feeling listless

Weblogs To continue the discussion prompted by this post at Online, very few of the people I know have any idea what a weblog is and I've had to explain the concept to the couple who do. Most think of this as my website, and obviously it is and the weblog tool is my way of updating the information on here. Even The Guardian's Best British competition will only penetrate the people who read that particular section of the paper. I'll be very surprised when the results are announced if appear in the main section along with the lottery results. All this is a ghetto really.

As far as I can gather there are only about five weblogs in the Liverpool area which are still being updated on a regular basis and within that I'm the only one keeping the US mess of everything style (if anyone would like to email and dispute, please do. For a long while I thought I was the only one.) In the end I just tend to resort to saying that it's my website. I never mention the word Blog because (a) it feels like slang for something else (b) it would need to be explained even more.

So how do I describe a weblog when it comes up. It's a sort of diary. But I also write reviews and talk about things I've found on the web. It's (mostly) a good way to meet people (sort of). I also tell them it forces me to write something to keep myself in practice and to try out various styles I'm interested in. It's about communicating and hoping that the ear that's listening is interested enough to respond in a decent way. And if I happened to say or do something which adds to their lives, so much the better. Well I don't say all of that because actually by the time I mention 'the web' they've fallen asleep, but the sentiment is there.

The other question posed is whether weblogs should be popular -- should the nation know about them -- should they become the massive communication form they've become in the US? Probably. There have been many stories of people meeting, making dates, googling, finding weblogs and having the security of the know before the evening. That's assuming what they write on their weblog is any kind of reflection of who they are -- I like to think mine mostly is. Taking The Rules into account my interests are certainly here and actually a hell of a lot of my personality. Looking over the thing for the secret project I'm actually surprised about how much of the important stuff is in here in some manner or other.

Weblogs will probably only hit the mainstream when a primetime tv show (such as a documentary) is devoted to them. I've a feeling though that this will only happen in some negative manner -- they're worked into Eastenders and the place where one of the characters leaves their suicide note or they 'slag' off they're friends who subsequently find out. Something simplistic.