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Not to rehash a really long article, but I took a fairly in-depth look at what could be in the future an important topic for both bloggers and commentators: Who owns blog comments?

The initial answer seems obvious, but like everything else in life, there are at least two sides to it and the “obvious” answer differs depending on who is giving it. My first thought was that a blog commenter gives up his rights to a comment once he hits the submit button. The comment, as though he had said it out loud and it was recorded is now just “out there,” and is sort of public domain.

Public domain is a bad choice of phrase when talking about a potential copyright issue. It seems to me closest to a quote or sound bite, and a publisher, just like a newspaper, magazine, radio or TV show, has the right to edit or delete as he sees fit.

But something happened recently when Robert Scoble raised the issue that he owned his comments. A law professor from Santa Clara University told me pretty much the same thing. Surprisingly, he said that if the blogger wanted to publish a best-of anthology of comments, he would probably need the commenter’s permission. That was a shocking bit of legal interpretation for me. But I suppose with print, radio, and TV, they make it very clear in writing that submitted reader/viewer input becomes their property and they can do what they want with it after that.

This is leading to the idea that bloggers should make the same type of policy clear to their own readers.

Tags: Blogging // 3 Comments »

Europe’s got it right, man. All that work just isn’t worth it. A Yahoo HotJobs survey says half of Americans are cancelling their vacations this summer because of concerns about the poor economy.

Gas prices lead to more expensive everything, adjustable mortgage rates lead to a need to work more hours and save money while companies start laying off workers like there’s no tomorrow–which also means remaining workers have to pick up the slack of those laid off.

It totally sucks. When you can barely afford to live, you sure can’t afford to take a break or spend money to go somewhere. Give a big thanks to big oil, investment banks, and a gov’t that not only looks the other way while its citizens are gouged, but bails out the bigwigs while stepping on the middle class.

If anybody gets within reach of Bush’s damn veto pen, grab it from him.

Cheers.

Tags: News // Add Comment »

People often ask me what I do and when I tell them, they say “oh, you’re a blogger.”

Ahem. Let me say that again. I write for a company that publishes several ebusiness publications, but mainly for just the flagship. But don’t confuse me with what is typically thought of as a blogger. I use the shift key and punctuation. Generally, I write with complete sentences unless I can justify it artistically. My grammar–on the first go ’round–is often impeccable, as is my spelling. I have standards, a background, degrees, certifications.

I am a writer, and I am stuck-up about it.

And sometimes I blog, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Yes, I did begin a sentence with a conjunction. Want to make something of it?

But I don’t consider myself, not full time anyway, a blogger. Anyone can blog; not everybody has something to say.

What’s the difference between being a writer and a blogger? That’s a tough question. Seems to me like nobody’s been able to define exactly what a blog is, much less a blogger. The blog got its name from web log, as everybody knows. It intimates a kind of journal or diary. Informal, random, unreserved, impassioned, and a bit of a glimpse into someone’s private mind.

For example, I like my toast lightly toasted, not dark. Don’t burn it. Burnt bacon is okay, though.

I generally feel like my parents were full of it when they told me to be a gentleman and put girls on a pedastel like I’m some genteel south’n trust fund baby and not the rogue I always had the potential to be. Chicks in college hated that stuff! My wife kind of likes it though. All that door-opening and seat-pulling got me pretty far in Japan, too, where chivalry’s never been alive enough to have been killed off by the feminist movement.

See, intimate.

A writer, a self-respecting one, a journalist or prose writer has a high horse and printing press. While you notice a blogger’s self, and even his writing skill, the better a writer is, the less you notice him in what is written and the more you notice the story–it’s a substance over style thing. The writer is copyrighted, sensitive about it, and gets paid if he’s lucky, and if really lucky sees work in print somewhere. But most of all he suffers for his art; he doesn’t slap words up on a screen. Yes, all that’s changing and yes it’s becoming harder and harder to tell the difference anymore.

When the government went after Larry Flint, the publisher of Hustler, a famous question was asked about how to tell the difference between art and pornography. The famous answer was: I know it when I see it.

Most bloggers don’t write this much in a post because the Internet has a short attention span. So if you’ve made it this far, let me reward you with the declaration of my own BS. Often the rules of anything are there to keep people down. When writing has rules, when we separte ourselves along arbitrary elitist lines, we not only become predictable as writers but we also ascribe to a system designed to stifle voices rather than set them free.

so blog on bloggers and do it however you wish so long as you contribute to the grander conversation.

I’ll still call myself a writer, though.

Tags: Blogging // 1 Comment »

Here are a couple written by me:

1

A blog maintained with integrity and consistency can open up doors that you might have never thought existed. These doors might never have appeared as something accessible, but a blog can be your key to open up and explore what’s beyond.

2

The best things in life come as a surprise. Do not fall for the quick money that blogging has been known to earn, instead focus on building a network and establishing yourself in a community, and get ready for the surprise.

[Click here to read more →]

Tags: Blogging // Add Comment »

You have heard it time after time that there is money to be made online, yet it seems like you just can’t find an outlet to attach yourself and get that cash flowing. Today, the web has without a doubt emerged as one of the most viable platform to earn a living for the skillful. But, it is not without opportunities for one’s that lack skills either ( designing, coding and so on ).

Internet has given a new meaning and new life to many, be it financially or in terms of peace and sense of satisfaction. Most of us knowingly ignore some of the outlets on the web that allow us to make money. By no means this is an extensive list but hopefully this post will introduce you to atleast one new platform. [Click here to read more →]

Tags: News // 2 Comments »

Here are some simple and basic tips that we can apply to become successful,

1. Let go off the Past, Act and Apply in the Present and Shape up the Future
2. Utilize your failures as a guidance towards success
3. Do not try. Trying is quitting when you are almost there. Just do it.
4. Make a list of your dreams. No matter how hard it might be to achieve just sit down and write all your dreams down.
5. Make a list of your goals and think how you can achieve them
6. Use negative feedbacks and criticism to your advantage and better yourself
7. If you want to be successful in someone else’s game ( if you have a boss ), play by their rules
8. Make a list of your value. What do you value most and build your success upon them
9. Keep personal time separate from business time
10. Your success depends on your achievements.

[Click here to read more →]

Tags: Business, Internet, Life, News // 2 Comments »