QotD: Blogging

That's the big problem with blogs, of course: who cares what X thinks? It all depends on the quality of the thought, the uniqueness of the product, the value added. In the blogworld, a celebrity name adds no value whatsoever. If the blog's good, the celebrity may earn some blogcred (oh, Lord, shoot me now for that one) for not sounding like someone who just emerged from the isolation tank of LA culture. But I really don't care what Larry David thinks about John Bolton. I care what Larry David thinks about the itchy tags on shirts that scrape your neck, because I know that he can make a 12-part TV series that revolves around that detail, and George Will can't.

We'll see. In a way blogs are the refutation of the old joke: "The food's so bad here." "Yes, and such small portions." Dole out crap in large amounts all day and you don't guarantee traffic; eventually people will tired of poking through the heap with a stick looking for diamonds.

Somewhere in there, there's a metaphor.

James Lileks, The Bleat, 2005-05-10