Jorn of Robot Wisdom, who invented link blogging, takes up Warren Ellis' critique from earlier this week in which he said, "The world does not need another linkblog." It might seem that I'd naturally rally around Jorn on this one, but I'll say this instead: if Fimoc had not existed for the past way-too-many years, and I had to invent something now... I would probably not try to invent a link blog. We are compelled by our histories.
So then uhh... whatcha workin' on? What would you invent right now? Or, if you don't want to disclose potential home run ideas, what things would your invention take advantage of or seek to accomplish?
posted by Eric at 7:46 PM on July 11, 2008 
Ok, so link blogging has lost its indie cred now that any old schmuck can fire up a tumblr.
but, it's always been cooler to create than point.
(this coming from a person who loves to discover and point, of course.)
posted by bernie at 12:10 AM on July 12, 2008
@bernie I have no illusions about the artfulness of this site -- it serves its purpose, which just happens to coincide nicely with my life. (The reason I have a link blog is that I read a ton of stuff online. It's an outcome, not the actual goal.)
@eric I'm working on stuff that has nothing to do with blogging. My comments were exclusively about the purpose of this site through the years. All I meant was that if I was suddenly 20-years-old again, I wouldn't do this site -- I'd try to do something else. Hopefully, it wouldn't be yet-another-tumblr.... that's the part where I agree with Ellis. I don't fault anyone for having a Tumblr (I think it's awesome!), but the popularization of the form makes this site less relevant.
posted by Rex at 1:42 AM on July 12, 2008
rex, thanks for the reply. I think I see where you're coming from now...
Still, I'm not sure i agree that the popularization of tubmlrs and linkblogs makes your site less relevant. while I see many more linkblogs - too often all point to the same stuff. For me, that just makes sites like yours and waxy stand out more.
Maybe I should re-read Warren's post, but I always find it off-putting when someone says "the world doesn't need another [what I've been doing]". glad to hear that's not your take.
posted by bernie at 5:24 AM on July 12, 2008
I'm just hoping to hold out long enough with my site until the classic blog becomes cool again and, bam!, look who's on top again!
posted by jkottke at 3:28 PM on July 13, 2008
Hey just to be clear, I wasn't giving you a hard time or challenging your statement. I was genuinely interested in whether there was a deeper thought underneath that, as in, "I see now that the type of thing to make these days instead of a linkblog is X because Y". But you've touched on that.
posted by Eric at 9:53 AM on July 14, 2008
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