The Butt Ugly Weblog

Mystery explained

From Dave Winer: Sébastien Paquet: Personal knowledge publishing.

"The other factor that helps quality emerge in weblogs is personal ownership. Although webloggers participate in a community, the contents of a weblog is not a communal space; it is under the sole responsibility of its editor."

This perhaps points out the key difference between a WikiWiki and a WebLog. A Wiki is most often a communal resource, where anyone can contribute, whereas a WebLog is always a personal viewpoint. However, they are technologically very similar: both emphasize speed and ease-of-use; they both give control to the user. By hiding unnecessary technical detail (like HTML) they are both optimized for production and storage of content.

Interesting: WebLogs have started off big-time as a new media for gaining 15 minutes of publicity, but WikiWikis are considered tools. Boring tools, like hammers. But the author's personal viewpoint cannot really be the distringuishing factor, since there are many blogs that are communally edited. Places such as slashdot and Aula are thriving, even though almost anyone can contribute...

Perhaps it is the personality of the weblog rather than the personality of its author that make them more interesting.