Secret Blogging Society
I’m currently the recipent of a an e-mail discussion, where the messages are sent “reply to all”.
This is a long and informative discussion on Technorati Tags. The New Orleans bloggers, are sharing information on what Technorati Tags are, how to use them, and how they can be used to draw attention to New Orleans. Mark Folse started off with some excellent technical writing, with examples. Then as people asked pointed questions, and detailed their experiences, Mark responded with an even more detailed description of how to use Technorati Tags.
This is pretty much every thing you need to know, as a New Orleans blogger, about Technorati Tags.
But you will never know.
This is a secret discussion.
You cannot partake in this discussion because you are not in the CC list.
In this discussion the participants discuss how to get their message to a wider audience. They note that it would be nice if an experienced blogger would offer guidence.
They hold their dicussion in the dark closet of a CC e-mail. There is no wider audience. There are no passers by who might offer technical help on this subject.
This long, rollicking discussion will not be posted on the web for future New Orleans bloggers to reference. This technical documentation will not be available for future reference. Neither Google, nor Yahoo!, nor MSN search will record this act of self-organization. There will be no chance that someone will search and find this discussion.
We could cut and paste the crux of Mark Folse’s initial e-mail, but the friendly chatter that attracts new participants is gone. It would be a sterile, lonely posting. No context. No discussion. No fun.
It pains me to see all this excellent technical documentation generated and subsequently lost.
How nice it would be to have a blogged discussion that I could point to from a How to Use Technorati Tags posting in this blog. How nice to be able to send a link to the super bloggers that I know, to people at Technorati, and ask for insight.
Do you know what a Technorati Tag is? Do you know how Technorati Tags make your articles easier to find? Do you know how to create a Technorati Tag?
I’m simply wondering; how many readers of this particular blog missed their chance to learn?
How do you intend to reach a wider audience if you only discuss amongst yourselves?
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Comment Pages: « 1 2 [3] Show All
Maitri
Blogger is rough. There is not the hacker community around Blogger like there is MoveableType and WordPress.
There are plenty of nice MoveableType extensions that can do most of what we’ve discussed here. MoveableType is as easy to trick out as WordPress. I’m focusing on WordPress to establish a model of what I can offer to communities.
Here is the start of a blog for Amy Lafont’s educational efforts, and there will be a similar blog for housing. We are going to tie this in with the work of Nathan Shroyer’s Neighborhood Planning Council and use it as a place for transparent governance.
http://thinknola.com/blog/education/
Also, note that FeedBlitz does print a digest of all the blogs to which you’ve subscribed via FeedBlitz. This means that we don’t have to wade through an email apiece for each entry or each blog.
Finally, the nola.com forums are not indexed by Google, and when the server bogs down, they delete posts from the months prior.
Other forum software, I don’t know. A forum is a closed society.
Blogs are open. They are more inviting. Notice how well you and Dave get along now? Would Dave feel as welcome in a New Orleans forum, or would he feel like he was intruding?
Bottom line, I don’t think forums buy you much, they just add the confusing of choosing which forum topic in which to start your thread. The open thread concept seems to work pretty well.
Here’s an example of a blog as forum…
http://annarborisoverrated.com/
…and one more…
http://arborupdate.com/
…I’ll be profiling Ann Arbor bloggers in the days to come at blogometer.com.
Maitri
Also, check out…
http://farringtonsmith.com/
…which is a blog built according to my latest recipie. It includes statisitcs, FeedBurner with FeedFlare, FeedBlitz for email subscriptions, spam protection.
Again, I’m going to preview the conversation tracking via email, and see what you think.
Also, I am playing around with a Blogger blog, to see how hard it would be to trick out.
Charlotte
I was not responding to you specifically, although I responded to
your message. Ugh! It does look bad. I’m sorry. It was message in my inbox that had all the addresses on it.
I didn’t mean to make it seem as if the blog post was directed at
you in particular. Perhaps I ought to have started a new email to
the same distribution list.
It killed me that Mark Folse and the NOLA bloggers taught each other how to use Technorati Tags, but there was no way for me to link to the conversation, use it as documentation to train other bloggers.
This is exactly the sort of thing we need to discuss in our blogs.
I’m trying to teach community organizers to use blogs, and it would be so much easier for them to learn from New Orleanians, and to feel free to ask you all questions. Having this in a blog posting would make that possible.
Although I didn’t mean to slap your hand, and that’s not how I want
to be perceived, I do love that you’re chewing me out in public.
Really, it’s all a
> misunderstanding as well as people having differing approaches to
> issues. I agree with you this info would be great in a public
> forum for other bloggers to access.
As I said, Mark has very graciously advised
> me from time to time on blog-related stuff.
> When he sends out his “group” emails I know it’s in an effort to
> organize efforts to effect a bigger punch. Know what I mean? We
> don’t know who all is out there blogging, we only know the
> bloggers we are in regular contact with - ya know? Anyway, all’s
> well that ends well. I, too, am sorry for any miscommunication.
> My fussing was more in the vein of backing up my friend Mark -
> Mermaid’s are a loyal breed!!
Yes! I cut & pasted the above from…….EMAIL! Thank you, Alan, for so gallantly apologizing. I believe it’s always constructive when disagreements or misunderstandings are hashed out….it lends character to a relationship, doncha think?
Peace to all,
TM
That’s what I was saying - I dislike forums because they’re worse than reading a newspaper. And most forums aren’t scoured for information very well by the likes of Google and most crawlers. I like blogs, too.
Ultimately, the point is to get the news about New Orleans out. If we put it on our blogs and readers know how to use a search engine well, they will find our information.
In the meantime, intra-blogging communication has just got to take its most natural course. If there is important information in there, someone can take the news and post it on their own blog. (Hint! Hint!) In fact, many people can take the info and post it on several blogs, which will make the information more readily available.
“It’s your thang, do what you want to do.”
Maitri
Blogs are also good for discussion because they are run by an individual, you do have a moderator, and that person is a real person. It’s not a message board, it’s someone’s blog. It’s not a town hall, it’s a living room. You don’t get quite so many trolls that way.
I’ve already volunteered to post things online that arrive in email. Messages like FQTH and NPC announcements come to me in all caps, or with attachments in Word or PowerPoint. I don’t feel like performing that task for people who already have blogs.
Several blogs is a sentiment I agree with, of course.
Wish someone would tell the tale of how they got Technorati Tags to work in Blogger, because I see them appearing on blogger blogs.
I hope this is uncle amelia. I’m glad to see how my family and friends are doing. I’ll be done some time ti be with you.
I’m not sure I understand your comment, Paul.
This web site is maintained by Alan Gutierrez. I will update my sidebar to include an introduction, who I am, what this is about.