Taking The Plunge

10 July, 2006. 329 words.

I don’t normally write much on weekends, but I’m accepting the challenge of the “Weekend Without Echoes” proposed by SLANTblog for July 21-23. Not that my participation means much. But I think it’s a great idea, even if it’s kind of sad that it requires an “event” to get people to stop being snarky. Just this morning I was browsing through my news reader and noticing (again) how little content there was — especially in the “mainstream” blogs. How am I supposed to write a blog post when nobody’s writing anything interesting? More and more of the top-tier blogs seem to rely almost exclusively on quoting and linking to second- or third-tier blogs (or news outlets) for content.

Not that the Weekend Without Echoes doesn’t have opposition: Some people are outraged at the attempt to equate bloggers with journalists (The Challenge: Hell No, I Don’t Accept!). Some people are dismissive because they think they’re already anechoic (Weekend Without Echoes). Some people just think it’s silly (“Weekend Without Echoes” - What Do You Think?), as if a giant echo chamber is what the blogosphere is supposed to be. I won’t even go into what commenters are saying (mostly because I don’t read comments very often).

I just see this as a small attempt to add some interesting content to the blogosphere. I’m not a journalist, and I don’t have any inside contacts anywhere, so I won’t be blowing the lid off any scandals or anything. I certainly have no desire to challenge the “authority” of mainstream journalists. All you’re going to see from me is “thinking out loud.” Sort of Seinfeldien “did you ever notice” kind of content, except not as funny. I blog not so much for others but for myself — to observe and learn about the issues of the day. (Though I sometimes try to feed some non-mainstream news to Mrs. Krehbiel from time to time. :)

Anyway, I think it’ll be interesting to see what develops.

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