curmudgeon

n : a crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas

All that aside, let’s take a look at some other new internet “trends” that I’m involved in:

- digg
digg.com is a cool site that can be described as being the offspring of wikipedia and slashdot. digg is a place where any registered member can post any tech related story they’ve found on the internet. Hell, it doesn’t even have to be a tech related story, it can be “10 good photoshop tricks” or simple guides such as that.

Digg is almost entirely controlled by the users. Every story submitted appears on a recently added list. Users browsing this list can check these out, comment on them, and if they like they very much, they can “digg” them. The more diggs a story collects and the faster it gets all of them, the more likely it is to get boosted up to the front page of digg.

The problem with digg is that mob mentality and false information can run rampant, and spread like wildfire on a dry day in SoCal!
Digg can be a breeding ground for bad things, which are iconified by the mass amounts of diggs they recieve.

On the same token, backlash can occur as well. If the initial commenter of a post replies with an average to above average criticism of the article, the readers will immediately see this first reply when they see the initial post itself, and respond accordingly. Sometimes this first post will contain instructions to “un-digg” the post, where it will sink back into the abyss of the internet.

A very interesting thing is, each individual comment can be dugg (not on the same level that initial articles/posts are dugg). The more diggs your comment gets, the more likely people are to read it. If it receives negative diggs, it will drop below most viewer’s “viewing thresholds”. My VT is set at the default of -4. A lot of times I come across good counter-arguments that the mob mentality forced it down to a -30 or less digg rating.

Yet, if false information goes unchecked, it will spread like wildfire. Recently an article containing miscellanious Windows “tweaks” was posted and received many diggs. Yet, there was much speculation from the higher-end techies who realized that half of the tweaks really didn’t do anything. Of course, there was also over-scrutiny, with some saying that valid tweeks were nonsense and should not be used.

One thing to note is that most of the content on digg is from a blog post. Someday this blog may ascend the rank of digg. I could ramble on about it for quite a while. In fact, I was even planning to write a list of internet fads I partake in .. but I don’t have time for that

…I’ve realized several critical flaws in blogs that I might be able to fix. Perhaps we can discuss this at some point?

Now is as good as time as any

As I am justing starting up this blog, this is a good time to hear ideas of improvement based on dealings with other blogs. Also, I would be interested in knowing what you think has worked really well.

I agree with your analysis of any sort of IT work - one must remain current to stay alive. Clearly, all of the certifications and degrees will help a fantastic start, but it is staying relevant that keeps oneself around. I know this pretty well despite my age and lack of experience, and this knowledge will hopefully keep me at the head of a fast-changing workforce, and fuel my success.

While I’ve heard this argument before, the part I really enjoyed about your post was the discussion of how one becomes tired of reinventing things. I see that as potentially frustrating and a valid reason for a person who would normally be riding the “new wave” of technology like Kelly Slater rides waves of the sea.

The most fantastic thing is, I’ve realized several critical flaws in blogs that I might be able to fix. Perhaps we can discuss this at some point? I really enjoy reading good blogs, thus I assume that I will enjoy writing good blogs

I am starting to believe that blogs are indeed the paradigm of the web.