2006 February 15

me too.

The blogosphere used to be about twenty people. You knew who was saying what, and when they were saying it. Some of us have been around THAT long to remember what it was like before… today. Over the past couple of days, I've heard more than one of my friends complain about the lack of proper attribution – but I've seen the laziness unfold, time and again. Who knows who found what first? Here's the problem: getting a scoop isn't what it once was. Everyone gets the scoop, and everyone gets the exclusive. There's no such thing as an A-list blogger, just as there's no such thing as a C-list blogger.
I've stumbled upon gems over and over again, only to see them surface on more popular sites without necessarily stating that I was the originating source (with timing being of primary significance). It's not just the blog networks, you guys – it's the general blogosphere. It's the want and need that all of us have to make ourselves look more important than we might actually be. We're trying to show others that we can get the scoop – that we were the first to do something.
But being “first” is no longer important, as evidenced by all these damned memetrackers that I'm getting sick of hearing about. I don't visit Memeorandum on pure principle – I'm f*cking sick of the echo chamber. We all want to be on top, we all want to win – and sometimes in our quest to find the one ring to rule them all, we forget about giving credit where credit might be due (even if that comes in the form of a simple hyperlink or name-drop). Or, to put it another way, the blogosphere is starting to pull the same tricks that mainstream media has been accused of pulling in the past.
The only way to prove you were “the first” these days is to create something somewhat original – to do something different. There's definitely a need for weighing in on a topic, but don't do it for the sake of weighing in. And for goodness sake, please don't comment on this entry… or perform a trackback… or write about this post elsewhere. If you do, please don't credit me.

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