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» re: your remark, Study something else. ... The trick is having something to say.
Most bloggers seem more like hobbyists than artists, to me. Would you give them the same advice?
(For instance, what do you think of the 2002 Bloggies stipulaton that For this contest, a "weblog" is a page with dated entries that has a purpose (in whole or in part) of linking to other sites?)
– matt { 1.6.02 @ 7:30am }
» Matt - Interesting insight. But, really, I don't think anyone should tell anyone else what to do with a personal site, blog or otherwise. That's just the thing about 'em: they're personal. If ya don't like it, don't read it, you know?
Besides, I stopped trying to generalize about weblogs a long time ago.
(I just reread this and it sounded hostile. Sorry - I don't mean it that way. I just haven't had any coffee yet. I should never write before coffee....)
– Derek M. Powazek { 1.6.02 @ 12:32pm }
» Apologies for my choice of the word "advice" above, it was the wrong word, I think -- I didn't intend any intimation that I thought you were telling anyone else what to do with a site....
It struck me, reading your remarks in the interview, that maybe you were talking about a different sort of thing than what Nikolai was talking about in defining that criteria for his awards. (I was reading you as saying something along the lines of: Ideally, one would aspire to create something great or original or new (I'm struggling for the right word here), which in the case of the web would mean doing something interesting with it, and not just using the medium for its own sake (to reduce it all to a truism, ack).)
So then I wondered, to be "great," should a weblog also aspire to be about something interesting above and beyond the web itself. And I guess I think maybe the answer is, no, to the extent that webloggers mainly just want to collect good links and witticisms -- and pursue their chosen hobby -- which seems to be what Nikolai is focusing on.
– matt { 1.6.02 @ 3:56pm }
» The thing is, I wasn't talking about weblogs! The question was: "What would you say to folks who want to work the web?" My answer was just designed to poke people into getting a diverse education, having diverse experiences, and then bring that to the web, because that makes for more interesting sites. How you apply that to weblogs or anything else is up to you.
The most interesting people I've ever met through the web are the ones who did something else first. Worked in print. Were chefs. Traveled the world. I think there's something to be said for having those kind of experiences, that's all.
– Derek M. Powazek { 1.6.02 @ 7:09pm }
» I wasn't talking about weblogs
'stood. Wuzn't tryin' to back you into no corner or nothin' (jus' wonderin' how you might apply your (on-target) thought to another aspect of the web). Sorry 'bout that.
– matt { 1.6.02 @ 7:39pm }
» Before that I was an aspiring songwriter ... surrounded by [other] musicians, all of whom dreamed of being able to easily circulate their songs to the world.
This is what I've been waiting for years to hear: more of your Music! The only place I found any of it was in the first Fray Day webcast.
So, how about it? When are you going to dust off that guitar and plain-talk mic and share?
– Shmuel { 1.6.02 @ 8:18pm }
» Matt - No apologies necessary! You raised an interesting point. And you may be right - I just wasn't quite ready to apply it to anything else.
Shmuel - I always planned to do that music site. Years ago. But songwriting has waned as my muse, replaced with a more direct kind of storytelling (verbal and written). Nowadays it feels slightly phony to play those old songs, like making love to an ex-girlfriend. It's a nogstalgic kind of passion, not a present-tense kaboom, know what I mean?
Someday, maybe, we'll get back together. When the time is right.
– Derek M. Powazek { 1.6.02 @ 8:31pm }
» Well, I will be not so patiently waiting for the "time to be right".
– Shmuel { 1.7.02 @ 2:02pm }
» Interesting questions. Interesting answers. The brevity makes it like a little treat that leaves you with a strong memory of it.
– christopher { 1.8.02 @ 9:42pm }
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