MetaFilter was mentioned in an USA Today "Blogosphere" article today. July 8, 2003 3:56 PM   Subscribe

MetaFilter was mentioned in an USA Today "Blogosphere" article today.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood to MetaFilter-Related at 3:56 PM (21 comments total)

In five minutes, just about anyone who can read and type can become a blogger with free and low-cost software that makes putting together a blog as easy as filling out a form.

Make your own jokes.
posted by ColdChef at 6:10 PM on July 8, 2003


I think I got the bends from going from the level of discourse here, which I'd been immersed in for an hour, to the Dick-and-Jane level of Look, look, a blog! See the blog. This is a blog.

Still, there's no such thing as bad publicity, right Matt?
posted by soyjoy at 8:46 PM on July 8, 2003


Right. Very cool, thanks for the sighting.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:25 PM on July 8, 2003


Slashdot is a blog?
posted by Slithy_Tove at 12:04 AM on July 9, 2003


Me to a friend the other day: "Oh, I read about that on MetaFilter."

My friend: "MetaFilter? What's that?"

Me: (stunned silence) "It's a community weblog."

My friend: "A weblog? What's that?"

And they let these people vote.
posted by vraxoin at 6:06 AM on July 9, 2003


I'm not surprised people are still hearing about weblogs for the first time. My dad hadn't heard of the Beatles until I played them for him about three years ago.
posted by rocketman at 7:04 AM on July 9, 2003


Well, there we go: MetaFilter is a blog that "make[s] it easy to get news and reaction."

So I guess this really is a news blog.

I think the weather map is the prettiest part of USA Today.
posted by Tin Man at 8:15 AM on July 9, 2003


Tin Man, are just a few examples of group blogs...that "make[s] it easy to get news and reaction."
posted by thomcatspike at 9:18 AM on July 9, 2003


Slashdot is a blog?

hmmm. lessee, items in reverse chronological order with 'permalinks' (although slashdot's are actually tempalinks), yeah, that pretty much sums up the definition of blog. i'm so happy someone "invented" blogs.
posted by quonsar at 11:10 AM on July 9, 2003


USA Today, unlike many of your high-brow newspapers who have done this kind of article in the past, at least provided actual links to some weblogs they discussed.
posted by crunchburger at 12:43 PM on July 9, 2003


USA Today visitors come just in time for: posted by namespan at 12:57 PM on July 9, 2003


Vraxoin, I was right to insist that my wife start a blog then. Even if she does refuse to register to vote. Thanks for the laugh!
posted by billsaysthis at 2:08 PM on July 9, 2003


Maybe it's just me, but the word "blogosphere" makes me both cringe and want to ram sharpened pencils through the author's jugular. Not every word needs to have "blog" added / manipulated-into it. All it does is purvey a sense of "look at me, I blog, and I'm so special that I need absurd made-up words to describe a bunch of lose-knit websites".
posted by Dark Messiah at 9:37 PM on July 9, 2003


If I lose knit will I be a knitwit?
posted by timeistight at 10:30 PM on July 9, 2003


More like knitwitless
posted by dg at 11:40 PM on July 9, 2003


Yeah, Dark Messiah, I hear you. I actually felt compelled to mock someone here for the coinage "blognomenon". Although maybe they said it ironically. Eliot Gelwan at Follow Me Here insists on calling his links "blinks". How annoying is that? "Blogistan", "blogocracy" - it never ends with some of these folks.

I don't even like the word "blog" - a very ugly and useless word in my opinion. "Weblog" is so much nicer sounding, with a little iambic (or whatever it's called) lilt to it. And there is obviously no need to abbreviate a two syllable word. But "blog" is here to stay. I can live with that, but I'd like to hold the line right there.
posted by crunchburger at 11:45 PM on July 9, 2003


*cranks up Tardis*

*emerges in 1999*

*searches for PeterMe*

*tweaks search for PeterMe with purple hair*

*points out that in 2003, people are still arguing over the elegance of the word 'blog', arguments which are more annoying in their predictability than the actual use of the word, which has a short, Anglo-Saxon appeal and permits verbing and other light-hearted paraphernalia*

*shorts the tech sector*

*departs via Tardis*
posted by dhartung at 12:02 AM on July 10, 2003


arguments which are more annoying in their predictability than the actual use of the word

Indeed. If I had me a sharpened pencil, it'd be going through jugulars at a rate of knots, you bet, but not because of word choice.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:49 AM on July 10, 2003


*shorts the tech sector*

Had to get greedy, didn'tcha dhartung?!
posted by zpousman at 1:41 PM on July 10, 2003


>>Eliot Gelwan at Follow Me Here insists on calling his links "blinks". How annoying is that?

I don't know, you tell me, how annoying is it in the scheme of things? And did you stop and think about it? Just for the record, I don't do it in response to "blogistan" or "blogosphere" , which I find pretty inane. And you may notice, I never use "blog" or "blogger" when "weblog" or "weblogger" will do.

My use of "blink" is not simply an alternative to "link" but an ironic comment on the pervasiveness of "blog". Just as a "web log", which is only one kind of "log", becomes a "blog", a "blink" is a contraction for a "web link" , which is only one kind of "link".

I proposed this way back in 1999 or early 2000, shortly after beginning my weblog, and was interested in seeing how a meme similar to the "blog" meme might spread through the weblogging community. It went absolutely nowhere, by the way; there may be one other weblogger who noticed and put it into his glossary of weblogging terms shortly thereafter, three-plus years ago. I'm actually surprised you noticed. Pardon this annoying comment: blink and the phenomenon will pass you by.

-- Eliot Gelwan at Follow Me Here
posted by emg at 8:33 PM on July 13, 2003


Huh. Well, once you explain it like that, it's not annoying at all. Damn you!
posted by jonson at 10:26 PM on July 13, 2003


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