OK.. i’m not a big fan of the systems out there that leave “comments” on my blog which are simply spam and points to their porn or business sites. I like the comments feature… i tend to start conversations with people based on those who reach out to comment interesting things in my blog. But i do not like going through and deleting the spam ones each day. ::grumble::

Gossip columns have appeared everywhere from the local rag to the grocery store trash to the elite magazines. People love to talk about other people. Thus, it should come of no surprise that there’s a whole genre of blogging dedicated exclusively to gossip.

Once again, i have to ponder how digital searchability will affect the social impact of this new form. While we may one day forget the atrocious outfit of some celebrity as reported in Vanity Fair, how will we judge those famous folks as a collection of their appearance in gossip blogs? Needless to say, i imagine that most gossip is going to be slanted, and most likely in the derrogatory direction. What happens when most of our impressions are based on negative hearsay?

Blog certainly create fun new ways to screw with social dynamics…

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There is nothing more aggrevating than reading about your personal life on someone else’s public site or blog. Privacy issues, trust issues, social context… my general rant. Of course, tell this to teenagers or others who are determined to publicly describe everything, regardless of the social/political implications. Mommy always told us never to say bad things about others. As frustrating as it is, this is another one of those things where mommy knows best and yet we don’t listen to her because we need to find out ourselves. And once we do, we tend not to publicly post cruel things about others… well, most of us learn our lessons anyhow.

The thing about posting things to the web is that it’s not like general gossip or public ridicule. This will go down on your permanent record. A google search will resurrect the most sordid bits about you and because you didn’t put them into the public domain in the first place, guess what? You can’t remove them!

This change in structure is going to be quite fascinating… how will current teenagers be impacted by their momentary decisions to post flames about one another on their live journals? I’m very fascinated to see what coping mechanisms evolve for searchable identities.

In the meantime, i’m enjoying all of the articles commenting on this social phenomenon. This week: NYTimes: Dating a Blogger, Reading All About It

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While folks are constantly trying to create interesting blogs for others to read, this man is creating one that is as dull as possible.

BlogMatcher is a dating service for blogs. Well, not exactly, but it seems as though every networking tool out there is either for business or dating. Through a blog into their search and it’ll give you back a handful of blogs with similar links. How cute!

I love that blogs are reaching a certain level of mainstream-ness, complete now with a Portrait of a Blogger. What i love even more is that V-Day is willing to let me explore the potential uses of blogs in non-profit land. Yippeee! Coming soon: a full revamp of the V-Day web presence!