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Writers Find Blogging To Be a Stressful Method of Reporting
Andrew Feinberg points out a New York Times story about the stress put upon prolific bloggers to maintain a constant flow of content in order to satisfy both consumers and advertisers in the information age. When breaking a story first can generate thousands more page views and clicks, many bloggers are finding themselves chained to their computers, worrying that they'll miss something important if they step away. Quoting:
" 'I haven't died yet,' said Michael Arrington, the founder and co-editor of TechCrunch, a popular technology blog. The site has brought in millions in advertising revenue, but there has been a hefty cost. Mr. Arrington says he has gained 30 pounds in the last three years, developed a severe sleeping disorder and turned his home into an office for him and four employees. 'At some point, I'll have a nervous breakdown and be admitted to the hospital, or something else will happen. This is not sustainable,' he said."
Reminds me of Maddox. I check his page almost everyday for updates and get angry every time he hasn't posted new content. I only abstain from complaining due to fear of having my email posted!
if he's made millions of dollars, can't he just move to a small island off the coast of Mexico and have young women make him ceviche, bring him beer, and blow him for the rest of his life?
I gained 30 lbs once, and I've since dropped the weight, but I have nothing to show for it. I wonder if we'll get an article here soon about how executives making millions of dollars are stressed out.
Please stop stalking me, bro.
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
Seriously, does anyone get their 'news' from blogs? Granted they can be interesting and helpful, they are often written with no editing and read more like "On the Road" than The New York Times.
Congratulations on developing income through traffic but it pains me to see people use this as a way to stay informed.
If you never leave your basement you're not reporting, you're aggregating or spinning.
My work here is dung.
Close to 50% of the page space is ads. Very slow loading ads. And annoying javascript popups. Just start moving your mouse around and hover-triggered popups start going off like landmines.
How can people stand to go there on a regular basis?
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
If you are a blogger, set your hours. Sure, you'll violate them once in a while (I'm posting from work on a Sunday...I'm in a crunch time in my business - it happens). But seriously, if you don't post for 14 hours a day, the world will not stop. Provided that you have people to do the shifts to keep the information flowing, people will not abandon the blog forever. Taco doesn't spend 20 hours a day posting dupes - he's hired people to do that.
This isn't really about blogging, it's about small business. Small, one man shops really are a drain on your life. You fear that if you close too early or open too late you'll miss that one big customer. Until you get big enough to spread the load, that will be the case.
A note for bloggers - you might want to move. There were two in that story - one in SF, one (I believe) in NY. Note: you're bloggers, nobody cares where you live and you can source from anywhere in the (US/NA/World). Based on the "all day and night at the keyboard" comments, these folks aren't getting their inside scoops from wandering the streets of the big technology cities. Might I suggest somewhere inexpensive, somewhere relaxing from which to blog. Make it within 100 miles of an airline hub if you do a lot of conferences. Office space in small towns is often $8/SF (per year) or less, and really good housing is actually affordable on 40k-50k/yr.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
A number of professions live under the 'publish or perish' gun. University professors, freelance journalists, freelance photographers, ad copy writers, script writes etc.
Nothing to see here, move along....
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
I'll agree with you that they should all strive to make six figures, but the reality is that the supply far exceeds the demand, and the talent pool is relatively shallow on average. I know people working just as hard, for just as many hours, usually at multiple jobs, to barely make ends meet. They do it because they don't have the training or ability to perform work that has a higher value in society. Heck, I could make more as a doctor or a lawyer, but I really like being an engineer and I spent my college money to become one.
As for finding a mate, they one's who are primarily interested in the size of your wallet are much more likely to leave you if that wallet ever deflates. I recommend finding one who would marry you if you lost every penny you had in the world. You'll be a lot happier than if you make $100k and had someone who constantly griped about not having enough money to live the way he or she likes.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Just one minor nit to pick:
Part of the problem with many people working from home is it "doesn't feel like work", so they slack off. They work in their kitchen instead of a dedicated room / home office. They use the same computer for work and fun. They slack off on their personal appearance. Etc. Etc.
Getting dressed instead of sitting in your undies is part of the mental preparation for "Now I'm going to work!" I don't know how many times, when I was working from home, people would call and assume that I had all this "free time". I'd usually let them talk for a minute or two, but if it went longer, I'd tell them to call me at night - I'm working and don't want to "lose the momentum | thought | zone | whatever".
They'd be miffed the first few times.
Dear Slashdot Editors,
Please stop mangling my submissions. I did not submit to you the NYT article. I submitted the commentary to the NYT article which I wrote as a tech/public policy blogger reacting to the story. I find the way you guys now strip out submitters content and simply link to the "mainstream" article insulting and really makes me want to contribute to the discussions less and less. Why is my contribution less valuable than the NYT article? I think my commentary as an informed reader adds much to the discussion, and could have done quite a bit to improve the quality of comments here.
Is there a reason you no longer link to other people's submissions, only their mainstream media material?
I have been a Slashdot reader since 1998-1999. I read less and less. This is why. While I took the time to format, edit, and submit a story containing links to both the original NYT article and my own commentary you found it OK to strip out my entire submission and bury it in your worthless "firehose" and instead simply use me as a tip-off instead of a contributor to a community which I have been on for over ten years. Check my UID.
Is original (ie, not from "news sites") content no longer relevant on Slashdot? Hey Malda, Bates? Remember me? When did your site become a news aggregator instead of a place to discuss ideas, not just rehash articles from mainstream press? I don't feel like part of a community right now. I feel like I'm doing work just so someone else can take the credit. I spent a good amount of time writing that post that I linked you to, and you all but ignored it.
Why?
Andrew Feinberg
Angry Slashdot Veteran
Actually, there are quite a few PhDs out there blogging. They are hardly "useless in their fields", at least the ones I read; they tend to be some of the more high profile people (and the blogs simply give them an even higher profile). Two cases in point for economics: Greg Mankiw's blog and Marginal Revolution, a blog by two George Mason profs with occasional guest bloggers.
Blogging is actually fairly amenable to the goal of many academics: to share information and debate about it. The biggest downside that I see is that blogging is fairly time consuming. Mankiw turned off comments to his blog because he didn't have time to moderate them, so his blog became more of a one-way street.
Of course, econ is just one field; I honestly don't know how prevalent blogging is in other fields.
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