A few other things that used to (still do?) annoy me about blogs/bloggers:
They’re cliquish and often claim to be a subculture. The cliquish bit is generally annoying about anybody. Bloggers often respond like a rabid dog whom you’ve just smacked on the face with a large steak when you criticise anything about blogging. A frequent criticism is “you guys are a bunch of naval gazing neurotics who would bore the ears off a quadriplegic sloth.” Come on! It’s often true. I prefer bloggers who treat blogging as a hobby rather than as a lifestyle. As to being a subculture! I just don’t agree. Actually, I think bloggers would be best to drop this attitude and realise that blogging is not only not-a-subculture, it’s much more than a subculture, it’s something that brings people from many disparate cultures and subcultures together and allows them to express themselves to those from other (sub)cultures with a striking lack of boundaries.
They invent awful words “Blog”. “Blogger”. “Blogosphere”!! I’m ashamed to have to use these words to express myself. It makes me feel unclean. A few weeks of this and I’ll be scrubbing myself down with steel-wool and sulphuric acid after every post. I’m not sure who to blame, perhaps ‘bloggers’ didn’t invent the word ‘blog’ or any of it’s derivatives. Maybe it was some incompetent nimrod of a journalist or something. I’d be happier if that were true, then I could blame society.
Of course, I’m speaking of ‘bloggers’ as if this term encompassed all of those who keep a blog. I don’t tar them all with the same brush, I’ve read some excellent blogs that have do not have a cliquish attitude, nor have they convinced themselves they are the instigators of and the protagonists in some sort of incredible Internet revolution. They just like to express their opinions. They often do so very well, in a far more concise manner than I am capable of.
My, I do go on don’t I?
I hate the word “blog” and all if its derivatives as well. I avoid those terms at all costs, generally prefering the terms “weblog” and “weblogging” to their more cliquish siblings.