2 of 30 - Blogosphere

[aggienaut]

On Mega/Underbloggery
   Having spent much of the last few hours contemplating mega and underbloggery, the blogosphere, and what the heck I am going to write my 30 megablog entries about, I have finally concluded to write about the blogosphere (which is divided into mega & under -bloggery) for this first (second if I count the last one, which I am) attempt.

Underbloggery
   I perused my friends list and found that most of the entries there appeared to be what has been termed "underbloggery" (writing as a journal rather than for general entertainment of readers). Specifically, it appeared to me that these could be divided into three categories.
   Incoherent: those who could not be bothered to ever structure their entries with more complexity than a bunch of one line thoughts either on seperate lines or, worse, in one run-on paragraph. These persons are clearly writing only for themselves and even those who would be interested in their lives find it too tedious to keep up with the reading.
   Emo: Don't think these are necessarily persons who habitually are bedecked in scarves and messanger bags, in this category I'd place any entry which seems to have been posted by emotional neediness, "whininess" even you might say.
   Underblog Proper: those that survived without falling into the other two categories (discounting a few that had combinations of these traits which stumped my finals-dazed mind), livejournals as journals.
   Now all these category names are certainly up for replacement with more apt names; in my neurotic mid-finals stage this was the best I could do. But I'm not even sure "underblog" isn't on a basic level demeaning to underbloggers (the system having been invented by megabloggers, though they claim the two styles are equally viable) and would entertain propositions of better names for the same concepts.

Megabloggery
   In its highest form it seems to me that megabloggery should be generally understandable to all, rather than specific to a smaller group. This is something I think I need to work on myself since (to take a completely random guesstimate) 40% of my friends live in Davis, 40% in Orange County, and the remaining in neither, and I think I tend to write "for" whichever group I'm currently living among (which for example is about to change to OC). This very entry, for example, is probably only interesting to those who have already contemplated the blogosphere, and everyone else is probably like "WTF... mate?" Entries should also probably be humorous rather than an opinion on a highly theoretical topic... ::caugh::
   I've also heard rumours in my six hours or so of familiarity with the topic, that "megablogs shouldn't have polls" and "megablogs shouldn't have pictures." These "rules" sound highly suspect, and I urge those who theorize on the topic to be careful of making rules with such tangent relevance to the main point of megabloggery. The "Golden Four" for example use pictures quite successfully in many of their best mega-entries.
   Megabloggery also, I theorize, should be based on originality rather than regurgitation of things one finds on the internet that are amusing (this very entry: regurgitation of someone else's theory, or valuable additions to it?), but I think at its lowest level, livejournals that do little more than continually post things they found interesting on the internet are more uninspired megablog than underblog.

   Anyway, in conclusion, for one reason or another, I'm guessing that no one will like this entry. Discussion of the blogosphere theory via comments is highly encouraged, otherwise, read my last entry, I liked that one.


The Mundane "Underblog" Daily Happenings
   I can't fight my underblog urges. Today, I fortified myself in my room deep in my gathering neurosis and stress as my last final approaches tomorrow. In the last two or three days I've only left my apartment to go swimming in the complex pool.
   Today this guy "Greg" from downstairs came up to use our microwave ("because someone moved out with the microwave from downstairs" "thats funny, OUR microwave came with the apt, you might want to look into that"). After I had said about two sentences to him he asked me if I was from "the other side of the Atlantic" and immediately launched in to a terrible Irish accent.
   Lesson of the day: Under NO circumstances, should anyone EVER, upon realizing someone has an accent, immediately proceed with your own terrible attempt at such an accent.

Comments

[incomple.livejournal.com]

You've grasped the basics of megablogging and underblogging in a very quick time; don't tie yourself too quickly to jdryznar's classifications, however. Though he is the pioneer of the megablog/underblog dogma, it is just that, dogma. In real life application, it's much more malleable.

For example, tonyz was just throwing out the idea that no one should use real pictures of themselves, but jdryznar insists that anyone should use any technique necessary to attract women through the internet (please note that both bloggers are in their late 20s). It was quickly abandoned, and now the use of photos and graphics are allowed, sometimes even encouraged, as long as they're not huge and obnoxious. Even then it's allowed, really, as long as it's put behind the lj-cut tag. Images shouldn't be a crutch, though; the emphasis of your posts should be on good (typically non-fiction) stories, sweet jokes, or intelligent commentary (of anything, really). Ideally all of the above.

But it's true that we all try to keep to a pretty strict no quiz/no memes/no "trends" code, as our blogs are just an outlet for our writing and not the place to show which Eliza Dushku character a quiz has arbitrarily assigned you. Internet memes are ultimately pretty boring, and don't make for fun reading. Polls are fine, though; feuders, for example, is an awesome megablogger and he uses polls all the time. If it's funny and original, basically, anything goes.

But, as you brought up, it doesn't have to be strictly original. Like, this is a good megablog entry because it's well thought out and funny. Yeah, you're discussing another blogger's theory/philosophy, but you're exploring it and shedding new light on it, which is encouraged. And even "underblog" topics, if you will, can be turned into megablog topics if you can write about them in such a way that makes them fun to read. That doesn't really matter, though. At one point we've all turned our blogs into a classified section; I've used mine to beg for apartment sublets and to sell concert tickets and cameras and things like that. shekb used his to try to sell his car, and stephenl used his to sell an old computer and find a new roommate. I'd like to think we typically do so in the most entertaining way possible, since we're attention whores, but there aren't any rules, really, and no one is policing you, so no one's going to comment and say "Pardon, but could you megablog this up a tad?"

And don't stick to closely to the "understandable to all" bit. That's basically true, but only to a point. Now and then everyone writes something that basically amounts to an in-joke; but if it gets a laugh, it gets a laugh, so why hold back? Just write what you know is entertaining, and write it well. Every megablogger is different in how they write and what they post and all of that, but the one thing we all share is that our first priority is to entertain our readers. So write to entertain, and shine your light upon the world. You will do well.

[xaositecte.livejournal.com]

Never thought about it that way..

Then again, I never did imagine the day when someone would begin writing blog entries about the philosophy of blogging itself, a sort of Meta-blogging if you will.

it was inevitable.

I must confess I rarely if ever read your entries, but its gems like this that make me keep you on my friends list.

Theory

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

::nodnod:: yes I think your comment generally confirms a lot of what I was thinking already.

I think I got kinda in the rules/antirules mind set after nonmerci told me "megabloggers" don't use fonts like courier new or marquees immediately after I uttered the word megeblog. I was like whoa whoa am I getting policed now?

That and I figured if I'm going to participate in the 30/30 thing I ought to try align myself as closely as possible with the types of entries the other 30 in 30 writers were doing.


on the subject of memes... I can kind of understand quizes, albeit most of them terribly written to the point of all but compromising their existence, but whats with memes? Like... they tell you a bunch of crap about yourself based on no more than the spelling of your username and maybe another question or two, whats the point in that??? In conclusion, I hate memes.

Except for the "memes" that actually calculate relevant things, like who comments the most to your lj...


But anyway, I am interested in the theory that bloggers can be divided up into at least two categories, based not on rules they try to follow but on how they naturally write. I agree with the major mega/under split, but am genuinely interested in hashing out several subgroups which I think clearly exist.

I think I'll do some cross-posting on this subject to schoolofblog

Blogosphere Theory

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Well I think entries about the theory of blogging like this one would be megablog because the subject is not the life of the author but something they want the all-inclusive public to read. Clearly I don't think there's room for divisions strictly based on topics in the blogosphere theory.


But these theories are more than just a random tangent I thought about for five minutes and posted about, I'm genuinely interested in hashing them out.

So what are your thoughts on the theory that livejournalists can be divided into at least two categories, and possibly some subcategories?


Funny, I really didn't like this entry. I thought it was too... evanglical?

[citizene.livejournal.com]

The names of things can be very helpful in discussing a new subject. Underbloggers vs. Megabloggers doesn't quite do the theory justice -- underbloggers aren't operation under much of anything in particular, and megabloggers don't necessarily tackle particularly huge anythings either.

The partition: universal vs. personal. The personal bloggers write for themselves, the universal bloggers write for a readership. Use those names, or something along those lines, because I think that's what you're talking about. Although, on account of the Olde English "800" in me right now, I can't really be sure.

A large part of the field of philosophy seems to be in giving ideas names. If you can't attach a word to an abstract idea, somehow it becomes much more difficult to think about.

diablogs & exiblogs

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

universal & personal are a bit tedious to bandy about however. I think having a one or two syllable prefix before -blog is very effective, but I can't really think of any good alternatives to under- & mega-.

So far my best are:
alternatives to underblog: diablog (from latin for day), or bioblog
alternatives to megablog: exiblog (implying the intention of it spreading forth from the source)

I'm not really opposed to retaining "megablog" however, I think it does kind of capture the intention of writing something "great."

But I would prefer a better word for underblog.

Re: diablogs & exiblogs

[citizene.livejournal.com]

microblog? autoblog? kinderblog?

Re: diablogs & exiblogs

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

I just realized that "diablog" looks *ahem* devilish.

Autoblog is good but it kinda sounds like the blog writes itself /=<

Thing with "underblog," is not only does it sound slightly demeaning, but my first thought when I heard it was that it had something to do with "underwriter," an occupation I didn't really know much about, and looking it up found it had little to do with the context "underblog" was being used in, so its misleading as well.


In other news, I'm thinking about trying to get another issue of the Chosen Echidna out... I've talked to you about this before no?

Re: diablogs & exiblogs

[citizene.livejournal.com]

Chosen Echidna: Yeah, I'm down. I'll IM you about it sometime.

[(Anonymous)]

END THE Theory of Blogging Bull Shit NOW.