The Blogging Dead
April 7, 2013 3:46 AM Subscribe
NOT a blog about Zombies... but a collection of 'ghost blogs', relabeled for topicality. "Zombie Dead Blog" shows off some of the sincere-but-doomed, as well as the not-even-half-hearted attempts at blogging whose history remains on the web, most often thanks to Blogspot's disinterest in deleting inactive blogs.
Some memory flogging sites are mixed up with the 'one post and out' bad examples, like:
The Last Page On The Internet (NO IT WASN'T),
more than one "Most Boring Blog Ever" (which are ironically slightly more interesting than some of the other examples)
an Aquarium blog,
some classic [Fill in Company Name] Sucks,
Kottke.blogspot.com, written by Megnut (there's a blogging history story here I don't think I need to know),
Random Thoughts from the Valley (only two of them, but VERY random),
and the BlaggBlogg's Tony-Toni-Tone Theory.
Let's see how long it takes for the site's Zombie Wrangler to tire of the project and let it join the rest of the Dead Web...
Some memory flogging sites are mixed up with the 'one post and out' bad examples, like:
The Last Page On The Internet (NO IT WASN'T),
more than one "Most Boring Blog Ever" (which are ironically slightly more interesting than some of the other examples)
an Aquarium blog,
some classic [Fill in Company Name] Sucks,
Kottke.blogspot.com, written by Megnut (there's a blogging history story here I don't think I need to know),
Random Thoughts from the Valley (only two of them, but VERY random),
and the BlaggBlogg's Tony-Toni-Tone Theory.
Let's see how long it takes for the site's Zombie Wrangler to tire of the project and let it join the rest of the Dead Web...
Boy do I have a candidate! psykotic rants: THE MOST WORTHLESS BLOG IN THE WORLD.
posted by sammyo at 4:11 AM on April 7, 2013
posted by sammyo at 4:11 AM on April 7, 2013
See also: http://abandonedblogs.tumblr.com/
posted by flatluigi at 4:20 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by flatluigi at 4:20 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
yeah, well. Dont we all have an unfinished project or five in the closet/desk/garage/internet.
posted by Abinadab at 5:07 AM on April 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Abinadab at 5:07 AM on April 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
I found this oddly fascinating, and tragic. I was struck by the humanity of people trying to get out of their heads, connect with the world, but lacking the skill or ambition to really do it. It also hit pretty close to home. But I'm still not going to delete my one post blogger site, I like the domain name too much, and I really am going to do something with it someday. ;]
posted by finnegans at 6:00 AM on April 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by finnegans at 6:00 AM on April 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
Though an interesting concept, I am not a massive fan of the snarky comments of the curator, e.g.:-
"This is what I love about teenagers, they are so full of life and hate it some much. Never understood and wanting to run away. Cry me a river? More like a desert drought."
I wonder whether that kind of response was what kept that particular blog author from carrying on...
posted by ljs at 6:08 AM on April 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
"This is what I love about teenagers, they are so full of life and hate it some much. Never understood and wanting to run away. Cry me a river? More like a desert drought."
I wonder whether that kind of response was what kept that particular blog author from carrying on...
posted by ljs at 6:08 AM on April 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
This is way too mean-spirited to be entertaining. Also: "route canal?"
posted by ook at 6:13 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by ook at 6:13 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
Is this where I feel smug about maintaining an active blog since 2001? Although there are 4 or 5 other that didn't make it. I deleted them when I gave up on them.
I wish they weren't mostly (all?) Blogger blogs. The About page on Wordpress sort of encourages the author to give us a little background on themselves. The Blogger template never really encouraged that behavior.
posted by COD at 6:23 AM on April 7, 2013
I wish they weren't mostly (all?) Blogger blogs. The About page on Wordpress sort of encourages the author to give us a little background on themselves. The Blogger template never really encouraged that behavior.
posted by COD at 6:23 AM on April 7, 2013
... and how can he be so sure these blogs are really 'dead' and not just dormant?
posted by mazola at 9:10 AM on April 7, 2013
posted by mazola at 9:10 AM on April 7, 2013
... and why I am being so defensive about this?
The only way to protect my terrible, terrible blogs is to KEEP POSTING!
posted by mazola at 9:19 AM on April 7, 2013
The only way to protect my terrible, terrible blogs is to KEEP POSTING!
posted by mazola at 9:19 AM on April 7, 2013
how can he be so sure these blogs are really 'dead' and not just dormant?
And with strange aeons even Gawker may die.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 10:26 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
And with strange aeons even Gawker may die.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 10:26 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
And if it did, the Zombie Dead Blogger would be criticized less for being snarky about it.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:47 PM on April 7, 2013
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:47 PM on April 7, 2013
I think at this point, statistically speaking most blogs ARE dead blogs. I can name ten off the top of my head which I used to follow regularly, but which have not been updated in over a year.
As to the question of how you know a blog is really dead versus just on hiatus, that's simple:
posted by ErikaB at 1:51 PM on April 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
As to the question of how you know a blog is really dead versus just on hiatus, that's simple:
1. Is the most recent post an apology for not having blogged in a long time, and a promise to blog more in the future starting Right Now?If the answer to both questions is "yes," then the blog is dead.
2. Is that post more than six months old?
posted by ErikaB at 1:51 PM on April 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
I have an occasional hobby of just typing random phrases, even gibberish like asdfg, qazwsxedc, etc often works, dot blogspot, or dot wordpress or dot tumblr and seeing what comes up. It's usually, at least for blogspot, a dead blog. Maybe started in 2004 or 2007 or sometime. One or two posts or more. Sometimes there's something poignant or interesting. Often not. I had a pet idea that blogspot/google should introduce some sort of element where abandoned/unaccessed blogs gather a layer of virtual dust that you need to actually swipe away with cursor strokes to read. That'd be kind of interesting.
posted by notesondismantling at 6:07 PM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by notesondismantling at 6:07 PM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
I have an occasional hobby of just typing random phrases, even gibberish...
We've already established you're on MetaFilter.
posted by mazola at 10:24 PM on April 7, 2013
We've already established you're on MetaFilter.
posted by mazola at 10:24 PM on April 7, 2013
I think you mean Metafilter: an occasional hobby of just typing random phrases, even gibberish
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 2:47 AM on April 8, 2013
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 2:47 AM on April 8, 2013
Abandoned blogs always bum me out, it reminds me of the days of LiveJournal: people would just stop posting one day, and if they were separated enough (like the random adds from cool strangers), it would be liked they ceased to exist.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 8:34 AM on April 8, 2013
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 8:34 AM on April 8, 2013
It's already mentioned on the linked site, but we've been noticed.
Also, add me to the list of people who would prefer the collection without the commentary, as is done in this similar collection.
"The Devil's Dictionary, Business Edition" may deserve some snark, but I feel implicated along with the curator in picking on people for no good reason. The blogs themselves are a lot more interesting than that.
When you find a letter on the street and all you can think of to do is make fun of the spelling, you're missing out.
posted by eotvos at 8:12 PM on April 8, 2013
Also, add me to the list of people who would prefer the collection without the commentary, as is done in this similar collection.
"The Devil's Dictionary, Business Edition" may deserve some snark, but I feel implicated along with the curator in picking on people for no good reason. The blogs themselves are a lot more interesting than that.
When you find a letter on the street and all you can think of to do is make fun of the spelling, you're missing out.
posted by eotvos at 8:12 PM on April 8, 2013
Anyone remember Ghost Sites of the Web?
posted by Chrysostom at 8:26 PM on April 8, 2013
posted by Chrysostom at 8:26 PM on April 8, 2013
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posted by HuronBob at 3:58 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]