Weblogging: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

 

The advent of weblogging (which I still refuse to call "blogging") and the rise to its present ubiquitous state has been quite a mixed blessing. In the old days, before self-publication in the print realm became so easy, books that were self-published earned the moniker "vanity press". The idea was that when a writer who couldn't find a publisher to buy his book went ahead and paid himself to have it published/printed, then these were the actions of a vain person. Vanity press books were usually poorly written, poorly edited and poorly published. What did the publisher/printer care? They were getting paid anyway, and up front, too. In other words, self-publication once carried a negative connotation.

Fast forward to the new millennium, where printing is cheap and online diaries are free. The general quality of the written word has risen exponentially. Did I say "risen"? Sorry. I meant FALLEN!! Sure, there are good writers out there, many of whom still make a good living selling their wares. In spite of a small vein of quality which still endures, we find ourselves in the midst of a constant deluge of bad writing, punctuated by bad grammar and spelling, and it seems no one cares.

  Take xanga, for instance.  Never mind that. I'll refrain from biting the hand that feeds me, as I am still a freeloader and have been for the last 1,577 days (according to the nag bot). Peruse the pages of our fine city and you'll see profanity. You'll see frank discussions on the most intimate sexual matters (Don't tell me you haven't  been lured to this page by those stealth Plugz?!?!). If I weren't of stronger stock, it would cause me to despair. I suppose when people can speak freely, some will tend to speak freely about indecent things. Some will speak without restraint. Some will say things that should have remained unsaid because...well, it's generally considered good not to say stupid things.

I recall a line from A & E's "Horatio Hornblower" series. In this particular episode, Hornblower is being taken somewhere in a longboat, no doubt to engage in some derring-do. As they move along, the coxswain attempts to make small talk with Hornblower. Horatio finally interrupts him to say, "Wolfe: why must you speak when you have nothing to say?" Amen, brother.

People will continue to post the indecent and inane, and free weblogging doesn't create a market-driven product, so the quality will only get worse. On more than one occasion--perhaps many more--I have clicked "Save Changes" when I should have clicked "Delete", so I'm guilty. We're all guilty of thinking someone wants to read the random detritus that rolls around in our gray matter. Our production line continues to churn out product. The QC man retired and he wasn't replaced, yet on occasion, something good comes off the line, and on other rarer occasions, something really good, so I keep on reading.

I believe weblogging carries the DNA of the medium that spawned it. We all know that there are good things out there on the web. You just usually have to shovel through a lot of doo-doo to find them. So let's do our part to improve things. Let's write well. Let's provide a good product for our neighbors, whether we're telling about our weekend or the end of the world as we know it. Let's raise the standard!