Do I Suck?: From Eric

Do I Suck?: From Eric Caoili at in the gray:

The weblog phenomenon wasn't too different from the Ebola virus. We were hanging around for while, doing our thang, when suddenly, before you knew it, all of us had one. Oh sure, we're all creative now with our own little places on the internet to put up our thoughts and ideas, but you'll be sad to hear that nine out of ten of us will most likely die within the next few days. Next time you think about typing up what you and so-and-so did last weekend for your Livejournal, I want you to think about that.

Really? Probably so ... all one needs to do is click around the Blogosphere for an hour or two to see that more blogs have more time between fewer posts.

But here's something else that's interesting: Perhaps we're beginning to see an elitism emerging in the Blogosphere ... a certain snobbery among those whose archives extend past ... let me see ... January 26, 2003, or whose daily page views exceed ... uh ... four. Like the trend-setters who moved to Key West when it was still a genuine outpost for outsiders, it may be that our blogging pioneers are starting to demonstrate a bit of of disdain for the tourists and newcomers ... "we were here before you, and frankly, while we appreciate your business, we'd really be happy if you didn't clutter our beaches, crowd our local haunt, and take all our parking."

And of course, that's the rub. Eric's right ... most blogs are "crap." But just like those folks in Key West, the established bloggers are established because of the enthusiasm of their visitors--an enthusiasm so robust that it's spurred many of us to move to the neighborhood ourselves. And yes, the Blogosphere is subject to market forces like everything else, and people will ultimately vote with their clicks. But in the meantime, the promise of the web is that it makes everyone a publisher. And while much of the material may not be of interest to thousands, at least people are eager to feed the discourse.