I can't say I blame him... blogging is a grind and it takes over your life. In some cases it even becomes your life.
Burn out is, of course, an issue too. Dave blogs everything, and I'm sure as a result of that a significant portion of his communication occurs via his blog. This can get very alienating over time. Fred and I spend more time blogging together than we do hanging out. We got to hang out at eTech, and it's much better to hang in person.
On top of all this is the undeniable fact that blogging is at it's best when there is conflict. Debating on blogs is just so effective in terms of moving ideas forward and drawing people into the discussion. Of course, you can easily get caught into this trap of only blogging when you feel strongly about something--it's polarizing for sure. Heck, I have to remind myself to throw in five non-aggressive posts for every passionate one I do.
I encourage folks to use the "say it to my face" rule when they post, or place a comment. You simply ask yourself "would I say this to the person in public and to their face?" If you can't answer that question instantly with a yes you should hold off on hitting the publish button.
The best moment in the history blogging was Mena Trott, from SixApart, giving a passionate speech calling for civility in blogging. During the talk she goes postal on someone on the backchannel, calling them an a-hole to their face and saying "what the f$%k!?!?!" Ahhh.... the irony. Mena really sweet of course, but she proved the point that blogging is about mixing it up not civility. A recap here.
Dave Winer getting ready to ride off... (or, the "to my face" rule)
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(Page 1 of 1)2. Dave Winer shouts down anyone who doesn't agree with him, so I wouldn't call comments a two way conversation.
Posted at 5:08PM on Mar 13th 2006 by King Bastard
3. Thank god, an American who understands Irony :-) you are right though, it will for ever go down as the best, or funniest moment in blog history.
Posted at 9:28PM on Mar 13th 2006 by Duncan Riley
4. BTW was this guy (Winer) kidding around when he wrote, "I want to matter less?" It's an incredible act of self parody if he was.
Posted at 8:56AM on Mar 14th 2006 by laurence haughton
5. He is a cartoon of himself.
Posted at 11:19AM on Mar 14th 2006 by King Bastard
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1. Sorry she's just too painful to watch I couldn't get all the way through the point of her argument.
But while civility isn't the right standard there should be some user friendly hygiene among commenters. For instance I don't see how dropping the "f" bomb on someone (anonymously) is "mixing it up."
Posted at 2:57PM on Mar 13th 2006 by laurence haughton