Comments on: Geek Buffet Not One of World’s 50 Most Powerful Blogs

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 00:46:25 +0000

Oh yeah…I read Dana’s blog regularly because she’s usually doing something interesting regarding travel,books, crafts, culture, martial arts, etc.

By: Dana

Dana — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:16:55 +0000

I actually started blogging before I really started reading other people’s blogs, as a replacement for the requisite mass emails to be sent while I was living abroad. While living in Japan, I didn’t really read any other blogs about other people living in Japan, unless I knew them (and this was early in the blogging days, so there weren’t that many of those, either.)

Now I continue to blog, and I go through phases of reading or not reading other blogs. I don’t think I really fall into the category of reading other blogs about the topic I write on at all. When I first went to grad school, I read more ESL and linguistic blogs, but I think that only lasted for a year, because I got burned out thinking about that stuff during my blog-reading time, too. Now, I blog on many different subjects, and I mostly read blogs by people I know, with occasional forays into passive reading of a couple big blogs. Sometimes those blogs touch off a post topic for me; most of the time not.

Things that make blogs popular:
-regular updating
-common theme or unifying factor
-good writing
-pictures

Geek Buffet and my own blog violate a number of these, I know, but I did think about this issue a lot back when I was doing a lot of stuff with using blogs as a teaching tool. I think Mike’s comment about blogs being a place to work toward thoughtfulness (without the formality of an academic paper, say) is a good point, too. This fits in with my own definitions of “good writing.”

Yes, 0 (well, Dooce extremely irregularly as of a couple months ago), and I’m not sure.

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 01:47:27 +0000

1. Regular posting in such a way that it becomes part of a reader’s routine (like PostSecret every Sunday; it’s now a ritual–and I can’t believe it’s not on the list). 3. Good storytelling (WaiterRant); and I’m sorry and embarrassed to say, celebrity gossip (TMZ). Those are the ones I read, along with Geek Buffet, of course. I like to read blogs about topics that I don’t know much about but that interest me, and the various topics on Geek Buffet serve that purpose.

I blog primarily as a form of personal journaling, but with content others are allowed to read if they want to. Having it public makes me think more carefully about what I say and how I say it. I’ve actually found it useful to go back and read entries from a few years ago in order to get perspective on what’s happening now.

By: Mike Shapiro

Mike Shapiro — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:29:02 +0000

PLRS, you’re exactly right that being a blogger creates a kind of spectrum shift in the way you see the web, but I’m not sure that’s a bad thing.

If we see the net as a source of passive entertainment/information, what distinguishes it from television? But if we create a channel for reasoned intellectual and political discourse, no matter how dumb our comments are we’ll have a chance to work our way toward some sort of thoughtfulness. (Your co-geek Jennie’s recent post is, I think, a perfect example of this in action.)

And: Yes, 4 (but only 1 of those is in my feed), Bookslut.

By: TheGNat

TheGNat — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:24:00 +0000

I have to admit to being rather out of the loop when it comes to blogs. I never quite jumped onto that bandwagon. I have no idea why blogs are so popular, sorry! I suppose it’s probably at least in part thanks to the “comment” and/or “rate this post” options available - everyone gets to have a say, no matter how dumb they are. Or how little they have to say (that couldn’t possibly be *me*? ^_- )

I do not blog, and I only comment on 3 blogs, one of which is a class blog I’m *required* to comment on. I read……none of the Guardian’s blogs. In fact, I only read 5 blogs in total. http://www.gaijinsmash.net/ is pretty awesome, and has been around for years (originally as OutPost Nine: I am a Japanese SchoolTeacher).

Well, I suppose I should amend that I *have* read ICanHasCheesburger, but this is only because I own two cats and can’t resist giving any site that has photos of cats at least a once-over. It amused me, but I didn’t even bookmark it.