OpenBSD Journal

Poll: Do blogs suck?

Contributed by marco on from the are-we-wasting-our-time? dept.

Yes! Please talk less and code more. 30.0% (237 votes)


No! It's fantastic to read how devs spend their day. 59.9% (473 votes)


Polls sucks so stop polling! 10.1% (80 votes)


Total votes: 790 Alright some folks have wasted some time doing blogs and we are wondering what you think of that. Are they wasting their time? or is it neato to get a different look into the hours spent hacking?

Let us know what you'd like to hear about or to shuddup already.

(Comments are closed)


Comments
  1. By Daniel Hartmeier (62.65.145.30) daniel@benzedrine.cx on http://www.benzedrine.cx/dhartmei.html

    Hah, I didn't even realize the 'Read more' section was useful for polls until now. ;)

  2. By m0rf (68.104.17.51) on

    i love how honest the blogs are on the level of the developers' knowledge, instead of the know-little-but-pretend-otherwise manner prevalent in some parts of the non-openbsd open source community.

  3. By Anonymous Coward (205.156.117.1) on



    Q: Do blogs suck?

    A: Yes *



    * Well, most blogs suck. OpenBSD developer blogs, however, are informative and interesting. Had Marco decided to regurgitate some "Anti-US", "Anti-Muslim", "Anti-War" or "Pro-iPod" rant and then follow it with a link to his Amazon Wishlist and a 3 month out-of-date webcam snap, then the answer would be a resounding "No, stop this travesty NOW". Until such time that Marco becomes a latte-quaffing ponce in a roll-neck with a complicated haircut and Aspberger's Syndrome, then keep the blogs coming.



    Comments
    1. By Anonymous Coward (82.71.120.74) on

      What's with the Asperger's Syndrome comment? You could at least spell it correctly. Strange how the people who are the most judgemental are also the least informed.

      Comments
      1. By m0rf (68.104.17.51) on

        well the reason is because they're mostly deliberately ignorant tools with gigantic chips on their shoulder leading to hatred of their betters, or equals, or anyone/everyone.

  4. By merv hammer (213.149.188.5) merv@otenettel.com on

    Though I am deeply skeptical about the value of most blogs, the majority of us (developers) get little exposure and can spend months working on difficult problems, often alone. So it's really heart-warming to read the thoughts and experiences of other BSD and Open Source developers. I find it encouraging from time to time to remember that "we are not alone"! In fact, we are many who toil away between manual and monitor, hunting bugs and giving life to ideas some people haven't thought of. Thanks guys for helping keep the community close ;-)

  5. By Anonymous Coward (198.204.141.208) on

    WEBlogs (I hate the abbreviated term "blog", does it really take that much more effort and time to say "weblog") were cool 3 or 4 years ago when it took some amount of technical skill to build and maintain them. With websites like blogspot now offering weblogs to anyone and everyone out there who wants to somehow legitimize their psychosis, uneducated or otherwise uninformed opinions, the whole concept has lost me.

    As a geek, I find the fact that anyone and their brother can start a weblog now, almost insulting. I will admit it, when I first found out about the concept of blogging (ick, that word), I thought it was really cool. I built my first site using php and mysql because I wanted a weblog. I wanted to document the progress of some projects I was working on at home. It was fun to set up my website, have dynamic content, and be able to share what I was working on with my friends. Now, everyone I know has a weblog. Difference is, they did not build it. It is not hosted on their server sitting in their basement. All they had to do was signup for some free service. Now, they can publish all kinds of junk. What they had for breakfast. Who cares? Why someone is getting on their nerves at work. Who cares? Their individual, extremist political views and how anyone who thinks differently than them is wrong.

    Wait, what?

    One of my better friends maintains a weblog on blogspot. I am sad to say that I find him becoming more distant in his offline life. His frequent visitors to his weblog (why they go there several times a day, I have no idea) seem to be more important to him now. I guess to him, it feels as if he has achieved some sort of popularity or fame. His views are often extreme and misinformed. Most of the visitors to his weblog agree with his views and post comments as such. This seems to fuel his online persona. Some of the ideas he posts are very extreme and somewhat troubling. A year ago, before my friend started his weblog, he was a very moderate person. He researched thoroughly before forming his opinions. Now, he simply shoots from the hip in his weblog and his opinions are affecting his real life relationships.

    What really gets to me now are major new organizations reporting on weblog posts as if they are legitimate sources for content. Watch CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. The last couple of times I did, they actually had segments dedicated to reporting what people were posting on weblogs. Now I understand that their intent was probably to show what Average Joe's opinions on a subject are but to me (granted I am biased against weblogs in general now) they seemed to be using these weblogs as sources for their news content. I think this is wrong, especially when we live in a society where most people would rather be told what their opinions should be because it is easier than forming their own. Oops, getting off topic now.

    I guess my question is, how are we going to view weblogs and those that maintain them? I think weblogs and bloggers *shudder* should be made responsible for what they publish (let the flames rise). Like it or not, people are reading weblog posts and taking them as legitimate information. I think that those who maintain and publish weblogs should bear some responsibility to the accuracy of the information they publish and should have to preface opinionated weblogs informing those reading said opinions that the authors statements should not be taken as fact. I guess this is what they call ethical journalism?

    Well, back to reading my mailing lists. :)

    Comments
    1. By Anonymous Coward (82.71.120.74) on

      Let me get this straight, you typed up a huge opinionated rant on how people who type up huge opinionated rants on the Internet suck? Oh dear.

      Comments
      1. By Anonymous Coward (216.127.159.33) on

        Ah, the easy, weak minded approach. What's your blogspot url?

        Comments
        1. By Anonymous Coward (82.71.120.74) on

          Approach to what? Your post makes no sense. I don't have a "blog". Like the OP I think that nearly all "blogs" are vacuous, egotistical wastes of bandwidth. Unlike the OP I'm not a hypocrite.

          BTW, I found the ridiculous "blogs are cool and interesting if you set them up and host them yourself just like I did" comment particularly hilarious. So spending hours configuring Apache and fiddling with databases instantly make you an interesting person with something to say? Myself and, I would imagine, 99% of the planet would have to disagree I'm afraid.

          Comments
          1. By Anonymous Coward (193.195.0.101) on

            Settle down Simon. Ease of the pro-plus and red bull.

            Comments
            1. By Anonymous Coward (82.71.120.74) on

              What makes you think I'm not settled? Because I happen to disagree with somebody I have to be getting worked up and shaking my fist in anger? BTW, your whois skills are amazing.

              Comments
              1. By Anonymous Coward (193.195.0.101) on

                "Arguing on the Internet is like competing in the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded."

                Merry Christmas - maybe Santa will bring you a Slashdot subscription!

                Comments
                1. By Anonymous Coward (82.71.120.74) on

                  I was expressing my opinion, just like you were expressing your opinion that I should "settle down". If that makes me retarded then it makes you equally retarded. Having said that I'm not the one who goes around looking up peoples RIPE details like some kind of pathetic kid that hangs around on IRC all day "dropping" peoples "dox". My god, it's almost as if I'm not trying to hide my identity!

                2. By m0rf (68.104.17.51) on

                  whats up with some of the people reading this poll? so far there have been attacks on people with aspergers and people with mental retardation. whats next? "bloggers are so ghey." or "blogs are all written by east coast liberal terrorist-lovers and european communists who have pictures of stalin in their wallets and hate the troops."?

                  really, how likely is it that undeadly is going to start posting pointless, personal blog entries? and the only rants we will likely see will be directed at linux code quality, adaptec, cisco, intel or the fsf, and i don't see the usual readers of undeadly having a problem with that.

                  take a chill pill people, its just the internet.

              2. By Shane J Pearson (202.45.125.5) on

                What makes you think I'm not settled? Because I happen to disagree with somebody I have to be getting worked up and shaking my fist in anger? BTW, your whois skills are amazing.

                You're lucky your DSL provider just put your name in the whois. My provider put my name and full residential address! I had to ask them if they'd change those details to their own. Thankfully they did.

                I am very much enjoying these OpenBSD developer "blogs", since they're as interesting and as open and honest as I would expect from OpenBSD people. If we rename "blog" to ".plan" will it make those 29% of nay sayers happier? They don't have to read them. It's not like undeadly is teaming with stories at a break neck speed which nobody can keep up with.

                ; )

  6. By Anonymous Coward (211.30.160.26) on

    It depends.

    If folks are talking fluff in blogs, they can burn in hell.
    BUT, if someone has something useful to say, then I'm all for it.

    Otherwise, STFU and code! :)

  7. By Tobias (143.93.17.28) on

    For me the blog entries are a wealth of information: on what I am missing out as someone who touches only 0.1% of the tech knowledge the devs have about coding and device stuff. Keep it coming!

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