Blogging

I always like reading my stat counter logs to see where people come from- meaning how they find this site. I have encountered a bunch of strange google or MSN search strings, such as "writing my own obituary," or "centurion elite RS." There are also those who randomly surf by clicking through th "next blog" link in the upper right hand bar.

It seems blogs have replaced the old vanity websites of the mid-90s. It also seems that there is an emerging industry to flood search engine rankings through creating artificial links to other sites. These are the worthless blogs that have all sorts of text strings and links, but provide nothing in the way of organized info. Porn is also in on the act. I will no longer click on the "next blog" button while at work.

There is also a weird phenomenon called "blogshares"- a virtual stockmarket based on blogs. I haven't figured out what it is all about, other than I think it is designed to be an incentive to have "volunteers" provide "free labor" in indexing new blogs. It is really quite strange. In addition, people can earn virtual money by completing missions, such as leaving comments or providing links to other blogs. For instance the Bastiat Free University is so hard up for traffic that they are offering a billion dollars for linking to them through an article, such as this. Being shameless as I am, I thought I'd see if he'd make good on his word. He seems to think his headline entry is somewhat controversial, per his mission at blogshares. Frankly, it seems like it is poorly constructed satire, unlike The Onion. Now I'm probably blowing this mission, but I've explored the blog and its parent site, Silent Partner Consulting and frankly, I just don't get it. There is a tremendous amount of information, but its purpose is fully vague. Then again, a "free" university that charges $75? I guess it sort of makes sense after all.