David over at Willow Glen Extra blogged about Metro’s annual Best of Silicon Valley 2006 Reader’s Survey. I took a look at the survey to see what some of the categories are and was somewhat surprised to see “best local blog” but more surprised that San Jose, the supposed capital of Silicon Valley, has so few blogs. Here is a list of local blogs (greater San Jose area, essentially Santa Clara County) and bloggers that I know of. If you would like to add yours or one you read, feel free to leave a comment.
- San Jose Inside
- Willow Glen Extra
- Justin Blanton
- Sharks Page
- Mark Wiens
- Joann Rides
- Slash Chick
- Baseball San Jose
- Bay Area Sports Blog (by the Mercury News)
- Good Morning Silicon Valley (by the Mercury News)
- Arts & Entertainment Blog (by the Mercury News)
- SiliconBeat (by the Mercury News)
- On Politics (by the Mercury News)
- Square Feet (by the Mercury News)
- Silicon Valley Newsblog (Metro)
update: I am now aware that this category was an option last year, but their winner and 3rd place site are not blogs at all - #3 was Craigslist for God’s sake. That is just stupid - both that those sites were #1 and #3 and that Metro accepted those sites at all. Let’s vote for a real blog, please
Update (8-17-06): My nominations woud be, in no particular order:
Update (9-25-06): Results are in:
- The non-blog, Unrulyrus.com comes in first again. Probably due to ballot-box stuffing
- “Silicon Valley’s Tech Gossip Rag”, Valleywag, is the first runner up
- San Jose Inside comes in third
Lame.
August 18th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
Thanks for the mention.
August 19th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
Thanks, Julio … I am honored that you like my ranting ;-). … You forgot to put yourself on the list!
August 24th, 2006 at 8:57 pm
you two are welcome, keep up the good work!
September 29th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
I really like the Unrulyrus. Education does not look kindly on whistle blowers and the public should get a look at the other side. I was in education for 34 years. I should know. How is their forum a non-blog? I am confused…
September 29th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
Barbara,
I left this on Unrulyrus;
there are differences between a general web site, forum, and blog.
a blog allows authors to manage their writings under specific categories and date ranges, as well as allow discussions to occur on a specific post or article via a commenting system.
a blog then allows readers to participate in the conversation of what the author posted. Either by leaving a comment or trackback. Since the conversation is attached to the post, other people can easily follow along and join in.
Static sites and forums don’t really allow for that to happen. It is like reading a news article, it is a one sided conversation, not discussion. Jeremiah does a better job of explaining above. Forums don’t really reach out to others. Also, forums don’t provide permanent links, how could one post in a thread of hundreds be shared? On a blog, all posts, comments, and trackbacks have their own link for sharing.
So when people say a site that doesn’t offer these items native to blogs is the best “blog”, others will expect to come here and be able to discuss each specific article with others and the author, but can not. Not only can they not, but probably will not since many people view forums as closed communities and don’t feel their voice will be heard. This is what a blog tries to prevent by being more open to discussion, but at the same time giving the writer more of an authoritative voice on their post or article, thus encouraging people listen to their view.
There would be no disagreement if this site “won best local website or forum” because that is exactly what it is. But telling others it is a blog when it is not causes confusion, and I, and other, do not want that to happen. That is because we want blog usage to increase, to give more individuals their own voice on the internet.
To better spread the message of Unrulyrus, I would recommend a blog software like WordPress. It manages everything from archiving posts, managing comments, RSS feeds, and user administration. The software is free, runs on PHP like PHPBB, and easy to install and configure. There are also hundreds of free themes that can be installed for a new look and feel.
By opening up the commenting on articles or posts, people outside of this community will more likely be inclined to participate, which would help spread the main message of this site. When that happens, then Unrulyrus will be the best local blog.
October 19th, 2006 at 3:20 am
Preved! Nice resourse! Kagdila? I’m medved