And while we're dwelling on the subject of complexity, why is it that the blogmakers only make it easy to manage the substance of the blog and not the form? Elliot is trying to get a blog up and running and he very succintly illustrated to me why blogs are falling short of their promise - he can't easily add links to his templates. If he wants to make this happen, he has to edit HTML or figure out how to get his templates into an HTML editor without wrecking the content tags. This is too complex for users.
Jon, by way of Doc, notes that "The two-way Web is being printed on HTML pages, distributed over the RSS network, and woven together with links. " but that he has concerns "...that we'll get hung up once again on applications and protocols, and miss the big picture. Ultimately, it's not about RSS any more than it was about NNTP." He goes on to say that "It's about the evolution of our species toward shared consciousness. When I started tinkering with the then-new Radio UserLand 8, about a year ago, I got fired up again with the vision that had inspired my book. I saw, in the emerging blogosphere, a next opportunity to reach critical mass -- by which I mean a world in which transparency and information-sharing are the rule rather than the exception."
Jon is a little bit more exuberant concerning where this is going than I am. A world in which transparency and information-sharing are the rule rather than the exception requires a world that is willing to be transparent and emphasises the importance of sharing information. This isn't the blogosphere. Don't get me wrong, the blogkeepers want to share and the blogmakers talk a good game, but the reality of the situation is much different. This isn't the blogosphere until I can migrate from Radio to Movable Type and Elliot can easily add links to his templates without either of us pulling out our hair (or each others for that matter....)
I'm not sure if this is a rant fulfilled or notes for a longer story. I'll see how cynical I'm feeling in the morning.