"In fact I moved my blog."
This was rather depressing news, but not unexpected. His blog was the top competitor against all the politics. With the influx of political garbage on the USD blog server, it's no wonder that anyone who's not a College Republican or USD Democrat has all but abandoned the site.
It's such a huge turnoff, to look at the blog roll and see all the back-and-forth. It's not even meaningful. I don't read any of it any more, and I know that when I skim the posts, I'm missing what little good stuff other people might post because there's too much crap.
One person tried to tell me that I should stick it out til November and then it'll be better, but I'm not so sure. They've been like this since the blog server began.
I remember the early days. I was so excited. I thought I'd be seeing all sorts of opportunities from all sorts of student organizations. I thought I'd be reading interesting pieces from individual students and maybe even faculty. And then ... they took over.
It was no longer about individual expression or organizations advertising their events. It was about who could scream the loudest, most frequent, partyline propoganda. Including the most atrocious mudslinging of the campaign. College kids tend to think they are thorough fact-checkers, but anyone who reads the Volante knows better. College politics is often more childish than "real" politics, and that's saying something.
When I find a student who actually knows about the blogs (most don't) their only comment is the post-happy nature of the political groups. No one reads the Libraries blog or the blogs related to the English department. Why? It's tough to even find the posts! Of the 48 most recent posts (two pages worth) only SIX are NOT from the political clubs. That means over 85% of recent posts are political in name and nature. Ouch.
I must admit, if this blog server doesn't shape up, and BEFORE November, I'm following Jesse's example and taking my blog elsewhere. I don't even want to be associated with such a horrible display.
My suggested solution: ITS implements a one-a-day policy. Or perhaps the groups should exercise enough self-control to voluntarily implement a one-a-day policy. If you have to be concise enough for one post a day, you might actually think about what you're saying and who you're linking. And that will VASTLY improve the quality of this blog server. It's very obvious that right now, the College Republicans and the USD Democrats are not thinking, just posting whatever comes to mind, or their inbox. Remember, kids, over 75% of the crap in your inbox is junkmail. PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU POST.
I think the reason that you don't see more participation is because until last week, new students can't even sign up for blogs.
The IT desk has corrected the issue, or so they tell me.
Posted by Xiao Xi on September 29, 2008 at 11:31 PM CDT #
Also, I am genuinely sorry that you don't find as much enjoyment from the Blogosphere as you used to, but I agree with Matt that a large part of that is because of the general inactivity of this system. There's not nearly enough publicity for it. If you solve that problem, you'll solve the problem of too few bloggers.
That said, even if this was a vibrant sphere, I would still hold no qualms about posting what I post, and I'm sure Matt would agree.
Posted by Xiao Xi on September 29, 2008 at 11:57 PM CDT #
I am of the opinion that between the large deficit we've accumulated, the wars we're fighting and the general unhealthiness of our society, that this election is crucial. More importantly, I'm of the opinion that voter education is crucial. And quite frankly, there's so many people who know so little of the issues that I think voter education is essential for a democracy.
I don't claim that everything I write is infallible. If you find a mistake in my writing or in my source citation, you're welcome to correct it, and I'll change it with credit to you for discovering the error. But to say that I don't put as much thought into my post as you or anyone else is, frankly, insulting and patronizing.
Posted by Xiao Xi on September 30, 2008 at 12:09 AM CDT #
I find it odd that whenever there's significant dialogue in this country, that many will be quick to condemn it as "partisan" and fall back to the cliches of "oh you're not thinking." If you're upset by a wave of information, well too bad, because that's what civic participation should be. It's not pretty, it's not easy, and it's rarely cut and dry, but it is very important.
The decisions our leaders at the local, state or national level affects all of us whether we plug our fingers in our ears or not. If you don't like the dominance of political blogs, you're welcomed to post more and to create more publicity for the Blogosphere. In fact, I'll help you do the latter.
But do not persume to lecture me about lack of thinking or partisanship when you obviously have no idea about the information contained in my posts. I'm sorry I offended you with the number of posts we churn out at USDDems, but I frankly invite you to do something about it.
Posted by Xiao xi on September 30, 2008 at 12:12 AM CDT #
I mostly agree with Xiao xi, except that I am not sorry if we offended this blogger. This blog server is open to all students, and they have an equal chance to blog as we politicos do, but obviously choose not to. And that's ok. It's their choice to blog 5 times a day or 5 times a year.
We are smart people- both Reps and Dems- and we're fighting for what we believe in. I think that is a noble cause. The fact that we are courageous enough to get into the fight with our names affixed to our words speaks volumes about our characters, despite partisan bent.
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." -Churchill
Posted by Matt Hittle on September 30, 2008 at 09:47 AM CDT #
Agreed. It was more fun when I could read about people's opinions and experiences.
If I wanted to know about all this political stuff I'd read it in the news.
Posted by Val Pancakes on October 15, 2008 at 10:29 PM CDT #