogosphere, it is sometimes called a blogstorm or blog swarm. The format of weblogs varies, from simple bullet lists of hyperlinks, to article summaries or complete articles with user-provided comments and ratings. Individual weblog entries are almost always date and time-stamped, with the newest post at the top of the page, and reader comments often appearing below it. Because incoming links to specific entries are important to many weblogs, most have a way of archiving older entries and generating a static address for them; this static link is referred to as a permalink. The latest headlines, with hyperlinks and summaries, are frequently offered in weblogs in the RSS (file format) or Atom (standard) XML format, to be read with a feed reader. The tools for editing, organizing, and publishing weblogs are variously referred to as "content management systems", "publishing platforms", and simply "Weblog software". ==History== ===Precursors=== *Electronic communities existed before internetworking. For example the Associated Press wire was, in effect, similar to a large chat room where there were "wire fights" and electronic conversations. Another pre-digital electronic community Amateur radio allowed individuals who set up their own broadcast equipment to communicate with others directly. Ham radio also had logs called "CyborgLog" that were personal diaries made using wearable computers in the early 1980s. *Before blogging became popular, digital communities took many forms, including Usenet, electronic mailing list and Bulletin board system. In the 1990s Internet forum software, such as WebX, created running conversations with threads. Many of the terms from weblogging were created in these earlier media. *Diarists kept journals on the Internet: some called themselves escribitionists. A notable example was game programmer John Carmack's widely read journal, published via the finger protocol. For example, "Internet troll", a term for a person who disrupts a discussion by posting messages to trick other users into reacting in hostility or aggravation, dates back to Usenet. "Thread", in reference to consecutive messages on one specific topic of discussion, comes from email lists and Usenet as well, and "to post" from electronic bulletin boards, borrowing usage directly from their corkboard predecessors. ===Blogging begins=== Blogging combined the personal web page with tools to make linking to other pages easier, specifically blogrolls and TrackBacks, as well as comments and afterthoughts. This way, instead of a few people being in control of threads on a Internet forum, or anyone able to start threads on a list, there was a moderating effect that was the personality of the weblog's owner. Justin Hall, who began eleven years of personal blogging in 1994 while a student at Swarthmore College, is generally recognized as one of the earliest bloggers. The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger in December 1997. The shorter version, "blog", was coined by Peter Merholz, who, in April or May of 1999, broke the word ''weblog'' into the phrase "we blog" in the sidebar of his weblog. [http://www.peterme.com/archives/00000205.html] This was interpreted as a short form of the noun [http://www.bradlands.com/weblog/1999-09.shtml#September%2010,%201999] and also as a verb ''to blog'', meaning "to edit one's weblog or a post to one's weblog". Usage spread during 1999, with the word being further popularized by the near-simultaneous arrival of the first hosted weblog tools: Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan's company Pyra Labs launched Blogger (which was purchased by Google in February 2003) and Paul Kedrosky's GrokSoup. As of March 2003, the Oxford English Dictionary included the terms ''weblog'', ''weblogging'' and ''weblogger'' in their dictionary. [http://www.oed.com/help/updates/motswana-mussy.html] One of the pioneers of the tools that make blogging more than merely websites that scroll is Dave Winer. One of his most important contributions was the creation of servers which weblogs would ping to show that they had been updated. Blog reading utilities, such as Blogrolling [http://www.blogrolling.com/], use the aggregated update data to show a user when their favorite blogs have new posts. ===Blogging's rise to influence=== After the September 11, 2001 attacks, many blogs which supported the United States of America "War on terrorism" quickly gained readership among a public searching for information to understand that event; many new blogs in the same genre sprang up in this environment. By 2002, many of these were supporting the policy of an 2003 invasion of Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power (based on U.S. policy since 1998) and eliminate supposed stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction. These "War Blog" came primarily, though not exclusively, from the right side of the political spectrum, and included Instapundit. The term was later broadened to include all bloggers whose focus was the war in Iraq, which spread representation across the political spectrum. By the spring of 2003, ''Forbes Magazine'' used "war blogger" in this larger sense when listing the "best warblogs". The first blog-driven controversy was probably the fall of United States Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, who had remarked, at a party honoring United States Senate Strom Thurmond, that Thurmond's leadership abilities may have made him a good President of the United States. Since Thurmond had spent much of his early political career sympathetic to white supremacists, Lott's statements were conveyed in the media to be racist. In the aftermath, bloggers such as Josh Marshall strove to demonstrate that his remarks were not an isolated misstatement, by finding evidence including quotes from other previous speeches of Lott's which were taken to be racist. Their efforts kept the story "alive" in the press until a critical mass of disapproval forced Lott to resign his position as Senate Majority Leader. By this point blogging was enough of a phenomenon that how-to manuals had begun to appear, primarily focusing on using the tools, or creating content. But the importance of a blog as a way of building an electronic community had also been written on, as had the potential for blogs as a means of publicizing other projects. Established schools of journalism began researching the blogging phenomenon, and noting the differences between current practice of journalism and blogging. Since 2003, weblogs have gained increasing notice and coverage for their role in breaking, shaping, or spinning news stories. One of the most significant events was the sudden emergence of an interest in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which saw both left-wing politics and right-wing politics bloggers taking measured and passionate points of view that did not reflect the traditional left-right divide. The blogs which gathered news on Iraq, both left and right, exploded in popularity, and ''Forbes magazine'' covered the phenomenon. The use of blogs by established politicians and political candidates—particularly Howard Dean and Wesley Clark—to express opinions on the war and other issues of the day, cemented their role as a news source. Meanwhile, the increasing number of experts who blogged, such as Daniel Drezner and J. Bradford DeLong, gave blogs a built-in source of in-depth analysis. The 2003 invasion of Iraq was the first "blog war" in another way: bloggers in Baghdad gained wider readership, and one (Salam Pax) published a book of his blog. Blogs also arose amongst soldiers serving in the Iraq war. Such "milblogs" have given readers a new perspective on the realities of war. Reading the thoughts of people who were "on the spot" provided a supplement and perhaps a differing viewpoint to official news sources. Blogs were often used to draw attention to obscure news sources, for example posting links to the traffic cameras in Madrid as a huge anti-terrorism Protest filled the streets in the wake of the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks. Bloggers would often provide nearly instant commentary on televised events, which became a secondary meaning of the word "blogging", such as "I am blogging Condoleezza Rice's testimony," i.e., "I am posting my reactions to Rice's testimony to my blog as I watch it." By the end of 2003 top rated blogs Instapundit, Daily Kos, and Atrios were receiving over 75,000 unique visitors per day. ===Blogging goes mainstream=== In 2004, the role of blogs became increasingly mainstream, as political consultants, news services and candidates began using them as tools for outreach and opinion formation. Even politicians not actively involved in a campaign such as Tom Watson (politician), a United Kingdom Labour Party (UK) Member of Parliament, began to use blogging as a means for creating a bond with constituents and creating a channel for their ideas and opinions. Minnesota Public Radio broadcast a program by Christopher Lydon and Matt Stoller called "The Blogging of the President", which covered the transformation in politics that blogging seemed to presage. The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' began regular coverage of blogs and blogging. Anthologies of blog pieces began to reach print, and blogging personalities began appearing on radio and television. In the summer of that year both the Democratic National Convention and Republican National Conventions credentialed bloggers, and blogs became a standard part of the publicity arsenal, with mainstream programs, such as Chris Matthews' ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'', forming their own blogs. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary declared "blog" as the word of the year in 2004. ([http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Blog_declared_Word_of_the_Year Wikinews]) Blogs were some of the driving forces behind the "Rathergate" scandal involving Dan Rather of CBS and some memos used on the show ''60 Minutes II''. Within 72 hours a coordinated group of bloggers had built a case that they were likely forgery. The evidence presented eventually created such concern over the issue that CBS was forced to address the situation and make an apology for their inadequate reporting techniques. This is viewed by many bloggers as the advent of blogs' acceptance by the mass media as a source of news. It also showed how blogs could keep the pressure on an established news source, forcing defenses and then a retraction of the original story. Blogging is also used now to break consumer complaints and vulnerabilities of products, in the way that Usenet and email lists once were. One such example is accusations about vulnerability of Kryptonite lock. Bloggers have also moved over to other media. Duncan Black (a.k.a. Atrios), Glenn Reynolds, Markos Moulitsas Z�niga (a.k.a. Kos), Ana Marie Cox (a.k.a. Wonkette), and others have appeared on radio and/or television. Hugh Hewitt is an example of a media personality who has moved in the other direction, adding to his reach in "old media" by being an influential blogger. In January 2005, ''Fortune (magazine)'' magazine listed Peter Rojas, Xeni Jardin, Ben Trott and Mena Trott, Jonathan Schwartz, Jason Goldman, Robert Scoble, and Jason Calacanis as eight bloggers that business people "could not ignore." The year 2005 also saw the introduction of [http://sqacomputing.blogspot.com/2005/06/blog-unit-is-now-available.html the first qualification in blogging]. ==Blogging and culture== Blogging however, was as much about technology as politics, and the proliferation of tools to run blogs and the communities around them connected blogging with the Open Source movement. Writers such as Larry Lessig and David Weinberger used their blogs to promote not just blogging, but more generally different social models. One of the running discussions within journalism and blogging is what "blogging" means for the way news "happens" and is covered. This leads to questions over intellectual property and the role of the mass media in society. Many bloggers differentiate themselves from the mainstream media, while others are members of that media working through a different channel. Many bloggers have large agendas, and see blogging as part of Open Source Politics, or the ability of people to participate more directly in politics, helping to frame the debate (See George Lakoff). Whereas institutions see blogging as a means of "getting around the filter" and pushing message directly to the public. ==Creating and publishing weblogs== Since their introduction, a number of software packages have appeared to allow people to create their own weblog. Blog hosting sites and Web services to provide editing via the Web have proliferated. Common examples include GreatestJournal, Pitas (weblog software), Blogger, LiveJournal, DeadJournal and Xanga. Many more advanced bloggers prefer to generate their blogs by using server-side web applications such as Nucleus CMS, Movable Type, bBlog, WordPress, b2evolution, boastMachine, Antville and Serendipity (weblog software) to publish on their own website or a third party site, or to host a group of blogs for a company or school. Such programs provide greater flexibility and power, but require more knowledge. If they provide a Web interface for editing, server-based systems make it easy for travelers to create and edit text; many travelers like to produce their travelblogs from Internet cafes while they travel around the globe. In addition, some people program their own blogs from scratch by using PHP, Common Gateway Interface, ASP, Perl, or other server side software. While these are much more difficult to create, they add a maximum potential for creativity. Two features which are common to blogging are "blogrolls" and "commenting" or "feedback." A blogroll is a list of other blogs that are linked separately from any article. This is one means by which a blogger creates a context for his blog, by listing other blogs that are similar to his/her own, or blogs the blogger thinks may be of relevance to users. It is also used as measure of the number of citations a blog has, and is used to rank "blog authority" in a manner similar to the way that Google uses hard coded HTML linking to create "page rank." Still another use of the "blogroll" is reciprocal linking: bloggers agree to link to each other, or link to another blog in hopes of getting a link in return. Another central, and sometimes controversial, aspect of blogging is the use of a feedback comment systems. A comment system allows users to post their own comments on an article or "thread." Some blogs do not have comments, or have a closed commenting system which requires approval from those running the blog. For other bloggers, including several very prominent ones, comments are the crucial feature which distinguishes a "true" blog from other kinds of blogs. Commenting can either be built into the software, or added by using a service such as HaloScan. If a blog has regular commenters, this is referred to as the blog's ''community''. Tools such as [http://www.kung-foo.tv/ecto/ Ecto] and w.bloggar allow users to maintain their Web hosted blog without the need to be online while composing or editing posts. Enhancements to weblog technology continue to be developed, such as the TrackBack feature introduced by Movable Type in 2002 and subsequently adopted by other software companies (e.g., [http://backend.userland.com/trackback Userland]) to enable automatic notification between websites of related content—such as a post on a particular topic or one which responds to a post on another blog [http://www.movabletype.org/trackback/beginners/]. bBlog has gone as far as implementing threaded trackbacks on comments, and comments on trackbacks. Blogs with features such as TrackBack are credited with complicating search engine page ranking techniques [http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/33366.html] [http://www.sixapart.com/log/2003/10/its_all_about_c.shtml]. Integrating these into search engines has proven to be a challenge, and has been used to deliberately "push" page rankings. However, as one Google Inc. executive remarked, it is the search engine's job to find the ways that a website represents a "vote" for another website. Web hosting companies and online publications also provide blog creation tools, such as [http://www.salon.com/blogs Salon], [http://www.tripod.com/ Tripod], [http://www.bravenet.com/ Bravenet] and [http://hometown.aol.com/ America Online], which calls its subscriber blogs "journals." ==Types of weblogs== ===Personal=== Often, the word ''blog'' is used to describe an online diary or journal, such as LiveJournal. The weblog format of an online diary makes it possible for users without much experience to create, format, and post entries with ease. People write their day-to-day experiences, complaints, poetry, prose, illicit thoughts and more, often allowing others to contribute, fulfilling to a certain extent Tim Berners-Lee's original view of the World Wide Web as a collaborative medium. In 2001, mainstream awareness of online diaries began to increase dramatically. Online diaries are integrated into the daily lives of many Adolescence and college students, with communications between friends playing out over their blogs. Even fights may be posted in the diaries, with not-so-veiled insults of each other easily readable by all their friends, enemies, and complete strangers. ====Thoughtful==== Where a personal weblog is primarily concerned with daily life and events, and many topical weblogs focus on some technical topic, weblogs in the "thoughtful" category present an individual's (or a small group's) thoughts on whatever subject comes to hand; not necessarily the latest computer technology or the latest political scandal, but typically less contentious and more philosophy subjects. Thoughtful weblogs of course blur into personal weblogs on one side and topical or political ones on the other, but are distinct enough to constitute a category of their own. ====FriendBlog==== A FriendBlog is a distributed networked journal on the web, composed of short, frequently updated posts written by friends connected through their similar interests. The author allows his FriendBlog to connect to other FriendBlogs, belonging to friends and acquaintances. This creates a "chain" of blogs. ===Topical=== Topical blogs focus on a specific niche, often a technical one. An example is [http://www.google.com/googleblog/ Google Blog], covering nothing but Google news. Another example is a soldier blog. Many blogs now allow categories, which means a general blog can be reshuffled to become a topical blog at the user's need. ===News=== Many weblogs provide a news digest on a certain topic, e.g., [http://china-netinvestor.blogspot.com/ Internet in China], [http://baseballnews.blogspot.com/ Baseball], [http://newsfromnorway.com/ Norwegian News in English] or [http://djmonstermo.blogspot.com/ Music] with short abstracts/summaries and links to interesting articles in the press. ===Collaborative (also collective or group)=== Many weblogs are written by more than one person about a specific topic. Collaborative weblogs can be open to everyone or limited to a group of people. MetaFilter is an example of this type of weblog. Slashdot, whose status as a blog has been debated, nevertheless has a team of editors who approve and post links to technology news stories throughout the day. Although Slashdot does not refer to itself as a weblog, it shares some characteristics with weblogs. A new form of blog involves cooperation between bloggers and traditional media sources, allowing for topics discussed on the air to find legs on the Web, and vice-versa. The first and most prominent example of this form is [http://www.lonestartimes.com Lone Star Times], which is affiliated with Houston talk-radio station KSEV. ===Partner (collaboration on multi-section documents)=== A partner blog site has a parallel web page or wiki page. Consider the possible similarities between a blog site and a multi-section web document. Blogs are generally thought of as a collection of periodic postings organized by reverse date, each posting its own topic that does not necessarily directly relate to the last. An essay or any large document is also a collection of headings or sub-topics but organized by sequence so that each sub-topic follows from the last to form a coherent whole. An example of this partnership is [http://blog-study.blogspot.com/ Blog Study], which has a sidebar link to a parallel web page. At the blog site readers can use the comments link to discuss each section. The author or authors of both sites having the passwords to both would keep these two parallel, building on the feedback and re-weaving it into the section of the web page essay and re-editing the original blog posting. Revisions to the web page would come after consensus formed in the posting at the blog site. The web page provides a streamlined printout or reading without the distractions of the comment and date data. The comments section of the blog provides a way to track, remember and negotiate each heading section of the document. The web page also provides more secure control of the developing document than with a wiki, but slows down the evolution of the more comprehensive document. A troika partnership of web, wiki and web page is also viable. This has a wide range of uses for group editing of policy statements, manuals, and grant and curriculum development. ===Political=== Another common kind of blog is a political blog. Often an individual will link to articles from news web sites and post their own comments as well. Many of these blogs comment on whatever interests the author. Some of them are more specialized. One subspecies is the watch blog, a blog which sets out to criticize what the author considers systematic errors or bias in an online newspaper or news site—or perhaps even by a more popular blogger. Political blogs attracted attention because of their use by two political candidates in 2003: Howard Dean and Wesley Clark. Both gained political buzz on the Internet, and particularly among bloggers, before they were taken seriously by the establishment media as candidates. Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager, made the Internet a particular focus of the campaign. Both candidates stumbled in the end, but were, at one time or another, thought of as front runners for the Democratic Nomination. In 2004, the Democrats took political blogging a major step forward by creating [http://blogswarm.org Blog Swarm] to coordinate the hypertext links of progressive blogs. This allowed one blog to drive traffic by harnessing the power of a full blog array. ===Educational=== There are many educational applications of blogs. Students can use weblogs as records of their learning and teachers can use weblogs as records of what they taught. For example, a teacher can blog a course, recording day-by-day what was taught, including links to Internet resources, and specifying what homework students are required to carry out. This application has many advantages: (1) a student can quickly catch-up if they miss a class; (2) the teacher can use the blog as a course plan; and (3) the blog serves as an accurate summary of the course that prospective students or new teachers can refer to. There are other educational applications of blogs. Students can blog an educational excursion, recording day-by-day (or hour by hour) where they went, what they saw and what they learned - including photographs, audio or video. The collaborative features of blogs can be used to permit several students to contribute to the blog. Blogs can be used by a wide range of educational organisations. For example, SQA uses a blog to [http://sqacomputing.blogspot.com/ keep teachers up-to-date with new qualifications]. Will Richardson's [http://www.weblogg-ed.com/ blog] is a compendium of useful educational blogging resources. ===Legal=== Blogs that discuss law and legal affairs are often referred to as blawgs. ===Directory=== Directory weblogs are useful for web-surfers because they often collect numerous web sites with interesting content in an easy to use and constantly updated format. News-related weblogs can fall into this category or the previous one (political blogs). ===Media=== Some blogs serve as media watchdogs, reporting on falsehoods or inconsistencies that are presented as facts in the mass media. Many media blogs are focused exclusively on one newspaper or television network. ===Corporate=== Increasingly, employees of corporations are posting official or semi-official blogs about their work. The employers however, do not always appreciate the endeavor. In January 2005 Joe Gordon was fired from Waterstone's bookshop in Edinburgh, Scotland, because he referred to his boss as an "asshole in sandals." In 2004 Ellen Simonetti, a Delta Air Lines flight attendant, was fired for posing in uniform on her blog. Perhaps the most famous case of all occurred when "Troutgirl" Joyce Park was [http://troutgirl.com/blog/index.php?/archives/46_Shitcanned.html fired] from Friendster because she discussed the rationale behind the website's technology conversion from J2EE to PHP on her blog. Other employers have reacted differently. For instance, when Power Line (blog) bloggers were attacked by a Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist, one of the bloggers' employers [http://powerlineblog.com/archives/2005_01.php#009119 came to his defense]. With the rise in popularity of blogs in 2004 senior management caught on to the trend and by January 2005 several types of organizations, including universities, had started using blogs to communicate with their stakeholders. Many believe this corporate takeover of a tool that was used primarily by Internet enthusiasts will lead to a decrease in the popularity of the medium. Others believe that the use of blogs by organizations will add new voices and vitality to the medium. At any rate, there is little evidence that the growth rate of the blogosphere has slowed. A prime example of senior management blogging is General Motors's Fastlane blog [http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/], edited, among others, by GM vice chairman Bob Lutz. In 2005 the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) published the guide ''[http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Anonymity/blog-anonymously.php How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)]''. ===Advice=== Many weblogs provide expert advice, such as Microsoft technical knowledge ([http://blog.advisor.com/blog/garydev.nsf GaryDev]) or fiction publishing for women ([http://www.codexwriters.com/4chicks/ Four Chicks and a Book]). Many small businesses are also using blogs to offer advice and better connect with their clients. These blogs are particularly prevalent in the real estate industry where agents typically have a great deal of flexibility in marketing themselves. ===Religious=== Some blogs discuss religious topics. Religious blogs show the public's points of view on various controversies both in religion and in politics, economics, and life in general. ===Formats=== Some weblogs specialize in particular forms of presentation, such as images (see web comics), or videos (see videoblogging), or on a particular theme, and acronyms have been developed for some of these, such as moblogs (for "mobile" blog). ====Audio==== One of the types of blog that has undergone rapid expansion since the year 2000 is the MP3 blog, which make audio files available to the user. MP3 blogs are normally targeted at highly specialized musical genres, such as late 60s soul music or early 90s hip-hop or even the latest stuff in electronic dance music genres like grime. However, personal audioblogs are also on the rise (See also Podcasting). ====Photography==== The increasing ubiquity of digital cameras and Broadband Internet access has made it ever easier to post and share photos on the web. Bloggers have adapted their software to facilitate the publishing of photos, creating what is called a photoblog. Photo sharing sites like [http://www.buzznet.com Buzznet] and Flickr have integrated the typical photo gallery service with photo sharing, blogging and syndication to create a new kind of social software. ====Video==== In January 2005 the first [http://vloggercon.blogspot.com VloggerCon] was held, catering to a new breed of bloggers, the video blogger. A vlog, or videoblog, is a weblog which uses video as its primary presentation format. Vlog posts are usually accompanied by text, image and additional metadata to provide a context or overview for the video. ==Common terms== Blogging, like any hobby, has developed something of a specialised vocabulary. The following is an attempt to explain a few of the more common phrases and words, including etymology when not obvious. ;MP3 blog:A blog where the posts consist mainly of voice recordings sent by mobile phone, sometimes with some short text message added for metadata purposes. (cf. podcasting) ;Bleg:A blog entry consisting of a request to the readers, such as for information or contributions. A portmanteau of "blog" and "beg". ;Blog feed:The XML-based file in which the blog hosting software places a machine-readable version of the blog so that it may be "syndicated" for further distribution on the web. Formats such as RSS and Atom are used to structure the XML file. ;Blogfoo:Statements written with an air of generality while obviously pointed at a specific person or group of people. ;Blog hopping:to follow links from one blog entry to another, with related side-trips to various articles, sites, discussion forums, and more. ;Blogorrhoea:A portmanteau of "blog" and "logorrhoea", meaning excessive and/or incoherent talkativeness in a weblog. ;Blogroll:A list of blogs. Usually a blogger features a list of his favorite blogs in the sidebar of his blog. These lists can be made dynamic using services like [http://www.blogrolling.com BlogRolling]. ;Blog site:The web location (Uniform Resource Locator) of a blog, which may be either a dedicated domain, a sub-domain, or embedded within a web site. ;Blogsite:Sometimes confused with a simple blog or blog site, but a blogsite is a web site which combines blog feeds from a variety of sources, as well as non-blog sources, and adds significant value over the raw blog feeds. ;Blogsnob:A person who refuses to respond to comments on their blog from people outside their circle of friends. ;Moblog:A portmanteau of "mobile" and "blog". A blog featuring posts sent mainly by mobile phone, using Short message service or Multimedia Messaging System messages. They are often photoblogs. ;Permalink:Permanent link. The unique URL of a single post. Use this when you want to link to a post somewhere. ;Pingback:The alert in the TrackBack system that notifies the original poster of a blog post when someone else writes an entry concerning the original post. ;TrackBack:A system that allows a blogger to see who has seen the original post and has written another entry concerning it. The system works by sending a 'ping' between the blogs, and therefore providing the alert. ==See also== *Content Management System *Autocast *Blogebrity *BlogRoots *Blogstream *Commonplace: a historical precedent for the weblog *Google bomb *News aggregator *Persian weblogs *Podcasting ==External links== ;Additional information and statistics *[http://www.blogpulse.com/trend Blogpulse.com] — Track and search for any trend in blogging. *[http://www.blogtree.com/ BlogTree.com] — Site that attempts to map blog genealogy. *[http://www.andreas.com/faq-blog.html A FAQ on Blogs] by Andreas Ramos *[http://www.samizdata.net/blog/glossary.html A glossary of blogging terms] *[http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?WebLog MeatballWiki's] very comprehensive article on Weblogs (particularly about their history). *[http://westner.levrang.de/cms/front_content.php?idcatart=30&lang=1&client=1 Weblog service providing: Identification of functional requirements and evaluation of existing weblog services in German and English languages], master dissertation by Markus K. Westner *[http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html Weblogs: A History and Perspective] by Rebecca Blood (2000). ;Advocacy *[http://committeetoprotectbloggers.blogspot.com/ Committee to Protect Bloggers] *[http://www.onlinecoalition.com/ The Online Coalition letter to the FEC] ;Articles and books *[http://www.periodicdiversions.com/archives/2003/09/16/the_blogger_manifesto_or_do_weblogs_make_the_internet_better_or_worse.html The Blogger Manifesto (or, Do Weblogs Make the Internet Better or Worse?)] *[http://www.dvorak.org/blog/primer/blogprimer1.htm Blog Primer] — Understanding and Reading a Blog for Beginners by John C. Dvorak *[http://www.legadoassociates.com/blogbinge.htm "Blogs? zzzz ..."] — by Wynn Quon, National Post (2005). A reality check on blog-o-mania. *Dan Gillmor's [http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/wemedia/book/ ''We The Media. Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People''] (2004, full text online) sees blogs as paradigmatic of a new form of journalism in the digital age. *[http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/weblogs/ Guardian: special report - weblogs] *[http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=2707 "Web of Influence"] — by Daniel W. Drezner, Henry Farrell from [http://www.foreignpolicy.com ''Foreign Policy Magazine''] *[http://mama.indstate.edu/users/bones/WhyIHateWebLogs.html Why I Hate Weblogs!] — Sarcastic opinion article exploring the phenomenon (warning: harsh language). *[http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/2/2/171117/8823 "Why your Movable Type blog must die"] (humorous article) *[http://traedays.blogspot.com/2005/06/how-to-blogaccording-to-trae.html "How to blog"] Tips for perfection in the art of blogging ;Miscellaneous *Open Directory Project: **[http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Weblogs/Search_Engines/ Weblog Search Engines] **[http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Weblogs/Tools/ Weblog Tools] Digital Revolution Internet Internet terminology Politics and technology Weblogs Neologisms fa:وب‌لاگ hi:ब्लॉग mt:Blogg zh-min-nan:Bāng-chì simple:Blog th:เว็บล็อก

Weblog

Archives: *Talk:Weblog/Archive1 /archive 2 == Not an application == Would someone else confirm that Stevie is dead wrong about weblogs being web applications? There are lots of web applications for creating weblogs, but it's like saying a book is a printing press. --User:Robotwisdom 02:21, 23 May 2005 (UTC) "pitas" redirects to an irrelevant wiki. :No, it's like saying a book is a form of printed document. Show me a weblog that's not produced by a web application. And I'm sorry, just manually throwing up log entries on a web page doesn't count. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 19:28, May 30, 2005 (UTC) ::My blog has never been produced by a web app. But whether it's produced by one or not, no weblog _is_ a web application. An application is a software program, a weblog is a file. --User:Robotwisdom 20:46, 30 May 2005 (UTC) :::That is just not the case. Most weblog text data is stored in databases, or pulled from files, but in either case it's a web application that's handling it. A weblog is indeed a piece of software, and more specifically, a web application. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 21:58, May 30, 2005 (UTC) :Blogs are not applications. One must use an application of some sort to create a blog, and some blogs, as noted by Stevie do dynamically produce their pages from an application, but this is not the case for most of them. All blogs created by Blogger (including all whatever.blogspot.com blogs) are themselves straight HTML files that have no tie to an application once they have been created. It is incorrect to say that a weblog is an application. --User:Astanhope 23:07, 30 May 2005 (UTC) ::I have to disagree again, esp. that Blogger files have no tie to an application once they have been created. That just is not true. You use Blogger to modify them, and Blogger continues to collect comments on them and handle the other standard weblog features... which by the way, only an application could handle. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} :::Stevie, here are some questions to try to diagnose your blindspot: 1) Is Microsoft Word an application, in the same sense that web applications are applications? 2) Is a document created by MS Word an application? 3) In a Wikipedia article about 'document' would you say a document is an application because it's created and maintained by an application? If not, why not? --User:Robotwisdom 23:41, 30 May 2005 (UTC) ::::You are referring to "weblog entries", not a "weblog." A weblog is a web application that provides for entering and modifying weblog entries, providing other standard features (comments, trackback, etc.). Compare a weblog to a diary... the diary (book) compares to the weblog (application), as diary content compares to weblog content. The diary is the specialized book that provides the format for the diary content, and the weblog is the application that provides for entering/modifying weblog content. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 23:48, May 30, 2005 (UTC) ::::To specifically answer your questions, in one full swoop the answer is that weblogs are not documents... because if they were, in your thinking, you could put the weblog entries on a flat web page, then the standard weblog features would magically come into play. Of course, that isn't the case. What you would have instead is a personal web page with weblog-like content. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 23:57, May 30, 2005 (UTC) :::::The first weblog has never had comments or trackbacks, it's just a flat file, maintained by (my) hand. Stevie, when people say "my blog" do you think they're talking about a web application, or the content? Since users don't own the app, why would they say "my"? Why wouldn't I have to say to, eg, Dave Winer, Can I use your blog to post some entries? --User:Robotwisdom 00:11, 31 May 2005 (UTC) ::::::Just because it started out hand-written, this doesn't describe what they are today. The article already has history info, right? This article must cover what weblogs are ''now''. :::::: Also, let's compare a weblog to a discussion board (since they are very similar)... when I say "my discussion board", I definitely do mean "my discussion board application". And owning a web application has nothing to do with it, as application also means an implementation of same. A weblog is a web application, implemented for the purpose of showing a particular blogger's weblog content. When you invite people to your weblog, you are indeed having them come to use your application implementation for displaying your entries and taking their comments! — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 00:24, May 31, 2005 (UTC) ::::::: There are many web applications for maintaining weblogs. No one but you confuses these with the weblogs themselves. No one thinks 'Blogger' is a weblog-- it's the app. The current phrasing is just ignorant and misleading, and must be changed. A weblog is not in any sense an application, it's a type of webpage. --User:Robotwisdom 00:42, 31 May 2005 (UTC) :::::::: An application is both the application software and its implementation. This should be quite clear. If you have a weblog in 2005, you have an application, i.e., an implementation of application software. No? — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 00:49, May 31, 2005 (UTC) :I'll be to the point for all coming to this topic: ''An application is an implementation of application software''. A weblog is indeed this, as are discussion boards, wikis, chat rooms, etc. Thank you. :) — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 00:57, May 31, 2005 (UTC) ::In the general sense that 'webmail' is a web application, 'blogging' might be called another. I have a weblog, but I don't use any web app-- it's just a flat file. I don't think "An application is an implementation of application software" is meaningful or correct. --User:Robotwisdom 01:01, 31 May 2005 (UTC) :::I would say that what you're doing is not a weblog, but instead a personal page with weblog-style entries. I know you'll be miffed by this idea, but I think it's accurate. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 01:06, May 31, 2005 (UTC) :::Further, the definition I provide for ''application'' certainly isn't the fullest extent of description, but it is succinct and factual. I've been in the computer science field for a couple decades now... methinks I know whereof as I speak. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 01:09, May 31, 2005 (UTC) ::::The expression 'application' originally meant a problem area that computing power could be applied to-- if you said, "We're looking into a new application" people would assume you'd be writing new code. "Application software" was software written for the application-domain, and from this "We're getting a new app" came to mean acquiring application software. ::::Now, 'blogging' is potentially an application-domain, but it's perfectly possible to blog without using any specialized application software. The way you're using the word 'implementation' is incorrect-- a particular software app may be an implementation of a set of strategies for the application-domain, but a blog is not an implementation of any app. (Can others join in here and straighten Stevie out?) --User:Robotwisdom 01:25, 31 May 2005 (UTC) :*I have a friend who has a Blogger-driven blog that he hosts on his own server under his own domain name... For example, the blog is at http://www.hisdomainname.com as opposed to http://hisdomainname.blogspot.com. Blogger is the application he uses to create his blog. When he creates an entry in Blogger and clicks on POST, Blogger produces the appropriate set of STATIC HTML files and automatically FTPs them to his server. His blog, therefore, consists only of this collection of static HTML files sitting in a nest of directories on his server. His server runs Apache, an application, to serve up the HTML pages, and in order to view his blog one must have a browser - another application. The "blog" itself, however, is application free. Stevie, you pointed to Comments and Trackback as indicators that a blog is an application... Many blogs have neither, and MOST don't have Trackback. My friend's blog has both, but they are driven by a third-party application run by a service bureau elsewhere (Haloscan). Finally, if Blogger and Haloscan suddenly went offline forever, but my friend's server stayed up, his blog would still be there - it still exists - without an application. --User:Astanhope 03:42, 31 May 2005 (UTC) :: To conclude, a weblog can be created and maintained using a web application (if yer smart) or by hand (if yer an idiot). Hence, it's not necessarily driven by a specific application. And also, OH MY GOD! GET A JOB/LIFE you guys! User:Wlievens 08:01, 31 May 2005 (UTC) :::* This, from a 22-yr old who is creating an online version of RISK and has a "WikiStress Meter" on his User page? Yeah, OK... --User:Astanhope 13:23, 31 May 2005 (UTC) *Stevie-proclaims-himself-to-be-the-man's definition of "weblog" as an application used for maintaining a weblog is ideosyncratic at best. It is not what most people mean why they say/write "weblog"; they are referring to the content (the material being published) or perhaps the site (the place it is published), not the tool used to publish it. Furthermore, the developers of such apps don't refer to them the way Stevie does. WordPress.org does not refer to WP as "a blog" but as a "personal publishing system". Blogger.com describes a blog as a "web site" (i.e. something produced with their software, not the software itself). Six Apart refer to MT as "a weblog publishing platform" (i.e. a platform for publishing weblogs). B2evolution is a "blog engine". Bloxsom is a "weblog application", a term that would make no sense if a weblog were ''itself'' an application. GreyMatter is "weblogging and journal software". TextPattern is a "content management system for... weblogs." LiveJournal is a "personal publishing ('blogging') tool". Go check your fave if I skipped it. None of them say "___ is a blog", and each of these developers goes on to use "weblog" or "blog" in the sense of ''content'' or ''site''. Maybe a comment that the word sometimes gets loosely applied to the software would be appropriate, but there's no justification for making that the primary definition. User:Tverbeek 12:10, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC) P.S. I see little basis for the assertion that the term was abbreviated specifically to avoid confusion with Apache transfer logs; I'd wager that most bloggers aren't even aware of the other sense. "Blog" is a hip-sounding bit of slang, not a disambiguation from "server log". User:Tverbeek 12:29, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC) :Tverbeek, I agree completely. See my other suggestions in the 'Intro' section above, and the following sections. Let's not let Stevie-and-his-ego trash this article again. --User:Robotwisdom 13:11, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC) ::It's not about ego, it's about facts. I'll be back in 24 hours to revert again, as I won't violate the 3RR. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 17:57, Jun 12, 2005 (UTC) ::Further, it's indeed sad to see contributors reduced to continued personal attacks in making a point that's not factual. Calling a 'weblog' a web application is *not* calling it "software" (and I _never_ made a point like this). This continued misunderstanding indicates an unawareness of what the term 'application' means. A weblog is an application of the web (as wikis and discussion boards are as well), almost always backed up by server-side software. And the content is the weblog as well (See the diary/diary rationale I already discussed). In fact, a weblog is a web application even if it's _not_ backed up by server software. If you create a weblog from scratch, you're still ''applying'' the web in a specific manner. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 18:10, Jun 12, 2005 (UTC) ::Perhaps "Jorn Barger" would like to call a 'weblog' an "applied web thingie" so as to give it context amongst other "applied web thingies." Oh wait, a web application is an "applied web thingie." :) — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 18:29, Jun 12, 2005 (UTC) *Stevie, have you considered that the problem with people misunderstanding what you mean by "web application" might stem from the fact that the term is inherently ambiguous and unclear? In the context of computing "application" is most commonly used to mean "a piece of software", so you really shouldn't be surprised that people interpret "web application" in that way. Saying that it's "an application of the web" (or in more common English, "a use of the web") is a little more clear what you mean, but it's still a rather awkward phrase and a peculiar way of describing something. We don't call a magazine "an application of printing technology"; we call it "a kind of publication". Apparently the problem here isn't (as it appeared to be) a half-baked notion of what a weblog is, but a simple inability to express yourself clearly. Let others help with that. (And as an aside, reverting my edit of the opening paragraph ''and every other edit between that and an earlier unrelated edit of mine'' was not a responsible act in good faith. Please conduct yourself more appropriately.) User:Tverbeek 22:17, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC) ::But a weblog *is* a web application, as a weblog isn't just a form of publication, but a kind of apparatus (i.e., web application) with weblog-specific features for delivering said publication. With respect to the weblog-as-apparatus, this apparatus is a web application, in that it is an implementation of web-based software. A weblog is a web application the same way a wiki or discussion board or web-based photo gallery or web-based location finding is a web application. Discussion boards have "discussion content", and weblogs publish "weblog content", commonly known as the weblog. "Weblog" has a dual meaning here, and we can't ignore this. ::Further, reverting is indeed proper and and every contributor's right to do at any time when sound, factual content is being thrown out. My good faith has already been sealed by my long work in the Wikipedia. However, I recognize that I may have made a mistake in my reverting work you did that I might have agreed with. But you have no position to call me on appropriateness, as you knowingly entered into a fray that you should have realized would trigger actions that occurred. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 01:30, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC) :::A simple "I didn't understand what you just wrote" would have been sufficent. And blaming ''me'' for ''your'' inappropriate actions suggests that we have some kind of "dual meaning" of good faith going here as well. Apparently it also includes blindly reverting based on who the editor was, rather than content. Will you consent to mediation? That would seem a more constructive approach than perpetuating this "fray" of yours. User:Tverbeek 12:09, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC) ::::I didn't begin the fray, as the article was settled for a long time before the so-called inventor of weblogs came in here to stir things up. I'm just seeking to make the article factual. I would also appreciate you stop acting like some sort of authority figure. I've not done anything wrong, as I've followed Wikipedia rules to a tee. My actions have been in 100% good faith. What you call "bad faith" is merely a mild mistake on my part--that's why I blame you--for jumping to conclusions. No mediation is necessary as long as there is an agreement to strive for factuality and not let the so-called inventor of weblogs tell us how to write "his article." — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 15:42, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC) :::::Arguing about who started it or who's to blame is not going to help. As a newcomer to this dispute, it seems to me that ''something'' is needed to resolve it, or else there will be further collateral damage to the article. I have posted a Request for Comment as a first step. If that fails, given the history of the dispute and its degeneration into a pissing contest (or fray, or whatever you want to call it), I would see mediation as ''quite'' necessary. User:Tverbeek 17:07, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC) ::::::Well, mediation may help, if only to inform people that they don't "own" concepts or articles. Further, it may be helpful to hold a wiki vote on whether weblogs are web applications or not, and I will gladly accept the consensus. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 17:10, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC) :I confirm that a weblog is NOT a web application. There is a distinct difference between the editor and the text made with an editor. A web app is the editor, the weblog is the result. The original web logs were simply text updates -- very similar to the "new with version x.xx" info included with software -- about what had been added since the last time, gradually including personal info like the reason the update has taken so long, eventually becoming purely about personal info. My blog (whole site, even) is purely windows notepad text uploaded as a saved *.htm, and has been so since May 2001. While the percentage of weblogs may *now* be by a huge majority web app generated, only *one* counterexample of weblogs not being web apps completely nullifies the possibility of "weblog = web app". User:Thehomeland 12:00 June 18, 2005 :Put me down for "weblog is not an application." An application, according to dictionary.com, is "a computer program with a user interface;" when people talk about my weblog, they are not talking about Movable Type, but about the content (or, at most, the static html files that make up the weblog). To equate a weblog with the software that produces it is like insisting that milk is a cow. User:Shadowkeeper 11:00 PST June 18, 2005 == Deleted link. == Could someone please explain what is objectionable about this [http://www.blogpulse.com/trend.html link]? It isn't just a search engine, it enables user to look at the relative popularity of a topic of their choice in the blogosphere and is unique in this way. I think it would be interesting for anyone doing research on the content and influence of blogs. Or would it be better to link [http://www.blogpulse.com/trends.html here], another page from the same site, which is a showcase of selected trends? --User:Newsjunkie 13:15, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC) :External links should provide additional useful info that effectively extends the content of the article. If you feel your link does this, restore it. :Also re: the recent devastation to the links, hopefully, the remover will do a line-by-line explanation of why the deleted links don't comply with the rules. Meanwhile, I'll revert any removals (as much as I can do "legally"). — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 00:06, Jun 9, 2005 (UTC) == Self-Congratulatory History? == Am I the only one who reads the History section and wonders whether it was written by bloggers who imagine the blogosphere (and by extension themselves) to be far more important and influential than it really is? I get the impression that if blogs had been around 15 years ago this article would be crediting them with the downfall of Communism, the end of Apartheid, the ouster of Maggie Thatcher, and maybe even putting Hubble into orbit. User:JAQ 11:38, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC) == Not an application (cont) == Stevie-with-the-egomaniacal-handle-and the-inability-to-read-and-respond writes: "A weblog is an application of the web... If you create a weblog from scratch, you're still applying the web in a specific manner." Stevie's rationalisations are increasingly adhoc and insupportable. This is not what 'application' means, as I tried to explain above, at some length. Stevie's use of 'implementation' is similarly bizarre. The Web is not something that can be applied, but rather the expression 'web application' refers to software applications that reside on the Web. I'm coming to the conclusion that Stevie's attitude needs to be addressed as recurrent vandalism. --User:Robotwisdom 19:12, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC) :"Argument via personal attack" will not work here. I have already answered all the points raised here adequately. I will defend the content again tomorrow; however I will attempt to merge what is currently here with what was here before. That is the fair approach, as there are kernels of truth in both versions. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 19:53, Jun 12, 2005 (UTC) ::No, Stevie, there's no kernel of truth in your confabulated definitions, and I resent that your giant ego has led you to impose your errors on the world for months in the face of my feedback. --User:Robotwisdom 20:12, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC) :::It's apparent you're on some kind of crusade here. I'm merely trying to ensure that the Wikipedia reports facts about various concepts. At any rate, I'm going to merge my material back in tomorrow without doing a full revert. You seem to want to ascribe evil behavior on my part, but that's just plain silly. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 01:15, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC) There's been questions raised as to whether I'm really Jorn-- I don't know how to prove it but [http://robotwisdom.com/img5/stevie.jpg here's] proof I have access to his website. --User:Robotwisdom 19:45, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC) :Tverbeek, you interpret Stevie's phrase "web application" as synonymous (in his mind) with "use of the web". Perhaps this correctly explains how he sees things, but if you read the article for web application it's obviously not what the expression properly means. --User:Robotwisdom 23:53, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC) ::That just means the web application article might need some work. You may want to defer to those who have worked as software developers on applications to know what the term 'application' means. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 01:15, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC) :::Stevie, I bought my first computer in 1964. If I'm on any crusade, it's to wake you up to the immaturity of your offensively egomaniacal handle. If you want to try re-writing web application so it means what you think it means, I welcome this as a quick way to discover your error. But you clearly aren't a responsible contributor, so I think we need to pursue this in other ways as well (eg classing you as a vandal). --User:Robotwisdom 01:32, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC) ::::"Offensively egomaniacal handle", which is what? My goodness. Please do report me as a vandal. I actually encourage you. It will "get laughed out of court." ::::Further, it would seem to me that using the overwhelmingly emotional language you are using against someone you simply disagree with is what most people would term "immature." You may want to reexamine the kind of language you're using here and see if it's not actually hurting your cause (even if you're right). — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 01:48, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC) Obviously your offensive handle is "Stevie is the man!" which you flaunt after every post. I've never seen any sign that you tried to understand anything I've written-- you exist in a bubble of ego where no one else's opinion matters. You don't notice that everyone else who's entered this debate agrees with me, not with you. You've obviously never bothered to read the article web application. You make absurd egomaniacal judgments about my background without bothering to research them or to acknowledge your errors when I point them out. You reflexively revert to your version without paying any attention to others' views. So what good are you? --User:Robotwisdom 02:18, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC) :Not everyone has agreed with you, and you know that. Further, it's not "egomaniacal" to point out that you haven't supported who you say you are. That's just an objective observation. :Re: my handle, that's just my signature. If you want to deny me my individuality and creativity, and accordingly the same of all contributors who have the same ability to produce unusual signatures, then again, you may want to reexamine your stance. :What good am I? What good is anybody? I've made honest attempts to make this article into a better article, and I've been working at it for a long while. So, in Wikipedia terms, that makes me pretty good. :You just seem to want to convert honest disagreements into some pissing match, and that is quite a shame. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 02:44, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC) ::Everyone but you agrees that calling a weblog a web app is a mistake. I've tried and tried to explain why, but you don't bother to read and respond. A bragging handle is immature and in bad taste, especially when you don't have anywhere near the insight to match it. If you want to demonstrate your sincerity about improving the article, try addressing the points I've made instead of just reasserting your original pov. Start with the web application article, which is the root of your problem (you never read/understood it.) --User:Robotwisdom 03:15, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC) :::You're plainly wrong that everyone agrees that calling a weblog a web app is a mistake. The disagreement is over saying it's just a web application. And I've already compromised on that. It's all in the record. :::I am under no obligation to respond to you at any time. You don't deserve any special repsonses from me just because you say something, which is usually taking an argument in yet another circle. Nor have I ever "bragged". I will follow the facts as I know them. Period. And will gladly discuss this topic with those who aren't so prone to dig in with personal attacks as you have done. :::I have already gone to great ends to find compromise language, and that's clear in the record. And later today, I will do the same again. And I'll keep doing it until the content is accurate and covers the topic entirely, not ignoring the ''fact that weblogs are web applications''. :::I responded to you as much as I'm going to respond to you. But given that you are indeed a very uncivil person, you not get any further response from me on anything, from now until the end of time. I hope this is clear. :::And I will do my honest best to make sure this article is factual, as I've done everywhere else in the Wikipedia. And this much is true, most long-time contributors like me work pretty much the same way! — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 04:44, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC) The statement "a weblog is a web application" is clearly not a "fact", because it is rather obviously disputed. It is at most an opinion or a (seemingly minority) perspective. User:Tverbeek 12:18, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC) :It is indeed a fact, but I'm not going to revert the article back. I only did mild edits that should be agreeable to all. It's amazing to me that there continues to be a disagreement over what really is a simple idea. So I guess wikis and discussion boards are also not web applications? Sheesh. I suppose that whenever I look at this article from now on, I'll have to consider myself entering Bizarro World, where black is white and white is black. — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 15:51, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC) ::I suppose this would be a case of the pot calling the kettle white, then. User:Tverbeek 17:09, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC) ::Wikis may be web applications, but the wiki entry is not, and separating the wiki from the wiki content is only a matter of convention, since English hasn't caught up yet. The cgi or php required to make a discussion board may be considered an application, but the actual discussion board is not an application. HTML is certainly not an application, but I can create a web page with HTML and CSS and Javascript to create a blog that reasonably matches what Blogger or Movable Type applications create, with the ability to add comments and (possibly) trackbacks. At no time, using HTML, CSS, and Javascript, did I create a web application. I created a document that a web browser (a real application) parses. A blog is not an application. Neither is a PDF, which can contain links and allow users to embed comments. A Flash file is totally and completely interactive, but is not an application. One can wrap it in an application, to allow it to play independently on a desktop, but without the application wrapper, it's just a file, just like a blog. A good rule of thumb, if you can embed something in it, it's a file, not an application. --User:MacPhoenix 21:59, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC) Man, some people don't like to admit they're wrong, do they? robotwisdom is right; let it go. User:Uttaddmb 01:37, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC) Stevie: weblogs are not a web application, Blogger is a web application, WordPress is a web application, but blogs are not. You say wikis and discussion boards are web apps which is also wrong. MediaWiki or PHPwiki are web apps, but the resulting published content isn't. :Weblogs can be published editing plain HTML files with a text editor (as Jorn does) and no web app is involved in the process, you could do exactly the same with forums, but it wouldn't be easy for people to discuss that's why do create a web app to automate the process. Weblogs = format. How you publish? that's a whole different subject. Maybe you would like to focus on web apps which makes easy for people to publish a blog like Blogger. --User:Earcos 09:52, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC) ==Question== In the "Creating and publishing weblogs" section, there is a sentence: :Blogs with features such as TrackBack are credited with complicating search engine page ranking techniques How can a "web-based publication" have a programmatic feature? Interesting. :) — Stevie_is_the_man!">User:Stevietheman ^{User talk:Stevietheman | Special:Contributions/Stevietheman} 15:34, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC) :Your face has features: eyes, nose, mouth; they grew there while there were programmatic genetic algorithms modifying your appearance but will remain after you are dead. A weblog has features: ads, comments, trackback, post timestamps, post attributions, &c. If the weblog were archived as static text, it would still have those features, so they are not inherently "programmatic" even though the HTML that expresses them was generated by a program or "application". :We also use the word "features" to refer to the affordances of application software. And if the software that publishes a given weblog affords modification of its content with Web tools, then that weblog can reasonably be called a "Web application". But that doesn't mean that the category "weblog" is a subcategory of "Web application", just that a Web site can be both at once. Jorn's site is certainly a weblog, and certainly not a Web application, and there are plenty of others in that region of the Venn diagram. :Your proposition that "Web application" means "application of the Web" means "use of the Web" - which just means "Web site" - is silly. :[http://angel.net/~nic/ Nic Wolff] :By this reasoning, a simple HTML page which included JavaScript for, say, image replacement would be a web app. Further, even simple hyperlinks are considered features. Although hyperlinks are admittedly not a programatic feature, the trackback problem you define is not a programatic one. :[http://www.vertigo25.com/ A. Standfield] == RfC == Are people still looking for input, or can I remove the listing? User:Dan100 (User talk:Dan100 20:11, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC) *In light of the fact that the sole advocate of the "weblog = a web application" position has ended his crusade [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AStevietheman&diff=15290758&oldid=15290502], I think we can remove the RfC listing. User:Tverbeek 17:38, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC) Thanks. User:Dan100 (User talk:Dan100 14:10, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC) == Partner (collaboration on multi-section documents) == This new section reads like a proposal for how blogs could be used, or maybe an analysis of something that a few people are doing, rather than a description of a common, existing type of blog. (I also wonder if the external link in the middle is self-promo.) Any disagreement? User:Tverbeek 22:24, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

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