"Still a stranger in a strange land" : Thinking Out Loud : Blogs : News-Record.com : Greensboro, North Carolina

Still a stranger in a strange land

I have been blogging, or something like it, for approximately six months now.

It's an interesting place to be, this new world of people connecting to one another -- and not -- at their computer keyboards.

I've found it a wonderful new way to have conversations with readers about issues, the newspaper and even life's pains and pleasures.

It was in my blog that I shared the unsettling news that I'm doomed to wear braces soon, even though I'm old enough to be somebody's granddaddy.

It's there that we've had long and winding discussions about why we don't sign our editorials (and whether we ought to) ... why people still confuse me for News & Record Editor John Robinson (OK, we're both really handsome guys) .. why the "Night of the Living Dead" movies are so creepy and so resonant ... and why the popular but often controversial Letters to the Editor blog is or isn't a good thing (more on that later).

Along the way, I keep learning new lessons, many of them humbling. Here are only a few:

1. The beast must be fed. It's not always easy to keep posts (or Web log entries) going, even when I have tons of things to say. That said, I used to feel guilty about not being able to respond as soon as I'd like or to as many comments as I'd like.

People comment 'round the clock, seven days a week and, frankly, it's hard to keep up. Not to worry. Your online conversations simply go on without me. Often, they go better without me.

2. More thoughtful, reflective, informed people are out there than you might imagine. And very fine writers and photographers, too. Their passion and creativity encourage me to think more clearly, more critically and more broadly. We'll continue to highlight local bloggers such as David Wharton and, soon, Joe Guarino, periodically in the Sunday Ideas section.

3. Bloggers are pretty decent at self-policing and peer pressure. The recent invasions of the "troll" legions will test that ability. We have had growing problems with people whose sole missions in life seem to be meanness, crudeness or nastiness -- or all three. But I'm convinced reasoned conversations will win out over raspy ones.

4. I am still a novice, still learning the Who's Who of the blogosphere. When blogmeister Ed Cone rattles off names left and right of the most eminent bloggers across the state and country, I still don't know half of them.

5. It would be nice to see more young people in the blogosphere. There aren't as many as I had expected. To many of the college students with whom I've spoken, blogs are a curiosity, if they're aware of them at all.

6. I should never create posts for ratings (as in comments) or shock effect. That's cheap and shortsighted. Sure, it's satisfying when a post results in a long, fascinating string of observations. But a whisper can be more profound than a shout, no matter how much of a ruckus that shout may cause.

7. Don't merely do in the blog what I already do in the paper. What would be the point? Blogs ought to complement and extend the printed newspaper. They also ought to help invite readers to take greater part in the paper. We'll continue to solicit reader questions for our interviews with newsmakers and reader input into editorials — before we write them.

8. Keep it short, stupid, a commandment I'm violating right now.

9. The Movable Type application that we use to post our blogs is inexcusably primitive. No spell-check? No clean translation from Microsoft Word without apostrophes and quotation marks becoming gibberish? No means to preview posts in a form that flags such garble?

10. Writing for the blog has made my writing voice crisper, more direct and more conversational. It is a lean, no-frills, say-what-mean medium.

11. Think before you press that button. Blog entries, like e-mails and too many martinis, can seduce us into saying something we'll regret in the morning.

12. Anonymous comments still creep me out. I'm old-school when it comes to having the fortitude to put your name behnd your words. But I'm trying to be more tolerate of the customs of blogging.

13. We are in a new place, with new implications, new possibilities ... and new problems. How do we, for instance, maintain the openness of the letters blog while keeping it civil? After all, we're striving for a virtual town square, not a back alley.
The only thing I know for sure is that I don't know all the answers. Heck, I don't even know all the questions. But I believe we're doing the right thing by sharing ownership of the newspaper with the community and by striving to be more interactive.

And I believe we're headed to the right place, wherever that is.

Posted by Allen Johnson on July 17, 2005 12:03 AM | Permalink

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Thinking Out Loud

Thinking Out Loud

Still a stranger in a strange land

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