Blogging decoded & demystified
Like all internet formats, weblogs, also known as 'blogs', have developed many terms which may baffle newcomers. The Blogging glossary is a resource for people who want to decode and demystify the jargon they may encounter whilst cruising through the blogosphere.

Although this glossary does not purport to be exhaustive by any means, it is one of the most complete of its kind regarding blog terminology and it is periodically updated. Most of the terms herein really are in use but we must confess that a few are, shall we say, rather whimsical.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR
[Russ.,= self-publishing house]
There is much to find for those who look
The only social market is a free market
The emergent network of tomorrow... but today
·· = not in English
link = Struck out blogs are on 'death watch' and may be removed soon unless updated.
Blogs about blogs
Thus it is written
Made possible by...
 
blog glossary
samizdata.net
 
 
Barking moonbat
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noun. Someone on the extreme edge of whatever their -ism happens to be.

(coined by Perry de Havilland)

Usage:"Definition of a 'barking moonbat': someone who sacrifices sanity for the sake of consistency"
-Adriana Cronin

Although the term (often rendered simply as 'Moonbat') is very popular with conservative and libertarian bloggers who appropriately use it to describe the Chomskyite Left, it was always intended as a much more ecumenical epithet and has been correctly used to describe certain paleo-conservative and paleo-libertarians views. (also see 'idiotarian').

Note: Contrary to some speculation and entries on Wikipedia, Perry de Havilland has stated it was was not originally a play on the last name of George Monbiot, a columnist for The Guardian, as he was using the term long before he met or had even heard of Mr. Monbiot.

Biz Blogs
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noun. Business blogs. This can mean blogs writing about business issues or (increasingly) actually run and maintained by a business as part of its day to day operations.

Generally Biz Blogs are outward facing (i.e. written to communicate with customers or business peers) but the terms is occasionally used for internal company blogs used a knowledge management systems (see K-logs).

Blawg
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noun. A web log written by lawyers and/or concerned primarily with legal affairs.

(Probably coined by Denise M. Howell )

Bleg
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verb. To use one's blog to beg for assistance (usually for information, occasionally for money). One who does so is a 'blegger'. Usually intended as humorous.

Blog
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1. noun. A contraction of weblog, a form of on-line writing characterised in format by a single column of text in reverse chronological order (i.e. most recent content at the top) with the ability to link to individual articles. There is usually with a sidebar displaying links, and the content is frequently updated.

(probably coined by Peter Merholz)

Usage: "Glenn has writen an interesting article about the folly of gun control on his blog"

also see: Warblog, Journal blog, Pundit blog, Tech blog, Group blog

2. verb. To write an article on a blog.

Usage: "Steven Green has just blogged about the joys of Vodka today"

or

"After reading that crap in the New York Times about globalization, I feel a serious need to blog about real world economics"

--

The majority of blogs are non-professional (update July 2004: commercial blogs of various sorts are now appearing in increasing numbers) and are run by a single writer. However whether or not a blog has a single author or is a group effort, a key differentiating factor between a blog and other on-line formats (such as forums, wikis etc) is that the main articles (as opposed to just comments) are written by the blog's owners/members and not by the general public.

Although there are several competing definitions regarding what makes a blog a blog, it can be convincingly argued that, circa 2004, for something published on the web to be a true blog, it must be configured to be readily accessible by the blogosphere. That means although reverse chronological order is a defining feature of a blog, that alone is not enough. If the individual articles cannot be linked to separately via a permalink (rather then just linking to the whole site), then the site in question is not a blog.

This means some ostensible blogs are debatably not really blogs at all (they are merely 'blog like' in appearance) by what the developing understanding of what a blog really it.

For example the Guardian, a British broadsheet newspaper, has two blogs and prides itself that it 'gets' blogging. However whereas the Guardian Online Blog, which deals with technology, is indeed a blog (and quite a good one), the Guardian main blog, called simply The Weblog1, is nothing of the sort as you cannot link to individual articles and hence it is not actually part of the blogosphere. Not surprisingly as a result 'The Weblog' is largely ignored by other blogs and hardly ever linked to according to the various monitoring services such as Technorati or Blogstreet).

1 = as of late 2004, 'The Weblog' was superceded by Newsblog, which is a proper full featured blog

Blog Digest
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noun. A blog regularly that reports on or summarizes a number of other blogs, typically on a daily basis. Blog Digests are extremely useful but as they are difficult to sustain, unfortunatly tend to have short operational lives. Also: Digest blog.

Blog mute
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noun. Someone who only occasionally blogs.

Blog-site
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1. noun. A blog (depreciated).

2. noun. A hybrid blog/website, featuring website features such as a conventional on-line company brochure (for example) but also incorporating a blog in a sidebar as a supporting feature on the same page.

(coined in this context (usage 2) by Adriana Cronin)

Blogathy
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noun. When you just don't give a damn about posting in your blog that day.

(coined by Michele Catalano)

Blogerati
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noun. The blogosphere (qv) intelligentsia.

Blogger
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1. noun. A person who owns or writes for a weblog.

2. proprietary.Blogger.com, the most widespread blog publishing software package created by Evan Williams. www.blogger.com

Blogger bash
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noun. A party for bloggers; a blogger get-together.

(possibly coined by Perry de Havilland)

Blogger ecosystem
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phrase. A chart or lists showing the links between blogs. Also: Blog ecosystem.

Bloggerel
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variant of "doggerel." Opinion put forward on a blog that has previously been repeated over and over and over again until it makes people sick.

(Coined by The Pontificator)

Bloggerverse
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noun. See Blogosphere.

Blogistan
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noun. The totality of blogs; blogs as a community.

However, the term is sometimes used to mean the totality of just warblogs (qv), or pundit blogs (qv) rather than the entire blogosphere (qv).

Also see: blogosphere, blogiverse

Blogiversary
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noun. The 'birthday' of the establishment of a blog.

Blogiverse
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noun. See blogosphere.

Blognoscenti
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noun. A blog connoisseur.

Blogopotamus
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noun. A very long blog article

Usage: "Paul Marks has done another Blogapotamus on Samizdata.net"

Blogorrhea
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noun. An unusually high volume output of articles on a blog.

Usage: "Well, 48 hours and 4,195 words later, we're reaching for our dictionary to check the definition of "significantly." After that, we're going to look up blogorrhea."
- William Quick

Blogosphere
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noun. The totality of blogs; blogs as a community; blogs as a social network.

(coined by William Quick)

Usage: "The blogosphere has been abuzz with the Trent Lott story for the last few days and many of the blogs are baying for blood!"

--

The key to understanding blogs is understanding the blogosphere. Blogs themselves are just a web format, whereas the blogosphere is a social phenomenon. It is hard to overstate the importance of this.

What really differentiates blogs from webpages or forums or chatrooms is that blogs (at least properly implemented ones) are designed from the outset to be part of that shifting internet-wide social network. There have been many attempts to design 'social software' but thus far the only effective example is the blogosphere, which was not 'designed' by anyone but is an emergent phenomenon.

Blogroach
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noun. A reader who infests the comment section of a weblog, disagreeing with everything posted in the most obnoxious manner possible.

(coined by Stacy Tabb)

blogroach.gif

Blogroll
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1. noun. A list of links in the sidebar of a blog, often linking to other blogs. Also: blog roll.

2. . A blog link management system such as www.blogrolling.com

Also see: Sidebar links

Blogspot
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noun. The blog hosting servers operated by blogger.com. More blogs are hosted on blogspot than anywhere else.

Blogstipation
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1. noun. To be unable to think of anything to blog about, i.e. writer's block for bloggers.

2. noun. To be unable to post an article on your blog because blogger.com is down yet again.

(meaning 2. coined by Jim Treacher)

Blogule
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noun. A concept or point within an article on a blog that is not quite grandiose enough to be a 'meme'.

(coined by Brian Micklethwait)

Blurker
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1. noun. One who reads many blogs but leaves no evidence of themselves such as comments behind; a silent observer of blogs.

2. noun. One who reads many blogs but has no blog of their own; a blog-watcher or blog voyeur.

Usage: "But, Mikey, I can't have a blog of my own! I'm a blurker!"