As usual, I have a stupid question. Being as computer ignorant as is possible, what is a blog? How do you start one? Is there an SOP for such things? A couple of us older, uninformed, and completely naive guys, would like an explination. Without sarcasm or throat cutting. Being ignorant is not an excuse, just a fact. And some of you are very unaccepting of those outside the family. My attempts at ascertaining information were more than I could understand. Computer lingo, no go. Simplicity please. Qui non est hodi cras minus aptus erit
I'm the guy who wrote Computer Wimp, a bestseller in 1983. Things haven't gotten easier for me. When I thought I might want a blog so my wife's friends and family could track her recovery from major surgery last December, I ended up, by good fortune, at: http://blog.tripod.lycos.com/service/blog/control.blog and it was a piece o' cake, and totally free. There are links to many Tripod bloggers available at the site, so you can see what other people are doing. John
I'm not into blogs (simply not enough time) but I've heard of this place: http://www.blog.com If nothing else it will probably answer some questions. Jack
Same Thank you all, so much. Being a duck out of water, my prior inquires involved others. Guess I became too dependent on subordinates to research, type, and put up with my sour disposition. Scienta non habet inimicum nisp ignoratem (That is I)
http://www.blogger.com/home This is google's free blog. Some of the blog's are quite interesting and education. Some are really funny. I have come across quite a few Matt Drudge wannabes (The drudge report: the ultimate blog disguised as real news). Check it out -
Same Mr. Engineer, Thank you for the information. I fear I'll be overwhelmed with knowledge, I may be able to comprehend. New concept for slowing synapses. Work on the sit-ups. Crunches. Don't do the old type. In two weeks you will be doing !00, without breaking a sweat. Two to three times a day, progressively. Clay
Oh - when I said I could once do 300, it wasn't in 1 minute. (are you kidding). I just did them until I could do no more. Also - they were more crunches than situps - My back is too messed up from various encounters to do the full situp. After I had a hernia operation 4 years ago, I just couldn't do nearly any at all. - Now I can just do about 30-50 - sometimes if I am really lucky, more. I am almost 44 - but feel 57. (kids do it to me - it is all their fault!) Cheers Walt
My daughter Sierra is such a good and imagnative writer and poet, I am starting up a blog for her to post her writings. I am found that the more you comment on others blogs, the more they comment on yours. Sometimes you will get the rude comment -- but most of the time they are quite interesting. Check out this blog -- he as quite the following: http://thecasualfriday.blogspot.com/
Same Mr, Engineer, I just spat my $50/bottle Vodka on my screen. This is hilarious. I've been introduced to a new realm. Laughter keeps the boredom away. Thank you. Sobria inebrietas
Re: Same Everyone just keeps pointing you toward possible places where you can get an answer and no one just freakin' answers. Sheesh! A "blog" is short for "web log." It's a relatively recent phenomenon on the Internet. It is as its name suggests: A log of entries on the web. In its most basic form, it's like a diary or journal... only on the web. Blogs are used to put one's thoughts about things. You, as the owner of a blog, would have a user interface into which you would log with user ID and password. You would then be taken to a web interface in your browser that ouls give you a place to type your entry in a manner not all that different from when you make a post here. When you click on the "submit" button, voila, whatever you typed appears on the blog page, usually above whatever you typed in your previous entry. People who know HTML and/or who have grasp of a particular WYSIWYG HTML editor (like Microsoft FrontPage, for example) can replicate what a blog does without purchasing or downloading or installing blog software; but that's a pain in the rear. Blog software does it all for you... and, in fact, that's its value to the blogger (the person who owns the blog). It lets the owner of the blog create web pages containing his thoughts or comments or articles or links to articles or whatever it is he wants to write about without having to know anything about creating web pages. The additional benefits of blogging are that the entries are usually kept in a database, which makes them more easily searchable and sortable in the blog's search box. Blogs also have automatic archiving and calendars and all kinds of other neat features which the blogger may or may not even use. Blogs have become very popular in recent years. People start blogs and then make entries daily (or as close thereto as they can find the time) and in said entries they report news or editorialize or write about their families. Some treat them like diaries, and others treat them as if they were online newspapers. Some of the larger news-oriented, political blogs are routinely scooping traditional news outlets and their web sites... to the point that some bloggers are starting to be treated like any real news reporters... some even have obtained bona fide press credentials. Blogs can be configured in different ways. Some are configured so that only the blog owner may make entries. Others are configured so that only the owner may make entries, but readers can create an account and can then post comments about said entries. For example, a well-known political writer may have a blog and may post at least one article each day about some senator or another, or some bill before the house, or some other newsworthy piece. People can then go to his blog web site and read his articles and then click on a "comment" button immediately beneath said article and post that the writer came to a wrong conclusion, etc. It can be very interesting. Most radio talk show personalities, for example, have blogs... and refer to them many times throughout their talk shows using phrases like "you can read more about it on our blog, www.whatevertheblog'sURLis.com" and that sort of thing. Blogs like that get millions of visitors/readers per day. Yours, on the other hand, without that kind of on-the-air promotion, may take decades to get only several hundred thousand visitors. It all just depends. Word-of-mouth on the web is a powerful thing. If you create a blog that's about interesting stuff and a few people find it, then they tell others, who tell others, it's amazing how many people you'll find are reading your stuff. Next thing you know, you're a bona fide writer... with a following and everything. Most bloggers, sadly, are writing mostly for themselves. It all just depends. Early blog software was free, written in PERL or PHP or ASP.NET or one of the scripting languages. Then some software became fee-based while others remained free. Some people swear that suchandsuch blogging software is the only way to go, while others swear by something else. People who want to host their own blog must first download (either for free or for a fee) some kind of blog software. Then they sign-up for a web hosting account with some web hosting provider. Then they register a domain name for their blog. Then they upload the blog software to their web server and install it pursuant to the instructions in the text file that came with it. Then they configure it. Then they start blogging. Their blog can be about anything from their cat to the presidency... and every conceivable thing in between. Some blogs are worthless pieces of crap that you can't even believe you bothered to visit, and others are so interesting and so well written that you want to visit them every day and read whatever new thing that the blog's owner has to say. Of course hosting your own blog and taking all the steps mentioned above is so complicated for many people -- especially those who really need blog software because they don't know how to create web pages containing their writings -- that what most people do is go out and get a free BLOGGER.COM account and go to town. Among the free, hosted blogging products out there, BLOGGER.COM is, in fact, my recommendation. If you're thinking about going to a place like BLOGGER.COM and starting a blog, regardless the reason, you should first read this dated-but-still-relevant article, as well as this somewhat more recent one. One use for a blog for distance learners is to document one's distance learning experience with a particular program over the years, much as UNIXMAN does around here with his ongoing CLEP ODYSSEY thread. In some respects, what he's doing would be better done in a blog (which is not the same as saying that he shouldn't continue to do what he's doing here); though unless he has something to add almost daily, maybe not. It just depends. Blogs that aren't posted to extremely often (like in pretty much daily) aren't taken very seriously. Hope that helps.
Same + Mr.Engineer, I've had my lower back, mid-back, and neck fused. Plus bullet holes, knife cuts, and over 40 broken bones. So quit engineering and get to work. You'll feel 20 years younger, and can do paradiddles on the kids' tokhes (?). Beat-up But Still Fighting Curmudgeon
Same++ Gregg, As usual, your information is invaluable. You make me think. Now, I'm a known (better known) idiot, I can bug you guys for all sorts of knowledge. Perhaps, in a couple years, I'll be able to properly place a sentence, on this damn thing. After I clean the screen. Veres acquirit eundo
Re: Re: Same You beat me to it, Greg. I was going to say the same thing. Like Clay, I don't understand this "Blog" thing either. I already knew that. When I ask anyone, that's the answer I always get. But my response is: so what? My questions don't concern the how as much as the why. People have had the ability to create their own personal webpages for years. For that matter, they have had the ability to post to discussion boards (like this one). So why do their ideas and observations and life experiences and rants suddenly become so fascinating and socially significant when they are entitled "blogs"? I can see it if there's a major news event. If local eye-witnesses can get on the net and post their observations and experiences, it can be invaluable. But even in these cases, wouldn't it make more sense for multiple witnesses to gather their observations on a known website than to post them individually on a multitude of little personal pages that nobody has ever heard of? There may be groups of people out there who act like free-lance investigative journalists, trying to get to the bottom of this or that issue. Occasionally they may uncover things of interest. Degreeinfo often turns up dirt on degree-mills. So is Degreeinfo a "blog", or is it something else? Does the social significance of online entities depend more on the software that they use than on what they actually say and do? I mean, why in the world would I want to read somebody else's diary? If that's all there is to "blogs", it's hard for me to imagine anything less interesting than that.
Same Please no. My brain is full. sine qua non Bill askes good questions. Our idea was to have one for vets, current, former, and families. I'm sure someone has already done this. I was just seeing if we could help. And I don't know how to find out if this has been done. This machine intimidates me. Dumb as a Stump, Chump
Re: Re: Re: Same The cool thing about a blog, especially depending upon where it is hosted, is that you don't have to know HTML for use one or post to one. In most cases you don't have to pay to use it and they have easy names to remember. My blog is for my shoutcast station. it has an easy name to remember (easier than say a free tripod or geocities website) its http://tempustemper.blogspot.com. Its also totally free. The cool thing about it is i have a "dashboard" that I log onto and can simply input text that is then put into html automagically and put onto my blog. Why blog? Why do any thing? For me its a hobby, for others its to pontificate and feel self important. Why read them? Who knows. I don't read any of them. Hell, i don't even read my own. Alot of people use them like john does to so that they can update large amounts of people one what is going on in their lives for FREE. On a side note, it was recently decided by the Supreme Court that Bloggers and not journalists (even though some claim to be "News Sites") and they have to reveal their sources when a court asks for them.
Re: Re: Re: Same And a valid question it is. Asking everyone to know enough HTML -- or even to master a WYSIWYG HTML editor -- is quite a bit more than blogging software... ...or even forum software requires of them. They're not. But as modern electronic publishing equipment and software permits virtually anyone to self-publish a book with its own ISBN number and bar code (so that even Amazon can list and sell it), modern Internet technology permits anyone to have a web site and to say on it pretty much anything they want... including ther idead, observations, life experiences and rants, however boring. Yes. You mean like Brad Friedman's blog does, for example? It is definitely not a "blog." It is, decidely, a forum (or what some call a "bulletin board"). A forum (or bulletin board) and a blog are two very different things. If anything, a forum is similar only to the part of a blog that offers readers a place to comment on the topics covered by said blog. My short response: No. My long response: If you're asking if a blog is somehow better or cooler or more relevant than a forum, like this one, I'd say "no, it's not." But blogs definitely present the information differently. Form matters, too. What you seem to be saying is that form should not matter over content. Generally speaking, I believe that, too. That said, blogs are suited to what they do in their ways just like forum software is suited to what it does. They are decidedly different formats... and decidedly different kinds of software. Me, too. And it's to that very kind of good-for-nothing (except maybe the blog owner's ego) crap that I was referring in my earlier post, herein, when I wrote: Their blog can be about anything from their cat to the presidency... and every conceivable thing in between. Some blogs are worthless pieces of crap that you can't even believe you bothered to visit, and others are so interesting and so well written that you want to visit them every day and read whatever new thing that the blog's owner has to say. [...] Most bloggers, sadly, are writing mostly for themselves. As long as anyone -- not just you and/or Clay, but many, many people of a certain age and older -- keeps seeing (whether by choice, or because they just can't seem to do it any other way) the Internet through brick & mortar glasses (i.e., views and assesses it pursuant to a more familiar real world paradigm), there are a whole lot of things, it seems to me (and by that I mean a whole lot more than just blogging), that are hard to understand. I have a sort of personal rule of thumb: Anyone who was alive and old enough to remember the early days of television, tube radios, rotary dial phones, etc., can be forgiven to some extent for their inability to grasp what all the hubbub is about with regard to the Internet. "It's okay," I reassure them, continuing, "all new technology is more readily accepted and grasped by those younger." It's always been that way. And I'm not saying you're a luddite. Or that you don't "get" the Internet, etc. Obviously, you do. But while some of us look at things like blogging and say, "Well... okay... I guess that's kinda' cool" and have no trouble understanding what it does and maybe even a little bit of the "why" of it, persons younger and with nothing in their backgrounds against which to compare it often glom onto it with a kind of enthusiasm that makes some of us oldsters just sort of furrow our brows and wonder what the heck we're missing. I feel that way about chat rooms, for example. Forums I get. Chat rooms, I don't. I mean, I get them in that I know what they do and what makes one better than another and how people use them, etc. Heck, I've even written (the software for) a couple -- one of them (the PHP one, as opposed to the Java one that I did first and which I hate) is pretty damned good as chatroom software goes. But, that notwithstanding, I just don't understand why anyone would ever get excited about a damned chat room. I'm sorry, but I just don't get it. I think you're in that place about blogs. And while I am a bit more enthusiastic about blogs than it appears you are, I certainly know and understand what you're saying. I get it... what you're saying, I mean. And all I can say in response is that it's a form of expression. Some people just need to express. Writing it down is something we've always been able to do. But getting it out there for others to read has always been cost prohibitive, or was controlled by editors and others who decided whose words would be read and whose either wouldn't be, or would be relegated to anything from self-publishing to stapling to telephone poles. The Internet, as I have always pointed out, is a great equalizer. In education, for example, it can allow grade schools in poor communities which can't afford to purchase new textbooks to access precisely the same information as rich kids in rich schools (and who can afford new texts books) can access. Similarly, it lets anyone with a halfway decent computer, a modem, and $9.95/mo for a dial-up account get on the Internet and participate on a more or less equal footing with everyone else out there in the universe, no matter who they are. In some ways that's bad. For example, some people -- particularly older folks who grew-up in a world where what people read was more or less controlled by editors, et al and who don't really understand this leveling of the playing field sort of affect that the Internet imposes -- might read the terrible postings about me or Rich or Janko or, now, little fauss, in other fora and might actually believe them. Those awful words don't come with the disclaimer, "WARNING: The words you're about to read were written by an idiot who would, prior to the Internet, have had trouble being taken seriously in virtually any situation, and would never have been able to get his words in front of your eyes under almost any circumstances." Older folks aren't used to the Internet paradigm wherein anyone can write anything and there are no editors to add little notes to help the reader keep things in perspective. For the writer who might decide to start immortalizing his words in a blog, the power of that is just too attractive and intoxicating. The Internet, in general, and blogging, in particular, lets Joe Anybody get out there and compete with the big dogs. And all without the traditional costs of paper, ink and distribution. That, it seems, adequately answers the "Why blog?" question. Your question, it seems, is, "Fine. But why would anyone want to read it?" That's a valid question, and old adages like "different strokes for different folks" and "there's something out there for everyone" might help to provide an answer. I grew up in a brock and mortar world, too. I was approaching 40 when the web was created. I remember rotary phones, black & white TVs, tube radios, and all manner of other gizmos that seem like ancient artifacts to today's tech-savvy youth. So when I started building or working on web sites that had, literally, hundreds of thousands of visitors per hour; and when I started hearing via email from hundreds or even thousands of them per day, I finally began to understand what TV people have knows for decades: The sheer and mind-boggling numbers of people out there with vastly divergent interests... so many, in fact, even the weirdest and most obscure subject matter can attract a following as long as enough people can be exposed to it so that the tiny numbers among them with such interests may come forward and gather. It's an ever-shrinking world, thanks to the Internet and its marvelous worldwide web.
Re: Same Again, persons in a certain age group should not be ashamed of these kinds of feelings. I'm not saying they shouldn't try to do something about them; I'm just saying it's okay to feel them. Oh, yeah... it's been done. In fact, there's almost nothing that hasn't already been done by someone, somewhere, on the Internet. Veteran-related blogs are numerous. Just do a Google search like: +veterans +blog or any number of other terms in various combinations (like "vets" or "vet" or "blogs" or "blogging," etc.) and you can begin to get a feel for it. You can also use web sites like Feedster and BlogHub, among others, to search for words or terms or phrases that only exist in blogs (as opposed to the rest of the web). Here's one, for example. I don't know if that helps. Yeah... what he said. That pretty much sums it up, I think. Ummm.... which Supreme Court ruling would that be, if I may ask?
