Presidential hopeless hopeful John McCain remembers when news came in neatly packaged sound bites manufactured by giant media corporations. He liked it that way.
In an attempt to rally his base he bemoaned thusly:
Now we’ve got the cables. We’ve got talk radio. We’ve got the bloggers. I hate the bloggers. We’ve got all kinds of sources of information.
Speaking of blogs, let’s get something straight.
Some people — including bloggers — struggle with terminology when talking about blogs. There’s one word in particular that really stumps the masses — the word blog itself.
Thankfully, Daily Blog Tips posted a Bloggers Glossary:
Blog: A specific type of website where the author publishes his thoughts, ideas or knowledge about different topics. Usually the content is published in small articles, called posts, and in chronological order. Blogs emerged as online diaries, but today they cover all niches, and compete head to head with mainstream media.
Bloggers themselves misuse the word blog when they should instead use post. Note — the blog is the website, the post is the article a blogger publishes on the website.
Even media professionals like Monica confuse “blog” and “post.”
One time the Humboldt Herald made giggles at Arcata City Council candidate Jeff Schwartz for saying he had 14 blogs, which would be quite a feat for someone trying to maintain a viable law practice and run for public office.
Let’s be united on our use of the word blog. If any of you bloggers disagree you can sum up your arguments in a post. John McCain will hate you for it.
RSS - Posts
July 8, 2008 at 6:36 am
Can I add a couple more definitions?
This is a “comment.”
When someone else adds another comment, this comment will be part of a “thread.”
July 8, 2008 at 6:40 am
John McCain almost certainly has PTSD and that fact alone make him unsuitable to be president. If he weren’t rich there’s a good chance he would be one of those poor homeless vets we see wandering around, forgotten by the people who sent them off to war.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
July 8, 2008 at 6:48 am
Nah Bill. The good woman who was raising his kids alone for years waiting for him to come home would have taken care of him. You know, the one he dumped for the rich drug addict bimbo?
July 8, 2008 at 6:50 am
Well yes Jane Doe but when I talk about PTSD I don’t mean it in a terribly negative (personal) way since I have pretty extreme ptsd myself. It is because I have it myself I understand that neither John McCain, or me, or people like him or me that have PTSD should have our finger on the Big Button.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
July 8, 2008 at 7:01 am
I don’t have a blog. Am I a blogger, a poster, a commenter or a threader? Maybe I’m a tailor?
July 8, 2008 at 7:07 am
Peace be with you
Don’t worry about McCain hating blogs, ’cause next week he’ll claim he loves them. link
love eternal
tad
July 8, 2008 at 7:24 am
McCain is a blog.
July 8, 2008 at 7:54 am
Don’t confuse things, turtle. McCain has a blog, but he is not a blog.
You are a commenter.
July 8, 2008 at 7:59 am
The (very annoying) blog/post confusion has been, no doubt, aggravated by MySpace. Members there who wish to add an entry to their personal journal are invited to “post a new blog.”
July 8, 2008 at 8:01 am
I want to appreciate McCain for the service he has done for our country, the same way in which I wanted to embrace Bob Dole, who also served our country (military service).
So as much respect as I have for Mr. McCain, it is his political views that leave me just short of wanting him as the leader of this nation. Plus He is spitting in the face of the medium that is the new niche for those coveted younger voters.
Thanks for the blog, err post H!
We’re becoming Blog Snobs, almost like Wine Snobs (kidding)
-boy
July 8, 2008 at 8:11 am
Thanks for sharing. No wonder so many people are confused.
July 8, 2008 at 8:22 am
The word blog is now being used as both a noun and a verb.
We now “Google” for information. We now “text” someone.
Blame it on the youth! At least that’s my blog…er, comment.
July 8, 2008 at 8:34 am
I’m fine with “blog” being a noun and a verb. It’s the post/blog confusion that fosters misunderstanding.
July 8, 2008 at 9:32 am
McCain apparently hates librarians too. A 61 year old librarian was removed from a McCain rally on city property in Denver on 6/7 for carrying a sign (without a stick) that said “McCain = Bush.” That’s all. She was ticketed for trespass, believe it or not, and has to go to court. But this did prove her point that McCain = Bush.
July 8, 2008 at 9:44 am
I was having problems with the action of adding content to a blog being described by the verb “post” and yet the person doing it being described as a “blogger” rather than a “blog poster.” Can one use the verb “blog” then to describe the action of posting more than once on one’s blog?
e.g. “I have blogged for months about how i feel about cats.”
Just trying to get straight when it is OK to use “blog” as a verb without offending the delicate sensibilities of the blogosphere.
July 8, 2008 at 9:48 am
It’s correct, just common usage you personally refuse to recognize. People say “I blogged yesterday” as a verb, and “I have 14 blogs” sounds weird, but is technically accurate.
I shouted out yesterday. I have 14 shout outs. Sounds weird, but is technically correct to convert the verb into a noun.
July 8, 2008 at 9:52 am
Jane, are you sure it was a librarian and not a libertarian?
July 8, 2008 at 9:58 am
Chris, it’s fine to blog about something, but the product of your blogging is a post.
When speaking of your collection of posts, refer to your blog.
July 8, 2008 at 9:59 am
HAHA 9:52.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/?ses=1c5b5679ca9da51ce5b5ed4bd5893f7b#90700
July 8, 2008 at 10:01 am
Glad you blogged on the topic of the meaning of “post” vs. “blog.” But I think even you, the redoubtable Heraldo, will have trouble getting language to sit still for you. Oops, I have to go xerox something for my boss now.
July 8, 2008 at 10:03 am
Heraldo can fight the future, but he’ll lose. It’s already fallen into common usage, just like”the internets” plural thanks to W.
July 8, 2008 at 10:11 am
Humboldt hates McCain. Thank goodness, otherwise I might be worried about the wisdom of my vote for him. Whether he wins or loses, the world will spin on oblivious and indifferent to the ganja obsessed mediocrities of Humdope county.
July 8, 2008 at 10:13 am
Perhaps, but don’t complain if people misunderstand when someone says they have 14 blogs.
July 8, 2008 at 11:36 am
It’s hard to read all your enlightening blog-land definitions, Heraldo, when I must read them through my bitter tears. How dare you diss my man McCain? Too cruel, you are.
July 8, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Personally, it doesn’t much matter. But the usage I’ve seen is:
A blogger is the author and manager of a blog(web communication facility). When the author generates content topics s/he is blogging.
A poster(commenter) participates in the blog by adding comments(posts) creating a thread. These names seem to be used both ways.
When the blogger adds to a thread they are posting(commenting).
July 8, 2008 at 12:11 pm
McCain is a hateful warmonger. That’s why he must not be allowed to have his finger anywhere near the nuclear button.
July 8, 2008 at 12:25 pm
a hateful warmonger who wants to throw a lifeline to those seeking residence in the US. theres a dichotomy for you.
July 8, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Remember that the word “blog” is an abbreviation of “web log” – like, say, a ship’s log, except that it’s online. A ship’s log would have an “entry.” We use the word “post” because it gets communicated to the whole world, like something “posted” on a bulletin board. “Blog” can be used as a both a noun and a verb because one of its root words, “log,” can also be used as both a noun and a verb (“I kept a log of how many miles I ran each day,” “I logged how many miles I ran each day”).
On an entirely different note: every time I see McCain speak, I do so with a combination of pity and terror.
July 8, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Heraldo I am pleased to post a comment on your blog and it is that John McCain as President would be the end of civilization as we know it because there would be such a revolt as has not been seen in this country before…..
July 8, 2008 at 1:58 pm
People said the same thing about Bush. Sadly, apathy will win the day almost every time.
July 8, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Peace be with you
More McCain hypocrisy. link
love eternal
tad
July 8, 2008 at 3:46 pm
mccain admits that he doesnt use a computer. now he says he HATES bloggers. the constant fear of the unknown will hurt mccain this election, people are sick of fearmongering.
July 8, 2008 at 4:22 pm
You guys just have no sense of humor. All politicians hate the blogs. Or they have a love/hate relationship with the blogs.
Why because a blogger can say anything they want, like what’s happening here, because bloggers can expose a phony news story like what happened to Dan Rather, and offset the plans of the political handlers.
Some try to use the blogs, like Edwards with his paid bloggers, but that is a mistake and disrespects the sincerity of the medium.
But by the time this campaign hits November you guys are going to have McCain imprisoning Vietnamese soldiers and torturing them.
July 8, 2008 at 4:31 pm
rose,
the ironic thing is that mccain uses the word HATE to describe something that he knows little about. HATE is an awfully strong word for a presidential candidate to be using about fellow americans who voice thier opinions. the word HATE says more about the person saying it than it does about the people being hated.
July 8, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Give it a break, if it wasn’t going to fuck this county up so bad I’d like to see your guy get elected. Man served his country very honorably. He is not perfect, in fact would not be my first choose, but compared to obama its night and day. No point in using facts with you all cause like JD you’ll just make up bullshit. She is so godly that she has never had a relationship problem. But is able to judge all.
July 8, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Why, I never thought of that; what if McCain wants to be president so he can get back at the Vietnamese? That’s why Bush Jr. fought so hard to be pres., to pay back Hussein for what he did to his daddy….
But seriously, McCain just can’t be pres. I think people are not going to let apathy happen on a large scale because things have gone to far with all the suspicions attached to the Repubs. No way will a Repub be elected, just can’t happen….
July 8, 2008 at 5:17 pm
humred,
you think that things are SO bad right now that making a poor choice in a president this year will ruin the country? do you really have that little faith in america?
July 8, 2008 at 5:19 pm
humred,
why do you think america will be ruined if we pick the “wrong” president this year? are things really that bad? are we really on the brink of destruction, or do you just have no faith in your country?
July 8, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Yes.
July 8, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Anon 5:17&19…..What do you think? Is America on the brink of destruction? Can we trust the American people to elect a president that won’t lie to us about why we’re going to war, or prepare us for an economic slide, or not steal the election and………?
July 8, 2008 at 6:08 pm
John McCain showed a complete lack of character when he dumped his disabled wife who kept his family together during his years of imprisonment and an unbelievable lack of judgment in marrying the drug addict daughter of a mobster to advance his political career. He is an amoral man who has done and will do anything for power.
July 8, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Oh, people use the word HATE all the time – “I hate that.” YOu can’t make it mean something sinister. Not in this case. It’s a joke, you idiot.
I wondered what was going to happen to all the vitriol when Bush left office. I guess we see it now, fixating on a new target. There’s no way in hell you guys can let it all dissipate, you can’t release it, it’s not about Bush at all, is it?
July 8, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Yeah, we are evil to target McCain because he is a corrupt and lying neocon continuing the same failed agenda as Bush while calling it change. How near brain dead must his supporters be?
July 8, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Rose, what has happened to this country and the world this past 8 years is not like a fart that dissipates after discharged, but rather like the shit that comes after it, with toxins that are deadly and the trauma of its unfolding, will have to heal over a long period of time…excuse my graphic description but drastic times require drastic measures….
July 8, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Rose, are you the devil? You stand on every issue with short term profiteers. Whether it is total habitat destruction or high tech war waged against people that have done you no harm you are right in there defending their actions and spreading propaganda for them. Everything that comes out of your mouth seems to be a distortion of the truth. You grasp pathetically, you poor shrinking soul.
July 8, 2008 at 8:21 pm
kate, you are so full of what you just described above.
You survived Nixon.
You survived Ford.
You survived Reagan.
You survived Bush the elder.
You will (hopefully) survive Bush2.
Your hyperbole, which has served you so masterfully in your tireless, yet truthless arguments for a freebie homeless camp rears its pathetic head once again when you assert a McCain presidency will be the end of our country.
July 8, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Someone who can’t even put a homeless camp together is qualified to judge world leaders, and decide how to run a country. It is a great country after all, kate.
July 8, 2008 at 9:05 pm
I’m just a little confused how a McCain/blogging terminology thread AND a local newspaper war thread both get derailed into homeless discussions.
Personal attacks are what cripple these discussions, which are the last bastions of free speech, by the way. So let’s not cripple them! The readership is larger than a few familiar frequent contributors. Personal attacks without immediate, apparent relevance to the topic just confuse new readers. And I imagine they are the very reason some people prefer to keep their identity anonymous, even when they stand behind their own opinions. The idea here is to debate a discussion based on the merits of the discussion and the rhetoric used.
Heraldo, you really have built something here with your blog, a forum for discussion and a source of local news. I’ll bet all the local media have their eyes on you. Kudos!
July 8, 2008 at 9:07 pm
I mean “debate a topic based on the merits of the topic.” Got my terms confused, sorry.
July 8, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Oh calm down, I’m not the only “hyperbole” here, you’ve done a fine job in retort…I’m trying to make a point that all is not peaches and cream like some posts proclaim, to match silliness with same…and how do you know I haven’t put a camp together already? I don’t want publicity remember…and who doesn’t think they have the problems of the world solved in their own minds, “If only I were Queen”….and I’m a Patriot and a scot, nuf said…
July 8, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Hey, Raldo,
I totally agree with “Indie”, you are setting the bar in the local blog world. It is really great. The fact that people know to come to your site to find intelligent, and not so intelligent, conversation on local issues, is new and exciting.
I have no faith in the major media outlets, local or otherwise. The more you succeed the more they will undermine. And when they start showing themselves to be the dinosaurs most of us know them to be, they will then change the rules and make the whole process illegal and turn the internet into the “Inter-Mall” which is what they really desire. Mindless consumerism is their plan for the future. Beware of the lure of money. They will start wanting to advertise with you. Beware…beware. Moviedad
July 8, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Thanks Indie and Moviedad. And thanks for your participation.
July 8, 2008 at 10:04 pm
“I wondered what was going to happen to all the vitriol when Bush left office. I guess we see it now, fixating on a new target.”
No Rose, sensible people will still despise Bush. And do you think it illogical that we would also loathe the unctuous old Senator who promises to faithfully maintain Bush’s awful legacy?
July 9, 2008 at 9:31 am
CPR, I would think you could see the difference and not buy into those talking points which just emerged a few weeks ago. Unctuous? Take off the blinders, man.
July 9, 2008 at 9:48 am
I like the word unctuous in regards to McCain and Bush, both remind me of the busunessmen in The Tenderloin District of SF who deal in the coarser side of life but put on aires for the elite, we used to call them plastic.
July 9, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Dammit, Obama. Spanish for our kids?
Why, yes, at your command.
Who’d have guessed we’d suffer Spanish
As the language of our land.
July 9, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Kate’s choice of words betrays a crudeness of consciousness. Don’t it?
July 9, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I’m no fan of John McCain, but watch the video.
He is clearly joking.
July 9, 2008 at 5:31 pm
hmm, didn’t link.
July 9, 2008 at 11:13 pm
I guess Jesse Jackson doesn’t much care for Obama. ‘Course that may win him votes.
Will heraldo make a post about Jesse wanting to cut Obama’s nuts off? Now THERE’S something to get upset about. And he wasn’t joking.
July 10, 2008 at 12:03 am
Rose said Nuts! That shows she has more balls than the main stream media.
July 10, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Rose Welsh doesn’t like African-Americans. What a shock. Is it true, right-wing Republican Rose, that you were one of the founders of the North Coast Journal?
July 10, 2008 at 12:24 pm
“CPR, I would think you could see the difference and not buy into those talking points which just emerged a few weeks ago.”
I can’t read John McCain’s mind, all I can do is take him at his word, though his word is not worth much.
July 10, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Hey Carson Park Ranger, how do you like working for a pro-Arkley, pro-GOP publication there at the North Coast Journal?
July 10, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Who let the dogs out, CPR?
July 10, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Now I can’t believe how low some of you Heraldo-ites can get. Are you saying that if you don’t fall in line behind Obama you are racist.
That is disgusting and flat out wrong.
July 10, 2008 at 3:29 pm
3:13,
i think that Heraldo is trying to say that mccain hates bloggers……thats what i got out of it.
July 10, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Poor Obama! In you we trust.
You work ’til your eyes turn as red as rust.
Poor Obama, we trust in you!
Barack, we’re poor, and the poor stay poor,
Barack, don’t make us wait anymore.
We want our rights. And we don’t care how!
We want a revolution NOW!!!
July 10, 2008 at 10:57 pm
“Hey Carson Park Ranger, how do you like working for a pro-Arkley, pro-GOP publication there at the North Coast Journal?”
Nutty.
“Poor Obama! In you we trust.”
Perhaps even nuttier.
July 11, 2008 at 7:02 am
That’s a verse from Homage to Marat from Marat / Sade using Obama in place of Marat.
July 11, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Thanks, Jane Doe, for noticing my reference to Marat/Sade.
I had a serious purpose for writing that piece. Many people today are placing trust in Obama to help them overcome intractable problems in their lives. Obama promises much, and those promises may lift him into the White House. But if he can’t deliver on those promises, the very people who put him into power may cause his downfall.
July 12, 2008 at 9:59 pm
A politician promising much — imagine that.
Thanks for the warning, Anonymous, but I’ll still take the flawed Obama over the flawed McCain.
July 12, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I’m a lot more worried about President McCain delivering on what he promises than President Obama failing on some of his. McCain claims he can cut taxes, balance the budget, and finance eternal war all at the same time. It scares me to think how he plans to do that.
July 12, 2008 at 11:48 pm
By drilling in Alaska, of course!
Silly Jane.
July 13, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Suit yourself, CPR. I suppose you will be embedded with the troops Barack Obama sends on his hunt for Osama Bin Laden in Nuclear-Bomb-filled Pakistan?
July 13, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Better Pakistan than Iran, but we wouldn’t want to search for bin Laden in the country he resides in, would we?
July 14, 2008 at 3:13 pm
We would want our ally, Pakistan, to look for bin Laden. We would not want to march our own troops across Pakistan’s nuclear-bomb-protected border. Obama proposed a dangerous course of action, presumably because he doesn’t know any better. We American voters ought to.