Is Blogging a Disease?

Good to see that Mad has doubled the previous record for Blog Comments. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, especially as he's my son, designs the geeky stuff behind my blog and occasionally threatens to pull the plug when I get uppity.

As you all know, I am a recent arrival in the world of blogs. This weekend, I have been roaming the blogosphere in my quest to define the term "blog". A decent definition still eludes me but there are a few things I've noticed already. Allow me to bore your good self with them.

1. Blogging has been around for much longer than I had realized. I came across a couple where the bloggers had been hard at work for years. Interestingly, both appeared to have no comments. Now that is true dedication, to pour out your thoughts day after day without any feedback from fellow human beings. I don't think I could cope with that (thanks folks :)).

2. The blogosphere divides into several categories. I have no doubt that there are more but here are those I've noticed so far -

Designer Blogs - These I was introduced to first, thanks to my son, Mad, being one of them. They amount essentially to an ongoing conversation between those involved in a specialist field. I have seen a few blogs that deal with other rarified subjects and so I guess I should alter this category to be Specialist Blogs with subdivisions into each specialism. My suspicion is that, although the general category may be significant within the whole blogosphere, the various subdivisions would be quite small.

Personal Diaries - Probably the most numerous of all blog types, these range from the literary and quite interesting to the incomprehensible. The vast majority exist without benefit of comments; just a few have sizeable readerships. Some include specialisms since they admit that their work is a valid component of their daily experience.

Political Blogs - Really a specialism, they are so numerous as to deserve a category of their own. Many are very learned in their field (at least appear so to an apolitical animal like me) and, if you are into politics (American) you are spoiled for choice - there is something for everyone here. From my point of view, however, they merely get in the way, forcing me to wade through them in my search for understanding.

Picture Blogs - The most irritating since they can take an age to load. In general they are uninteresting, consisting solely of personal photographs of the blogger and friends. It's like being forced to go through Auntie's vacation pics from 1957... Just the occasional one has photos that are worth looking at - have a look at Keith's photos of India in Mad's latest blog.

Empty Blogs - Often containing nothing but question marks, these exist on Blogger as a necessary means to make a comment (how stupid is it that you have to get a blog on Blogger before you can post a comment on any of its blogs?). I have one in there somewhere...

Corporate Blogs - Essentially advertising. One has to admire the foresight of those companies that have already noticed the potential for marketing within this fairly new field.

Club Blogs - These are quite common and only avoid inclusion within the Specialist category because they often contain several interests and sub-categories.

Literary Blogs - Hopefully a new invention. As far as I've gone, the only ones I know of are the ones within our own little sector of the blogosphere. I have come across writer's blogs but these contain personal news, not examples of work. This would make sense since we get no financial reward for putting our stuff out there for all and sundry to steal if they wish. Our motivation is a mystery to me.

3. Blogging is a relatively new development on the internet and has still to settle down into any kind of maturity. At the moment, it seems that you can put just about anything up there and it will be classified as a blog. Personally, I dread the arrival of the voice blog...

4. Most of the world is barely literate. This is especially noticeable amongst the young and this re-awakens my horror of the future that awaits us - a world of shrinking vocabulary, abbreviated text messages and all the decline in understanding that entails. Sometimes it's hard being a dinosaur.

You can see how difficult it is to put a handle on all this confusion. Mad tells me that there is an on-going debate on the definition of the blog - I believe him. And I shall continue my adventure in this new world, forever trying to make sense of it all. Even dinosaurs struggle to avoid extinction, you know.

As to why it should be necessary to define the term - oh, I don't know, perhaps I'm just trying to see where this is all going...