More on Conferences

Well Jeremy is responding to my responding to Dave (got that?) and actually likes conferences.  [_Go_]

I don't think I said that I didn't like conferences, or that's not what I meant to say if I did.  My point was that conferences aren't as relevant as they once were in terms of innovation.  You don't really see the interesting things at conferences as much as you see "press release ware" or "brain wash ware" from big companies.  I mean do we really need another "The Virtues of DOT Net" presentation? 

Jeremy points out that the real value of conferences to him is networking and meeting people.  And that's something I'd definitely agree with.  I really value my experiences at conferences where I met folks like him, Scoble and others.  But that's the real reason to go now -- it's not to find out what's new and cool.  Or to make "standards".  The way those things happen now seems to be all online.

Sidenote: Dave is talking about a Weblogs in Meatspace conference and he's got all the right ideas and the focus is on the person to person networking that Jeremy wants.  It sounds great and I'd love to attend.  [_Go_]

11:09:39 AM      Google It!   comment []    IM Me About This   

A Very Cool New Boston Blog

Here's a very cool new blog about boston happenings.  Definitely worth following if you are local.  Done by Sooz.  [_Go_]

10:45:23 AM      Google It!   comment []    IM Me About This   

How Do I Write?

Question: Is there a formula as such or can I just write in it as I do my journals?

Answer: Well that really depends on you.  Everyone writes in their own style.  Some people are more personal, more folksy, others more formal.  Some share details of their personal lives, others don't.  Everyone needs to develop their own unique voice.  Look at the blogs you read.  See how they write.  Additionally look at the popular blogs using services like BlogStreet or Technorati or Weblogs.com and see how popular blogs are written.  You might want to read my essay "Secrets of a High Volume Blogger" for some pointers. [_Go_]

Also keep in mind that you are writing for an audience.  My blog is both my personal voice as well as something that my customers and potential customers read.  So I tend to keep things a bit more formal here since I feel that's appropriate for the audience.  If I need to vent or talk about personal things then I tend to do it on my personal blog. [_Go_]  (and, yes, there is overlap with my main blog and cross posting)

8:49:59 AM      Google It!   comment []    IM Me About This   

Terms / A Glossary?

Question: What are the common terms one use in blogging?

Answer: Well the best glossary I know of is the one by Samzidata.  Not all the terms are there (FontBitch, one I coined isn't) but it's a very good piece of work.  [_Go_]

8:35:45 AM      Google It!   comment []    IM Me About This   

What is Flaming?

Question: What do you mean by flaming somebody?

Answer: Flaming is an online term that generally refers to systematically destroying another individual's position without holding back any emotion.  The best flames, imho, demolish another person's position point by point.  This term dates back to the Usenet discussion group and here is a good definition / description. [1] [2]

8:31:03 AM      Google It!   comment []    IM Me About This   

Am I Liable for What I Post?

Question: Am I liable for what I post? If so how liable am I?

Answer: Oh boy.  That's a goodie!  I'd like to start with IANAL (I am not a lawyer).  This is not real legal advice but instead practical advice.  So here goes:

• If you are taking a strong position then avoid assertions of fact in favor of statements of opinion
• Bad: I just sold my house to Bruce Watson who was just plain unethical.
• Better: I had a bad experience selling by house to Bruce Watson and I felt that he wasn't ethical but that's my opinion.
• My understanding of libel laws is that statements of opinion are more protected as free speech than assertions of fact.
• If you're going to say something negative then spell out the facts since that lets you readers make up their own mind.  Please note that this isn't a legal guideline as much as good blogging practices.  If you just go off on a viscious rant but don't explain it then people may well just think you are a crank.  If you've read my blog at all then you know that I'll definitely go off on rants but also explain them.
• I have on idea how liable you could be.  That's completely situationally dependent but I would assume tied to the amount of damage you cause. 

8:24:59 AM      Google It!   comment []    IM Me About This   

Getting Started

Question: How do I start my own blog? What will I need? Softwares and such.   While I am not technologically inept, I'm not a master either. Just  the average computer plebeian.

Answer: Oh boy.  This is a toughie.  Let me start by tossing in an advertisement.  We covered several of the tools in the book Essential Blogging of which I'm a co-author (and so obviously biased).  Still you might want to pick up a copy.  Here's what I recommend.

• The first thing to do is just plain try using one of the easier, probably hosted services.  Blogging tools differ by whether or not you have to have your own domain / server.  As an example, this blog is done with Radio UserLand and is hosted at radio.weblogs.com.  Or you could use Blogger, another hosted service. 
• You should note that a lot of users "graduate" from Blogger to something else but its one of the easiest ways to start.  People often start with one tool and then move on.
• I hesitate to recommend a specific tool since a lot of it depends on what you are doing and your goals.  All of the tools are different.  Radio (the tool I use) is fairly technical but has the advantage of running locally on your own PC.  This is good if you want to blog when you're offline (say traveling, library) but not so good if you need to blog away from your own computer.
• If you can let me know more about what type of blog you want to create, what you want to do with it, why you want to create it that would help make the choice easier.
• I'd strongly recommend you look at these two resources:
• Blog comparison tool [_Go_] -- select up to 5 blog tools, say Radio versus Movable Type versus Drupal versus CityDesk and compare them [_Example_]
• Al McIntyre on blog tools [_Go_] -- a comprehensive cross linked list. 
• Here's another good resource about general issues, not about tools: [_Go_]

 

8:18:08 AM      Google It!   comment []    IM Me About This   

Questions from Sharon

As I do every so often, today's blog entry is based on email from a reader.  I just got a nice email from a woman named Sharon who is new to blogging and has several questions.  Listed ABOVE (reverse chronological order) are her questions as well as my answers.  If anyone want's to elaborate on them, feel free to add comments.  I'm blogging these as individual entries so that comments can be added to them individually.

8:04:20 AM      Google It!   comment []    IM Me About This