Category: Weblogging

A few years back sex was introduced into weblogs in a major way and we went all shivery with anticipation about the freedom we had to explore our sexuality online–through pseudonyms or not, as the case may be. Women incorporated semi-nude glamour shots of themselves into their blog designs; or posted photos of their breasts covered in wet, white t-shirts (all in a good cause of course). The men joined in at one point, posting photos of their penises laid out on tables in various states of arousal, like sausages ready to be sliced for pizza. We were like the kids (both boys and girls) in the Klub Howz looking through girlie magazines and imagining the possibilities.

Sex had an impact on weblogging, of that there is no doubt. When Technorati first created its Top 100 list, based on links scraped from weblog pages, many of us noticed that a) there were few women; and b) what women there were tended to be associated with sex in some way. At the time, the list was heavily skewed to the Suicide Girls, with a slight aside into sites like Wonkette’s.

However, when I went to write this essay and dropped back into Technorati’s Top 100 to get some statistics, I was rather amazed at what I found: not only was sex not a significant indicator of popularity in the list, neither politics nor technology were, either–not cleanly, and with strong enough representation to stand on their own, as in “If you want to be a top blogger you must…”

Among the women in the list, several were part of group weblogs, such as BoingBoing and Corante. Though Corante does have a disproportionate number of men weblogging as compared to women, there is such a strongly sexless feel to the site that not even having Chris Locke, aka Rageboy, as a rare commentator can break through all that lab-coated dispassionate goodness. And while it’s true that BoingBoing has somewhat bought into the ’sex sells’ mindset lately, I’ve never heard of the site referred to as ’sexy’; nor do lonely men and women turn into the site on Saturday nights in order to indulge their fantasies. Lordie, at least I hope not.

You could point to Wonkette as a weblog that uses sex, but her popularity seems to be related more to her access of insider information combined with a voyeuristic interest in watching her fast paced and rather fashionably seedy lifestyle than anything directly related to sex. As for that other ‘bad girl’ of Washington DC, Jessica Cutler is fast becoming Jessica “who?”

No one can say that Dooce is about sex, though she writes frankly and baldly about most aspects of her life, as if it were continuously under a 10,000 watt bulb; Michele from A Small Victory is known more as a gun-totin’, “better red than dead” mom then a sex kitten.

As for the men on the list, ’sex’ is most likely not the first word that pops into your mind when you hear their names. No, not even instasex.

Sex and sensuality, as threads among many in a weblogger’s works, can add to the seductiveness of their writing and other offerings. Sex for the sake of sex, though, doesn’t hold attention when it’s stripped of all context of life; not once we were past that first heady moment of discovering our sexual freedom in this medium.

Somehow, in the space of a couple of years, the concept of ’sex sells’ quickly grabbed a foothold in weblogging and then just as quickly slipped down the slope along with other sure fire ways of becoming famous.

Elaine just posted a note at IT Kitchen that Bloghosts has failed, perhaps because of some form of deliberate manipulation.

If you’re a Bloghosts blogger, and you’re adrift right now, feel free to use the Kitchen weblog as a way of letting people know where you’ve moved, or to let people know what’s happening with you until you get a new home.

P.S. If you can help a Bloghosts blogger move, or find a new home, please put a note either at the Kitchen Wiki, or the Kitchen weblog.

Aha, a new cable modem and I am back among the continuously wired and co-dependent for another couple of weeks.

Don has written a couple of wonderful weblog posts about blogging gardeners: on the raft and Staying True. In Staying True, he wrote:

Genre blogs do not display the arc of a good long novel, or a series of tightly written and well-thought arguments. They are notes from a corner, maybe a small corner, maybe a big one. My own sense is that this little golden age of blogging won’t last—that new technology will come along making us radio bloggers or tv/film bloggers to the extent that we lose this odd, populist outburst of the written word.

I hope not. I sincerely hope not. It is odd, though, that those who are weblogging’s most ardent supporters are also the ones that seem to want to destroy that which is unique about this medium. I guess there are those who want to carve their names into history, and those who are content just to scratch their initials into dirt.

How uncanny that just when I decide to disconnect, my cable internet connectivity bites the bullet. Because of this my posting may become irregular much sooner. A word of advice: if you’re considering DSL or cable for internet connectivity, think twice about cable. Or maybe just reconsider getting the connection, regardless of the technique.

I need to do a new topic post on IT Kitchen, this one on weblogging technology. Yes, this is still going on, thanks to a few folks who have said they would write something when they can. I’ll also be writing though I have been sidetracked recently into helping another group–an effort that ended up being one of those ‘bad energy places’ I talked about last week.

What I would like to do at the Kitchen is start a page at the wiki and have users provide feedback to the weblog tool developers about what they would and would not like to see in a tool. Beyond comment spam, and we know this continues to be a problem. For instance, I’ve heard people say they don’t like MT’s edit window, nor WordPress’ edit space, but I’m not sure of the specifics. Is it because there is some HTML exposure? The appearance? The fact that it’s remote?

However, the Kitchen wiki has not been attracting any activity, so contrary to everyone going gah gah over wikis lately, as witness in the new article at O’Reilly, I’m not sure that a wiki is the best way to get people involved; or maybe it’s use doesn’t suit this particular effort. Still, we’ll give it a shot.