You're Not A Blogger (unless)

I’ve got to say that I am increasingly worried (see Make of Your Blog As You Will) about the attitude many are taking with regards to “blogging”. I put it in quotes because, quite frankly, it’s just as much art as it is science, er, technology.

Robert Scoble has been involved in some sort of revolving door argument with Dare Obsanjo of Microsoft. The dispute centers around the claim that MSN Spaces is the #1 blogging platform based on the fact that it has 72 million blogs. OK. Let them say whatever they want, it has nothing to do with me and I’m not sure what it has to do with Robert either, actually.

What does, however, have something to do with me is Robert’s attempt to debunk this claim by going through the most recently updated “blogs”. Something made me cringe when he notes “FIRST TWO POST BLOG! But one is about how much the poster loves her cats.” Then later, in the comments, he makes another “clarification”.

I defined a blogger as someone who posts at least twice a month with at least 500 words a month

Scobleizer - Tech Geek Blogger » “Where’s the blog?” in Windows Live Spaces?

Anyone heard of photo bloggers, video bloggers, or podcasters (audio bloggers)? Most of these "posts" don't have any words - it's not the media they choose to create with. By Robert's defintion, cornershots.com isn't a blog either.

When did Scoble become the authoritative source on what blogging is and isn’t? Oh I remember, it was when he wrote his book. Speaking of Naked Conversations, there’s this gem from Shel Israel:

The other thought is that maybe you should reflect on just quitting your blog. You don't like the blogosphere. You certainly don't seem to like those of us who are dedicating lives and energy to its promotion, and--don't be offended by this Nick--we really won't miss you a whole lot if you just sit down and shut up.

Naked Conversations: An Open Letter to Nick Carr

Excuse me? Is someone telling someone else to quit blogging because they don't like what they are saying? Get over it. Blogging is not your darling, it's ours.

Stowe sums it up well: “So, my take is we are back to counting dark blogs and the variousflavors of sinner blogs that don’t follow Scoble’s Five Commandments.Yes, leave out the real mechanical splogs, but everything else counts.”

technorati tags:blogging, robert+scoble, shel+israel, msn+spaces