I’d like to thank Matt Craven for giving us (me) the freedom to cause mayhem here – now go and have another scotch on me, mate. :-)

The Blog Herald was the first blog I ever read when it was in the hands of its founder, Duncan Riley. It had a strong reputation and readership and was quite influential, so to get the chance to be a small part of it … well, lets just say it has been my pleasure and an honor.

To the new owners of The Blog Herald I wish them all the best in their endeavors. Transitions such as these take time. Take some time to gather up a group of bloggers, develop an editorial voice and go from there.

Now onto my column …

It’s about transparency in blogging .. err, maybe for another day. ;-)

Cheers,
Martin Neumann

PS. For us Aussies who love cricket … :-) :-) :-)

I asked 10 of my Aussie associates to each ask 10 of their associates/friends (that’ll be 100 in all) – and ask them simply what they thought of blogging and Web 2.0 – did it register with them? What first came to mind? What were their thoughts?

These are ordinary Aussies, some small business owners, some active online and some who couldn’t give a rats arse about the Internet.

Okay. The responses both surprised me but they really shouldn’t have.

Blogging: online diaries, journals, clutter, unreliable, Dear Weblog: I farted twice last night, wannabe journalists.

Web 2.0: Bubble 2.0, Bullshit 2.0, weird business names (gotta agree there), mash potatoes (I’m presuming it’s mash-up), $2 companies.

My favorite response was:

Web 2 Ohhh: a 3am xanax-induced brainstorming session that ends up popping out a brand-spanking new flashy, snazzy, shiny “Web 2.0″ business with all the business and marketing plans all thoroughly completed on pizza-stained napkins … revenue yet to be determined.”

Obviously I picked those that were negative or made fun of it all but that was because 80% were just like that and more.

I get the feeling from my totally unscientific survey that mainstream Australians don’t give a crap about blogging and web 2.0.

Sure there are the early adopters, but I’m a little surprised because I see Australians at the forefront, or close enough to it, of blogging. Think: Duncan Riley, Darren Rowse, Yaro Starak and a host of others I’m too lazy to research and name – but trust me: they’re out there.

It’s a shame because especially in blogging’s case I think it is the ultimate and most cost-effective marketing tool out there for small business – and most small business are short on marketing dollars.

Maybe it’s time to take out the “echo chamber” (hasn’t that become a cliche/buzzword of late) to the backyard and bury it deep and start reaching out to the masses.

Mainstream media in Australia gives blogging and Web 2.0 token coverage at best. I don’t know why. I don’t take the argument that it’s because they see it as a threat – that’s so 2004! Heck, most mainstream media outlets have their hands in some sort of blogging.

Blogging needs to be explained better to the mainstream – the ordinary Aussie small business owner. With Web 2.0, the explanation more so.

Any Aussies reading this? Your thoughts would be welcomed. Have your say. Is blogging gaining traction in Australia or do the majority still see it as the “I ate a packet of Tim Tams last night” online diary gibberish?

Our esteemed publisher here, Matt Craven, tells me that 1.17% of the readership here comes from Australia – not much but it’s third from the top behind America – which I’m presuming takes up the vast majority.

I personally believe there are many more Aussies blogging out there, but it’s just not in our nature to self-promote … but more on that in next weeks column.

PS: For those in the know, The Ashes Day One: the Aussies whipped some pommie butts. ;-)

Martin Neumann is feverishly working on a soft launch of Small Office Herald – an online publication for Aussies working from a … small office! And thus his shameless move into writing his column about Australia and blogging from now on.

It’s more surprising that it came so soon after they received funding.

What happened?

The official b5 statement basically says nothing and Duncan can’t be reached.

One of the differentiation points of b5media that set them apart was that it was a company that was formed by owners who had never met before … well until now – and now Duncan is gone.

As is typical of the blogosphere we’re all opinionated and I’m as opinionated as they come. So here’s my go at it.

b5 is quickly becoming very corporate with new partners on board and that means it’s now a “real” business in the sense that everyone and everything has to be more accountable – fine-tuning business models, better ROI’s and basically all that goes with moving on from being a virtual “plaything” business – maybe for Duncan the fun has gone out of it.

Writing a handful of blogs and being part of a growing publishing business are poles apart. Publishing is a tough business. For some it’s not for them. It stifles their creativity.

Duncan is a character of the blogosphere. He speaks his mind as freely as anyone I’ve known. He spits at everything politically correct and in fact goes out of his way at times to shock – sometimes I think, to the horror of his b5 partners.

There’s obviously more to this story – you don’t just leave a thriving venture as this one that looks certain to keep on growing (I can quite easily see a $10m+ buyout one day).

I noticed previously on Duncan’s blog that something was not quite right – but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

One thing I hope is that he was not pushed out. Sometimes personalities clash. And when you bring in the big dollars everything changes. I suspect he was given a decent payout for his share in b5 and he has the funds now to pursue his passions (I wonder what he has up his sleeves?) – but this is all just me thinking out allowed.

I know the blogosphere is full of ego’s and I’m sure there’s more to this.

All I know is that Duncan is a great guy. He was one of the first bloggers I read when I first jumped on this bandwagon called blogging and I have continually followed him since.

He’s that good of a guy that I recently asked for a bit of advice about a new venture I’m working on – and he took the time of day to give me his thoughts … and straight to the point they were too.

Duncan, mate: If this venture of mine takes off you’ll be the first guy I’ll offer a fully-paid columnist role to. I think you’ll like it: It’s by Aussies, for Aussies.

All the best mate.

Martin Neumann is currently working on his new venture Small Office Herald – an online newspaper/blog for Aussie’s working from home.

Those who started blogging in 2004 and 2005 and have stuck with it are more savvy than ever in monetizing their blog(s). Apart from AdSense there are many ways one can make money from their blogs – for me Text Links Ads has been a real winner this year – a stand-out performer.

Those new to blogging have never had it better with the ways on offer to make money.

But there’s one way I think bloggers can reap the rewards of their blogging efforts: by creating information products.

Yes, the old ebook. But not just that. There’s audiobooks, screencasts and videocasts. The ways to present and distribute information to a ready and willing audience are numerous. And if you select a niche topic and a target audience that is time-poor and desperate for a solution to a problem (ie: they “want” answers to a problem so bad that they’re willing to pay) then you’re well on your way to ultimate success.

A blatant plug here – I run ePublishingDaily, which covers the information products industry. You know: ebooks, audiobooks and so on. Well a recent survey, which I posted about, spoke volumes. More and more bloggers are eying the information products route as the way to produce income, and not just income today or tomorrow, but income for years to come – and in a passive way.

Too good to be true. Well I personally know of a handful of well-known bloggers taking the best of their blog posts and molding it into an ebook. And the best part is that the marketing process has been built up over time – via their blogs. And you can do it too.

The information market is huge, there are a ton of niches out there and there are desperate buyers … what are you waiting for?

Martin Neumann is publisher and editor of ePublishingDaily

In a relatively short time he has developed a very strong readership and with that some serious influence in the whole web 2.0 genre.

So it’s obvious that getting written up on TechCrunch is on top of every new startups list. But I just have to laugh when startups whip up a press release and fire it off to TechCrunch and expect, yes expect, it to be covered. When it doesn’t they get cranky and usually start mouthing off.

Press coverage ain’t that easy, folks. Even in the blogosphere. I’d suggest heading over to Amazon or your favorite Barnes & Noble bookstore and checking out some PR books to see how it’s done.

Lately, Mike Arrington is being hated upon big time. Shouts of conflict of interest, non-
disclosure and generally being a prick is being thrown around.

My view: Well done Mike, you must be doing something right.

The beauty of blogging – and remember folks, TechCrunch is a blog – is that it is opinionated, and guess what … Mike is as opinionated as they come.

Mike writes what he wants to write – at the end of the day it’s the readers who will decide if he’s up to par. So far I think the readers are saying that he’s doing a good job of it.

The whole conflict of interest and disclosure issue is a murky one. I’ve had my say on PayPerPost (my only problem with it is the disclosure issue). It’s not as black and white as it would appear.

In an ideal world every potential conflict would be disclosed up front. But where does the buck stop. I know a friend of a friend of a fiend who’s starting up a web business. A good blog friend has launched an ebook. I had heated words once with someone who’s starting up now.

Do I bring in my biases when I’m writing these up. Damn right I do.

The blogosphere is essentially a free-for-all. It’s still the wild, wild west out there. There are no rules. We’re all a bunch of highly opinionated columnists. There is no rule book. It’s not really an ideal situation for my liking but that’s the way it is.

So for those out there who hate this guy give it a rest. Your petty jealousies are in clear view.

To those who say Arrington is a prick or brushes people off – might I suggest developing a thicker skin. Remember everyone wants a piece of him. Everyone!

I actually applaud him for being so open and opinionated on CrunchNotes. Call it arrogance, but I’ll call it a voice … and that’s all we want: an opinionated voice.

But I’ll end it with a comment I read at CrunchNotes…

As Paris Hilton once said, “You know you’ve made it when people who don’t even know you, hate you!�

PS: Mike – now you better do a positive write-up about my new snazzy, shiny web2.0ish start-up or I take it all back. :-)

The arguments from both sides has been strong on this issue. There are those who don’t see anything wrong with it and then there are those that see it’s corrupting influences.

I’m of the later. Why?

I’m of the view that the reader comes first. Do right by the reader by being authentic and transparent at all times and the rewards will eventually come your way.

Okay, that may be niave and some idealistic clap-trap but it’s the way I see credible bloggers and blogs lasting the course and in fact, being successful and genuine alternative media.

With this new trend of basically selling your post to the highest bidder, blogging, I believe, takes a backwards step. Without full disclosure, all blogs will eventually become tainted with the same brush.

A bit over-the-top you might say. Maybe. But in these times of information overload and media coming at us from all sides it won’t take much for someone – a reader – to say no thanks to something they’re not sure is genuine.

This will devalue blogs and blogging as a medium, and might even be one reason why blogging may never move beyond the “blogosphere” and into the general mainstream. Perceptions are easily made but are much harder to change. The perception of blogging as a genuine medium has never been good outside of the “echo chamber”. Lets face the facts. Ask those not into blogging what they understand of blogging and it’s usually “oh, those online diaries things.” Add to that the perception of paid posting running rampant and that should just about do it for blogging.

And I don’t take this silly argument that everyone does it – even in the mainstream media. So what! Why can’t blogging be different then?

Blogging for money is not a new issue – if you’re using AdSense like the majority are then you are blogging for money. Why do you see the little tag at the bottom of ALL AdSense advertisements – “Ads by Google”? That’s called disclosure. Readers can see a clear line between editorial and advertising. I see nothing wrong with that. I see nothing wrong with slapping on all sorts of ads in your sidebar or in between posts … just as long as it’s plainly clear that it is an advertisement.

But this “paid to write” blogging without disclosure takes it all to a new level.

And I’m not the only one with such views. Jim Kukral of Revenews and BlogKits has recently started The Blog Honor Pledge.

Go take a look and read it. Please!

Its principles are pretty straight-forward, I think…

• Blog readers want authenticity and transparency at all times, especially when it comes to advertisements
• My blog integrity comes from my ability to provide high-quality content without attempting to deceive my blog audience
• Writing content specifically to receive money without disclosure severely damages my blog brand and the entire blogging community with it

So, are you willing to take the blog honor pledge?

But apart from the usual fanfare came the announcement that they’re well on their way to taking their blog network in a new direction.

With Instablogs 2.0 – The Next Generation Blog Network they have a vision of “bringing bloggers and readers closer,” focusing on the current excitement over social media/networking.

Ankit Maheshwari, in charge of Business Development at Instablogs says:

I have been advocating for blog networks to evolve into social networks for quite some time now … The idea of metamorphosing our blog network Instablogs into a social network was in my mind from last 10 months or so.

When the new features shortly come into effect at Instablogs readers will be able to:

• form small topic-specific communities and tribes.
• conduct network-wide tagging and searching.
• utilize a newsroom for news submission/tipping and news link picking.
• view all stories in the network aggregated in one place accessible via a reading room.
• create their network of friends.
• read, rate and comment on stories.
• RSS customization for any channel, topic, writer, tag, etc.
• have their own personalized homepage.
• access Readers’ Rewards whereby they can be editors for any channels of their choice.

The personalized homepage is the one that attracted my most interest as well as the advanced features of RSS customization that will be on offer.

It sounds like they’re trying to keep readers at instablogs for much longer and get readers to view multiple blogs with a portal-like experience. I guess this can only be achieved if they have a wide-enough variety of topics (ie: blogs) on offer – which they have.

This is an interesting move from Instablogs and I applaud their initiative in thinking more “web2.0ish” in regards to blog networks. It seems they are going from what is really a “network of individual blogs” into a truly unified “blog network”.

Currently they have a group of 200 beta testers putting it all through the ropes before the official release date of November 5.

I’m sure other blog networks will be looking on very closely.

Martin Neumann blogs at The Blog Columnist and at Kickstart My Biz

The reception to the news last week was overall positive except from one section of the b’sphere: 9Rules.

Mike Rundle posted and commented seeing fit to take cheap shots at b5 – reasons unknown.

Well yesterday, b5 had their chance to respond via the Duncan Riley interview here.

Firstly, Duncan – it’s 9Rules not 9Fools. :-)

I could sense that Duncan wanted to really rip into them and he tried his best to hold himself back – but at times the real Duncan came out and some goodies came gushing forth.

Let me see… what exactly is 9Rules? The big question being: What is their business plan? Do they even have one! Seriously!

What’s more intriguing is that all is not rosey over at 9R land or so it seems. Duncan says that some within 9Rules have told him they are “deeply, deeply embarrassed by the actions of Scrivens and Rundle of late”.

My choice pull out quote from the interview – Duncan says of Rundle and gang…

“…if that’s the sort of quality of individual that they are are, which obviously isn’t very high, they’ll run their business into the ground over time”

Yay, Duncan rips off his newly fitted corporate suit and gets down and dirty … in a classy way, like we all knew he wanted to. :)

Duncan – no matter how big you and b5 get remember where you’re from and what made you, well … you: The guy who speaks his mind without fear or favour, without holding back, without being politically/business corrrect.

Okay, so 9Rules have long been the super-dooper, uber cool blog network with the classy designs but the question is … what next? Okay, the dancing videos were fun for a few minutes, the venture into porn raised eyebrows and there was talk of some advertising model being rolled out – yes folks, an actual business model.

But it’s closer to 2007 than 2005 and 9Rules seems stagnant. All they seem to do is add a few hundred blogs every so often – with big fanfare. That’s all nice and well but when does community building turn into one giant link farm?

Paul Scrivens has rarely been heard from this year (maybe within the echo chambers of 9rules he’s going strong) and Mike Rundle is getting more and more into petty snark (word to the wise: snark died late last year).

His recent sniping at b5 just makes no sense. All it raises are questions of what exactly is going on at 9rules? Yes, no doubt we’ll be shot down by some smart and witty comment, they’ll laugh at this, have their little in-jokes and snicker at those that dare to question 9Rules. Yeah, big deal – we’re all big people here. Talk is cheap. Cheap shots are a dime a dozen in the b’sphere. Now answer the questions.

And my question to Rundle and Scrivens is this: What is your business plan? What is your business model? Do you even have one? It’s a question that’s been asked from day one – heck, I think I even asked that last year – and last year is a long time in the b’sphere.

You don’t have to answer but by being the shameless attention seekers of late that you have become I think it’s a fair question to ask, no!

Martin Neumann blogs at The Blog Columnist

Fine. So we got that out of the way. We’re here to write and blog AND make money. The problem is that we’re still trying to figure out a way to make it all work.

But there’s one exception to my “lets all make money” rule: PayPerPost.

A few months ago when PayPerPost launched it attracted quite a bit of attention – lots of it negative.

This week they have “won” $3 million in venture capital and here we go again.

Personally, I don’t like PayPerPost.

Two things get me with PayPerPost. The fact that you don’t have to disclose and the fact that the advertiser can request a positive write up.

Yes, they argue that most advertisers don’t ask for it and ask for a neutral post. A neutral post! Boring! … “Product A is okay I guess but then maybe it’s not. It has these features blah, blah … but I’m not really sure. I’m being neutral on this one – End of Post.” Dear PayPerPost: Now pay me my $5.

That, sorry to say, is bullshit blogging. And then what of those who glowingly praise a product or service just for the money – ie: pimping their posts.

And I’m not the only one questioning this …

“…you will never read unbiased reviews when they are written by financially desperate bloggers. And how are we to know who’s strapped for cash, and whoring their blog space to make a few bob?” (via The Brown Stuff)

Now there’s this guy, Peter Wright, who has recently joined the company and who seems to have taken on the job of fighting the big fight for PayPerPost (me thinks part of the 3 mill should go to a pr firm to get err … better pr).

He’s the one that said we “WON” $3million in funding. Won! And here I thought that VC’s were more business orientated rather than a mere lottery machine. I may be wrong on that count though. If so, then hello Mr Bubble.

And now there’s already a spoof blog on PayPerPost by a bloger named: Paid Blogger.

Mr Paid Blogger says in his welcoming post “This blog was made to make money from PayPerPost.com. They pay me to blog about what their advertisers need blogged, so I’m going to make a sweet bunch of moola just writing about things offered in their system.Enjoy! And thanks for reading.”

Enjoy and thanks for reading. That is the crux of the whole matter. What am I reading? Am I reading the thoughts and opinions of an individual blogger or one that is being paid for his views?

I might as well just subscribe to the rss feeds of my favourite corporate press release departments. At least I know where they’re coming from.

I’m sorry if I’m a bit dated, but a bit of transparency would be nice when I give up my time and attention to read a blog. It also goes a long way to building credibility – but only if you want credibility.

Now don’t get me wrong … I’m no naive schmuck. I know fully well that such non-transarency exists in ALL forms of media, but heck why can’t blogging be different?

Credibility, integrity, compromised, selling your soul have been brought up in comments across the b’sphere ever since PayPerPost launched. The sad fact is that in the “real world” blogging does have a credibility issue. Lets not beat around the bush on this. Many snicker at this “citizen journalism” thing going on and see it as one giant cesspool.

Sadly, PayPerPost will only perpetuate this thinking.

Jim Kukral of Revenews…

So what happens when a “real” blogger uses this system? Without disclosure, it kills the blog, dead. And even with disclosure of an “ad”, they’re asking you to do the ulitmate no-no in blog advertising, which is to write the ad as if it is a blog entry. Not below the entry, not floating in the entry, but it IS the entry, disclosed or not.

That pull out quote from Jim sums it up for me in a nutshell.

Then there was TechCrunch’s PayPerPost.com offers to sell your soul…

“There does not appear to be any requirement that the payment for coverage be disclosed. There is a requirement that PayPerPost.com must approve your post before you are paid. Wow.”

and in the comments the author writes:

“disclosure of financial interests related to what you write about seems to me an important first step in maintaining credibility.”

Spot on!

And this from a real life advertiser using PayPerPost commenting at TechCrunch…

“Trying to contact bloggers directly for ads is a huge waste of time, too much back and forth, since they are not professionals, and they have no clue what the value of their ad inventory really is, and they don’t even know how to write an invoice.”

Charming! Would like to know who this company is that thinks so little of bloggers. But if he’s right, then maybe serious bloggers should knuckle down and learn the art of advertising so that they can get their due rewards and not sell their credibility for $5 or so a pop.

Robert “The Scobleizer” Scoble doesn’t seem to hold much hope for PayPerPost and in fact see’s it in a different light – gaming Google.

My one main question I want to ask ALL bloggers. If you are using PayPerPost why don’t you fully disclose this on your sidebar or even footer? It will only take a few lines, something like: “disclosure: some posts in [your blog] are being paid for by PayPerPost.”

I don’t think that’s too much to ask or is it?

Martin Neumann blogs at The Blog Columnist

AdSense is Dead … AdSense is Alive.

They wrote books about it (well eBooks – here for the dead part and here for the alive part).

We’ve had thousands of passionate words written, hundreds of comments and conversations, forum posts go into melt down and bloggers abuzz with this. There’s even an mp3 commentary (mp3 file).

So what in God’s name is it: Is AdSense dead or is it Alive?

I spent some time last night trawling a decent amount of forums, blogs and Google’s blog search – Technorati kind a sucks – to try to come to a conclusion – all I got was a damn fine headache.

For you see, just as much as there are haters of AdSense out there there are just as many lovers of it. One can get easily confused.

Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of AdSense. By putting too much power into the hands of writers (aka bloggers) into advertising selection can lead to only one thing: greed. To feed that greed one must get lots and lots and lots of eyeballs. You do that by producing quantity. Are you getting where I’m heading – the old quality over quantity argument.

That’s why in traditional (old) media there is a clear line (well most of the times) between editorial and advertising. They’re different departments. Writers write – Ad reps hawk around for advertisers. But these are new times we are living in. We are all publisher, writer and advertising rep all rolled into one. We’re all run our own one-man mini media empires.

And oh yes, I have and do, dabble in AdSense – heck, a hundred dollar check here and there is a cool thing to recieve. I’ve even caught myself at times thinking crazy dreams of $10 grand plus AdSense checks.

But now I read (in “AdSense is Dead”) that smart pricing has effectively killed off decent AdSense earnings for content sites (ie: blogs). But the guru’s who are pushing information products on AdSense have not been letting this fact on and keep on selling the dream. Shame on you if that is so.

I’m no expert on AdSense but if that’s true – that there is one bid for AdWords placements on search returns and another (much smaller) for placement on the content network – then I’m not surprised.

As I more and more dabble with AdWords I’ve come to the conclusion that for me the ONLY value I get is when my ads are placed on search returns on the Google site – and not on any content site (ie blog). It’s sad, but that’s the facts of doing business – unfortunately I think many bloggers forget that real businesses – many small ones – put their hard earned money into AdWords with the goal of getting qualified visitors. Bloggers that simply plaster their AdSense ads all over the place just to get that extra click potential are turning AdWords users off.

But back to this week’s “Dead or Alive” soap opera.

At first, I thought this was all a well-planned game plan by both sides to generate buzz – and buzz it has generated – and heck, it may just be, as nothing would surprise me in the internet marketing game.

But the real winner has been the author of “AdSense is Dead”. By going after the AdSense guru’s he’s played them all for a joke and reached a critical mass in quick time … 30,000+ subscribers can’t be wrong.

So what does one do when reading up on AdSense because it seems that every second piece I read in this debate there appears to be a conflict of interest – how many posts have I read and then a short note at the end: “btw, a small disclaimer, I personally know … blah, blah.” or “here’s my super-dooper-amazing, get-rich-yesteday product…”

A cynical, jaded audience might be thinking “who the hell do I believe … because it’s all a bit funny … I think I’ll take each side with a grain of salt”. And so you should, becuase the author of “The Death” piece is obviously selling something, not now … but soon – you can mark my words on that. And the AdSense guru’s, headed by Joel Comm, are protecting their turf.

So are the arguments in “The Death” piece somewhat diminished becuase just as Joel Comm is holding the fort for the AdSense is Alive club so is this guy who will be selling something contarary to AdSense – smart marketing gimmick? Yes! Conflicted? Yes!

But at the end of the day, AdSense is not dead, but it ain’t what it used to be. Competition in the blogosphere and smarter AdWords users have made it harder to earn a decent check from AdSense. I’ve asked a few prominent AdSense users who privately say that this is so. That they have seen a gradual decline in earnings coming in from AdSense.

“The “gurusâ€? have had an easy time selling stuff to people over the past few years because what they were selling actually worked. It’s not as easy anymore and a lot of them just won’t stop.” (via)

To put it all into perspective (ie: if you’re a wannabe guru you are playing with people’s lives here … remember that!) a commenter …

I’ve lost thousands upon thousands of dollars and have gone through bankruptcy trying to make money online. Why, because I’ve listened to these so-called Guru’s and was hypnotized into buying EVERY damn product they put out. For the average Joe like myself its down right difficult to succeed online especially when your’re trying to educate yourself and trying to decide who’s honest etc. and who is not.

Think about that guru’s…

At the end of the day, surviving purely on AdSense is risky. Google can, and have, changed the rules and they will continually do so. That is not a good foundation to base your business on.

AdSense is not dead but it ain’t healthy.

(Tip of the hat goes to Duncan for sharing all the fun that’s been going on)

* * *

Update: Shame on you, Joel Comm.
This email from him was recieved earlier this week and said effectively if you DON’T release his AdSense is Alive report then your credibility will take a hit…

“Many have been mislead by the AdSense Death reports, and as their friend you should expose them to the TRUTH (this is especially important to help you maintain credibility if you have previously promoted the Death of AdSense)“

Wow! Do some of these guru’s think so little of us that we can’t think and decide for ourselves! Some of these so-called “Guru’s” just have no shame.

Martin Neumann blogs at The Blog Columnist

So instead I’ll do a quick scribble of what caught my attention this week …

Citizen journalism at its best…

A big slap on the back to Chartreuse, Loren and the gang that did their thing in New Orleans and are now showcasing the videos they’ve came back with. Check out New Orleans – The People Speak and Interview With Pres Kabacoff for some top quality insight into New Orleans today. This is citizen journalism/documentary making that I like and wish to see often on a range of issues. They have more videos coming.

~ ~ ~

Mr Pompus keeps on keeping on …

The pompus snob himself, John “we’re not a blog network, really” Syntagmata-whatever keeps galloping away on his high horse about all things blog networks and how we’re (us bloggers) all second-rate stringers to the mainstream. But that’s only when he finds the time after having to take down swiped images from his blog, sorry, web network magazine, webmag, WebNetMag, and any other hack job on a play of words I can muster up … as well as seemingly censoring (ie: deleting) comments that doesn’t agree with him. I’d link but I don’t feel like it. :-)

~ ~ ~

The crowd goes wild at ProBlogger…

Mr ProBlogger himself, Darren Rowse, hits another home run (in Australia that would be called smashing a Gilly six over long on) with his group writing project – this time about “How-to’s”. There’s some decent prizes and already 230+ entries. Take a looksee…

~ ~ ~

One shit hot blog designer…

And finally, Michael D. Pollock – the former owner and blogger at SmallBusinessBranding.com which he sold to Aussie Yaro Starak earlier this year is back with a vengence – this time as one shit-hot blog designer over at solostream webstudio. He does the occasional podcast, gives away some themes and writes some nifty tutorials and blog posts. His design work so far has been outstanding and I think he is one of the folks out there ready and willing to take WordPress design and layout to the next level. One to watch.

And that’s all folks from your gonzo columnist for this week – I promise next weeks column will be totally focused on one issue – or … do you folks like this style of short, snappy opinion pieces within the one column? Let me know.

Martin Neumann blogs at The Blog Columnist

Firstly, I have respected you for a while, even enjoyed some of your blogs. But my respect for you and your blog network is fast waning. Why?

Your totally offensive post on the death of Steve Irwin at your blog, Celebrity at Work.

First of, the title to your post “Steve Irwin – Hero or Suicide?” Suicide??? WTF!

And then it goes from bad to worse to finally offensive.

… who took his own life as surely as any Jihadist suicide bomber

Are you really comparing the two? Please! If so, I really have to question your state of mind.

You have totally misread 99% of the audience on this one (not good for a wannabe web magazine publisher). People the world over have been using blogs to express their emotions … by the thousands – blog posts and comments.

To bring up suicide and jihadist suicide bomber in the same sentence as Steve Irwin is offensive. It also speaks of your total lack of respect.

You then go on to question the sanity of your potential audience…

In the modern world, people are projecting themselves onto insignificant TV “celebrities� and identifying with them to an extent that puts a question mark over their sanity.

I suspect you have a major chip on your shoulder, are an elitist and you have constantly misread the public emotions and desires. Are you sure you can handle being a “web magazine” publisher with such a poor record?

To be honest with you John, I am totally disgusted with you and what you have written. It’s tough words, but it’s got to be said and I’m saying it.

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Next I want to question you on your recent (and continuing) anti-blog network stance.

For a network (blog, web magazine … whatever!) who is trying to wash their hands of the too-geeky blogosphere why are you commenting all over the place at … blogs and blog networks?

I don’t get it.

You want to get away from all of us, yet you keep coming back. Sorry, but it just doesn’t make sense.

If you truly believe in where you want to be heading then cut the cord with the blogosphere and get on with business – my bet is you can’t because then no one would be listening. And because at the end of the day, web magazine or not, you will always be thought of as a blog network – unless you radically change your blog (sorry, magazine) layout.

I’ve noticed across the blogosphere (the very same blogosphere you stick you nose up at) many comments you are making lately. It’s strange for me to keep seeing you bring up your “web magaizne” changes – like you are trying to talk yourself into believing it’s a good move. It’s either that or a desperate cry for attention … can you please leave a comment (actually engage in a conversation) without dragging out your own network and trying to sell to us all what you are doing?

Sadly John, I respected you once but this time I just can’t read what you’re on about.

I wonder why you even bothered starting a blog network if you where going to turn on it. I actually don’t mind the “web magazine” theories and ideas you have put forth – but really, it’s time to put up or shut up.

Which is is?

PS. I suspect we will be tutored to in the comments as to the what/why/how of what you’re doing with your network … again!

Martin Neumann blogs at The Blog Columnist and ePublishingDaily

There has, and always will be, a natural affinity between Australia and America. Both countries share a lot in common. A youngish country, made up of mostly immigrants looking for a better life.

We’re both an enterprising bunch always looking for adventure, sports loving and we share a lot of the same culture. So when America gets attacked we stand by our friend. And the attacks of September 11 was no different. The vast majority of Australians stand by America – forget the loony fringe who moan and complain, they are a very small minority. The “real” Australia is with you guys 100% of the way.

Many Australians have mixed feelings about our Prime Minister, John Howard, and how he has steadfastly stood by George W Bush and his “war on terror”.

I am pleased to say that I am right behind my Prime Minister in sticking by America where many other countries failed to do so.

America – today we stand with you, side-by-side in your day of mourning and rememberance.

For Aussies, here are some of our own newspapers and the reporting of this day…

• The Australian: Anniversary Special
• Herald Sun: plus related Pics and Multimedia
• The Age: Ground Zero pilgrimage
• The Daily Telegraph: Where were you on 9/11?

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For those who are interested, I have written a piece on today
at The Blog Columnist.

“Notice: This domain name expired on 09/03/06 and is pending renewal or deletion”

Yep. Their domain name appears to have recently expired and is now being parked by GoDaddy. Ohh, that’s gotta be embarrassing.

Check out this screenshot of what happens when I try to get to 9rules.com – 9rules screenshot.

Scrivs, Mike and the gang at 9rules – what’s up?

Quick thought: if they forget to re-register their name that would not be a bad domain to pick up: a pagerank of 7 and an Alexa ranking of 7,474. :-)

But now I can see a new trend – one of anti blog network, and saying as much without fear or favor.

Long gone are the days (err, last year) when no one wanted to offend. Now, everyone just wants to be noticed in this mass of clutter we call the blogosphere. And they’ll do anything to get noticed.

Look at me! Look at me!

First we had SyntagmaMedia recently wash their hands of the whole blog network label and launch into we’re now a “web network magazine”. That received much coverage here at The Blog Herald. The jury is still out. But from all accounts it’s designed to reach different audiences … to be different. I understand the theory behind it.

Why do you think someone like David Krug could manage such name recognition after all his online escapades? Because he was different. He shocked us but alway thrilled.

Now we have an outfit calling themsleves Dashmedia Network who have gone to the next level in trying to be different… insulting the collective blogosphere.

The blogosphere is getting dumber by the day. Do something about it. We have taken it upon ourselves to lead the way to slightly more intelligent blogging. We are currently sifting through this shitpool called the blogosphere hoping to find a few well written blogs.

Hmmm… Aside from that, to me this is a sign that blogging is maturing, and maturing quickly. Blogs are changing. People coming into blogging expect and demand things differently. And blog networks, their blogs, their content, their business models are being questioned more and more.

I’ve seen a vast number of newish blogs hit the scene over the past three months – more so than in any period before. If there was a front door then they’d be kickin’ and a screamin’ – but we all know that there is no closed doors in the blogosphere. It’s open … one for all.

Competition is a fierce beast at times and I can see some tough and fierce and nasty times ahead as blogs everywhere scream “Look at Me! … Look at Me!”

Almost makes me want to buy back BlogNetworkWatch.com from Matt here and have some serious fun with it, because I think the next 12-18 months are going to be real fun in blogging and in blog networks as competition will make or break many … and either way no one’s going to go with the flow quietly. The times they are a changin’.

Six months is a long time in blogging terms. Twelve months is a lifetime. Last year was fun. Now it’s business and all about competiton.

We all wanted the blogosphere to get as big as it could. But are we sure that’s what we really wanted? Did we have any choice?

I truly wonder how long it takes before the b’sphere fragments into little groups and niches in response to the barrage of clutter … something like a 9rules. Hmmmm…

This is insane, it’s so surreal and all so sad. Get outside and get a life. I Am Astounded! People are taking this seriously. Really!

Smell the roses. Get a real friend. Have a drink. Take a walk. Live life. Breathe…

What are you talking about you Dr Gonzo-wannabe? I’m talking about Second Life.

A quick visit to the site and from the front page…

Is Virtual Life Better Than Reality?
“When reality gets hard to take, there’s an escape to a parallel universe — a virtual world without end where real people create online personas called avatars. Anything is possible.”

I think I am going bonkers if this is the next “it”.

Are you kidding me? But I guess 264,281 “real” users can’t be wrong. So I’m wrong. I think I’ll step away from the computer slowly now and ease myself back into the real world. Care to join me?

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By the Way, my Schmuck of the Week Award goes to … Howard Lindzon. Howie is the Gordon Gekko-type wannabe, me-too commenter and an all-round slurping kool aid drinkin’ type of guy (sorry no link outs). Three cheers to Howie… Schmuck! Schmuck! Schmuck!

You can read more of my rantings at The Blog Columnist…

Hunter S. Thompson, to me, was the forerunner of what blogging is today. He’s the grand daddy of gonzo journalism and his spirit lives on in the millions of highly opinionated blogs going around today. Dr. Gonzo would be proud.

I’ll let Wikipedia explain gonzo journalism …

Gonzo journalism is a style of reporting that mixes fiction and factual journalism. It uses an unconventional, exaggerated and highly subjective style, often including the reporter as part of the story. It is used to describe the style of American journalist Hunter S. Thompson.

I hate boring journalism. Therefore, I hate boring blogging. My motto is: have an opinion or go home.

Now go ahead and read the first three paragraphs of the Wikipedia entry on Gonzo Journalism and don’t tell me you do not see blogging written all over it.

And therefore fellow travellers, that explains this columns’ title if you’re wondering, and it also leads into how I will go about my weekly column here at The Blog Herald – expect the unexpected. Heck, Matt said I have free reign, I can write about anything I want, no-holds barred … yippie ya yeah! If Matt doesn’t have more dreams about The Blog Herald and columnists then I’ve failed in my duties. :)

The column will kick into gear from next Wednesday with a look at … the current trend of classified-type services cropping up for bloggers. Think: Performancing Exchange and the brand-spanking new Problogger JobBoards … and no doubt the many copycats who will quickly jump on board. I’ll be blunt but fair in my assessments. I’ll probably talk about that, but you can never be sure … we bloggers usually have short attention spans.

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Let me tell you a little bit about myself if you’re asking who is this punk.

I am a journalist who got ruined by blogging from late 2004 till right to this day … and I ain’t looking back. And I love that I am ruined. That means more fun with blogging. That means I can be gonzo for a living – heck, who’d have thought!

For me, blogging is the new journalism and I’m on this horse till they say, “Whoa there big boy, it’s over”. And then I’ll punch ‘em in the face and say “no it ain’t, now scram!”

I’m an Aussie. I’m 36. I love to write. I’m a news junkie and a semi-geek. I love journalism hence my attraction to The Blog Herald. I also started, stopped, started and finally off-loaded Blog Network Watch to Matt last year. I’ve been a passionate basher of The Blog Herald in past times but they’ve finally got their shit together, says the two-faced hypocrite.

You also might (or might not) know more about me from last years big hit HomeOfficeVoice. This year my main focus is ePublishingDaily – if you’re into information products and making money then head on over. I also write at The Blog Columnist which is a very side thing I do for kicks.

That’s it folks. Til next week, have a good blogging week and thanks for letting me in da house y’all.