Monday, March 26, 2007

Blogging Trends

So a widely read blogger picks up a news item which most have already read in Newsweek, the NYT, the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Press, Jewish Week, etc.
He or she obviously credits the paper. Another blogger then picks up the blog post and duplicates it, crediting the original blogger as well as the paper. He or she then feels compelled to credit other bloggers who have re-posted the same news item on the same day, lest there be shouts of plagiarism (plagiarism? You didn't create the item, get over yourself!)
The item spreads like wildfire and everyone is blogging and commenting on it. Meanwhile, those who have already seen it in the papers just yawn and search for an original blogger for interesting reading.

A week passes (equivalent to a month in internet land?) and Jewish forums pick up on the news item. Members who have already seen it on blogs regurgitate old comments, and the chain grows longer.

The original blogger sits and basks in his or her glory, bearing the title of Original Poster or Original Blogger, having had the brilliant notion to copy a poorly written and badly researched article from an already widely read publication and bring it to the masses.

Ah, blogging.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Idiotic Co-Workers

My supervisor, who is younger than me, is a self righteous idiot. We communicate mostly via email, and she doesn't know the simplest things such as basic HTML.
The latest back-n-forth nearly had me in tears... of frustration. All she proved was that she knows what Google is. I already found the information 20 minutes before, with more efficient use of the aforementioned search engine.

Die, and give me your salary.