To Blog or not to Blog
Despite the editor's attempts to get a discussion going on Blogs, only one anonymous reply was received. This little ditty arrived recently by carrier pigeon:
To trog through the BLOG is a tedious slog
To find stuff which once used to be "News".
The "BLOG" word needs flogging - a bloody good clogging -
Agreed? - then send Barry your views.When it's shoved down our throat; well it just gets my goat
to see BLOG spread all over our site.
If you want to stop BLOGGING you'd better start logging
your views - time to stand up and fight!A website that's clever should ask itself whether
our members want BLOG to appear.
If the answer is "No" then the BLOG word should go,
but that will not happen I fear.The site's much to commend it but who'd recommend it
with BLOG crap all over its pages?
Objective defeated if usage depleted
And that's what could happen - in stages.
The ditty is pertinent in that it follows the general discussion at our last committee meeting over whether we should adopt Computer-speak instead of Photo-speak when developing the WEB site.
On the one hand was the argument that, as more and more people use the WEB and are familiar with the concept of the BLOG (the Web Log), the heading Blog encapsulates all that is included under that heading.
On the other hand was the argument that BLOG is a nebulous word which needs defining each time it is used, and in our case it refers to recent news and recent opinion; so that the heading RECENT NEWS more realistically tells people what is covered.
On the one hand is the argument that the WEB layout should keep up with Computer fashion and that the BLOG concept is all the rage; On the other hand many of our readers are not particularly computer literate and go to the WEB to get information, particularly the latest information, and that the use of plain English best serves this purpose.
Everyone agrees that the WEB site is a valuable club asset, that we should encourage its use, and make it as transparent as possible to the greatest number of people. So basically we need feedback from the various users as to what works best for them and what terminology is most appropriate to their needs.