a denial of ephemerality:
a tiny rebellion / bit of a rant
andrew jones declared earlier this year that a blog post lasts 3 days. this moved maggi dawn to comment:
I've noticed that the blogosphere shares one of the tendencies of tabloid news - as if each issue is only today's news, and it's over in a few days. Andrew Jones said the other day that the maximum life-span of a blog post is 3 days. This may or may not be true (I think it's both true and false, depending on what you mean...) But if it is true, how do we connect up with stuff 3 or four weeks later. In my academic work I'm reading stuff that's been written over a period of years (centuries even), not just a few days. 'Recent' can mean anytime in the last 10 or 20 years. 3 days just isn't enough...
I entirely agree and so for some time now...
...I don't hesitate to post about someone else's post here, or comment on a post on someone else's site just because someone else's post is not recent,
...or not to reply to a discussion group note just because it's not new.
...Further, I am an enthusiastic user of bloglines and clip with wanton abandon posts I wish to read more carefully later and/or posts on which I wish to comment or to blog about. And there is no expiration date for a great post. I care not for their putatively short shelf life. How silly. Noveau is not an intrinsic good. I am temporarily trapped in time but my Lord is not. Neither is His truth.
I deny that blogging must be ephemeral.
I further deny that substance cannot be addressed thru blogs.
I deny that serious conversation can't occur here.
I deny that significant spiritual community cannot be created through this medium.
I deny that we can't love God and others here.
We haven't begun to profitably exploit blogging and the online world for His glory.
Monday, August 23, 2004
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4 comments:
Great post. I think one of the great things about blogging is there are so many writers out there. That is such a resource.
I understand how someone can say the life of a post is only 3 days because what I observe is a community of bloggers tend to start a discussion around a post ad that ends after 1-3 days. However, for those interested in thinking, learning, commenting etc. a blog post can have value far longer. A blog post may even influence the wirtings within conventional media etc. and so it goes on...
Thanks Paul! *Culturally*, there's no doubt that blogposts tend to be short-lived. But too many people post too much great content for great thoughts to be treated as fleeting. And thanks to Google, we always have them!
I agree with you, Stephen, and I appreciate your passion in this post. We need to start thinking creatively about these things and not give in to the "tyranny of the urgent." I often get comments on blog posts that are weeks old, because people find them through Google or whatever. The conversations can be on-going. But it takes time, creativity, and effort. But I totally feel you, man. We need to push back on the urgency of our culture which provides a constant flow of information, otherwise we're just going to get swept up in it ourselves.
Thanks Steve! I will say that sometimes when I do get those old comments, since they come to me via email I'm not sure to what blog folks are referring. Then the other limitation I don't like is that when I reply to them (as I'm doing now to you), I have no clue if they read my response or not!
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