Sunday, March 31, 2002

BlogSouth
I may have to take back some of the things I've said about the local newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In today's edition, Phil Kloer has produced an intelligent look at blogging in general and Atlanta bloggers in particular.

Ranging from narcisstic rants to astute political commentary, they can link to communities full of caring people or degenerate into "bitchy little snipe wars," says Kalina McCreery, an Atlanta actress and journal keeper.

So, in short, they are pretty much like people are IRL -- In Real Life. OK, I'll buy that.

If you're interested in reading any of the bloggers mentioned, though, good luck: AJC.com doesn't link them. Photodude does, though, in his comments on the article. But then, he was mentioned and quoted, I wasn't... (A fact the Dude generously points out when he lists other Atlanta-based blogs Kloer missed. Reid even corrects the URLs that Kloer gets wrong.)

Oh, I'm a little dismayed that their list of non-Atlanta "Blogs of Note" is limited to Wil Wheaton, Andrew Sullivan, Tom Tomorrow, and William Shatner (?). I mean, it seems to me that if you're trying to present the Wonderful World of Weblogging to a public largely unaware of it, and you're trying to make bloggers look like People Just Like You rather than extremists and nerds, why would you start with two columnists (both well represented in print media) and two Star Trek actors just shy of "Whatever happened to..." status?

Oh, stop it. I know Wheaton's blog is lively, clever, thoughtful, and nothing you'd expect from "Wesley", and I even enjoy Shatner's musings from time to time (makes him look a little more like a regular fellow), but I'm already here. You have to start somewhere, and the name recognition alone might entice people into the tent. As I said, I'm only a little dismayed. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the presentation.

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