Successful Blog

Net Neutrality 12-18-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

Information Policy

You’ve got to hand it to FCC General Counsel Sam Feder. His opinion that supposedly “clears” Commissioner Robert McDowell to participate in the AT&T takeover of BellSouth probably wasn’t what Chairman Kevin Martin had in mind.

The idea of the exercise was to put pressure on McDowell to jump into, presumably on the side of AT&T, and force Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein into a corner.
[ . . . ]
Feder’s opinion said nothing that should cause the Commissioner to change his view. The opinion made a tepid case at best for Commissioner McDowell to participate. Feder seemed to go out of his way to stress that it was McDowell’s decision to participate. The Feder memo said it was a “very, very close call” whether McDowell should take part, and that reasonable parties could disagree on a decision.

Want to know what you can do?
MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Hsien Lei Is a B.A.D. Blogger!

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Hsien there?

What do I do when I’m up at 4:30 a.m. and my blog is not working? I do my best to figure out what’s going on. I get a post up, if I possibly can. I go through 583 Akismet spam to make sure no one I know has been eaten. Then I get my second cup of coffee and stare at my flat screen, sighing and wishing. It’s along time before I can do anything. I begin wondering whether I have hurt my blog’s feelings.

It’s off to IM Hsien Lei. She’s in the UK, so I know she’s up. She’s on the same network as I am, so I also know she has time to talk. Hsien and I trade comments of woe. We put together a few action plans and pass along a few emoticons. Then I ask, “Would you like to be today’s B.A.D. Blogger?” I say I’ve been meaning to ask. Hsien answers with an ethusiastical yes. I ask her whether she been following the series. She says, “You know I stalk you!.”

I laugh my way into my headset. This is an old friend who knows how to crack me up. Every time we talk there is always serious laughter involved.

As I write this, I look up our first comment shared on on record — November 9, 2004. Hsien had been blogging a whole year before that. I was a pup, only blogging a few months.

First we talked about being mothers of sons. It was surprising how weirdly alike the two boys are. Hsien said it was a comfort to know that hers might get to be 21 if mine did. I told the reasons I was glad I had son and not a daughter. She said what about having a son that was a little strange at first for her. We shared the idea of how having children was like growing up again only niw you’re on both sides of the issue. We also discussed the impact of gene pools.

Then our converation wandered. We talked about Google and people that we knew who worked there. I pointed to their tag like, “Do no evil.” I wondered what that meant.

Hsien talked about the uniforms people “put on” in their jobs. She was referring to how the work a person chooses defines more than just what they do. “When you are a lab scientist you put on that uniform; when you are a blogger you put on that unform.” She wasn’t saying that everyone was alike. She was saying that we have things in common, and do things insimilar ways. I was right there with her agreeing. Maybe that’s why we’ve been friends for so long.

We talked about the self-promoting nature of the blogosphere. We didn’t seem to think it was such a bad thing, though we saw instances where we both thought it went too far. That led us to remember times last year when things were more emotional. when life in the blogosphere had a more Wild, Wild, West feeling. I told her I thought of it as almost Shakepearian — some of the young men seemed to have taken on the junior-high girl parts.

There we were laughing again.

We talked for 1 hour and 46 minutes. Then the server was fixed. It was one time that I wished the server might have stayed down just a few minutes longer . . .

I guess Hsien knew that because a little while later, I received a video. It came with an email that said, “This is what I look like when I talk to you.”

She looks just as I imagined, only better if that’s possible.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

“You really know that the people who come, come to read what you write. If you don’t take advantage of that . . .” — Hsien Lei

Stop by Hsien’s Blog, Genetics and Heath, and say hi!

Thanks, Hsien, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar

Andrew Flusche Is a B.A.D. Blogger!

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Andrew there?

This happens to me often. One day I’ll see a new person at a blog and then . . . I see that person again, . . . and again, three or four times in the same week. Other folks seem to know him. They seem to know him well, in fact. I feel like the only on the planet who’s never met him. Then for some reason, our paths officially cross. Then I find out why the guy has so many friends.

Within minutes of when our conversation started, Andrew told me he was supposed to be studying for a law school final, but he was totally relaxed. That idea propelled our conversation into a dicussion of blogging, lawyering, and getting a job. We talked about his blog and how he might get folks to comment more on it. I told him how this blog broke the comment barrier. He was kind enough to listen as I rattled on and on.

Andrew mentioned a friend of his who blogs anonymously. As a reason, he said his friend, only offered the idea that a future employer might not approve. We discussed the thinking behind that. We didn’t land on much hard wisdom there.

Andrew mentioned how the non-profit, public interest organization where he’ll be working was quite impressed on his interview to find out that he blogged. He said they greeted the fact with excitement that he knew technology. I said that I bought my son the URL for his name so that he could control what came up first about him when someone Googled to find out who he is.

I asked Andrew what sort of blogs he reads. He said that he doesn’t have really one. I said that I don’t either. Andrew said that most that he got to weren’t legal blogs. He said he tried, but they just don’t have something. Then he found and shared some stunning examples with me — examples that looked insular and ivory tower of the “publish or perish” brand. We thought they had their place and wished them well, but they weren’t for bloggers like us.

In his undergratuate work, Andrew became a programmer, that was what led to his blogging bug and is part of why he blogs so well. Andrew wanted to know more about what was happening with this techology. He said he’d never want his blog to be pure legal in content. His interests are wider than that. I heard a guy who likes to use all of his skills in meeting challenges and who wants to see how blogs might be used in law work.

Then there’s Andrew the programmer who meets Andrew the blogger. He told me how he started checking how to drive traffic almost immediately. Then he was working with adsense to see whether he could pay for his hosting. Andrew said he was surprised to see was earning more than that.

In every conversation blogging, school, and topic the theme was the same: Andrew liked finding the challenge and answering it. I had to point that out to Andrew. He didn’t disagree. He’s going to make a great lawyer. He’s a great guy too.

I’d like to talk to him again — now I know he has so many friends. He’s just that easy to be with.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

I’m impressed how fast my blog has grown, how many people read blogs . . . all of these random people reading, learning.”
. — Andrew Flusche

Stop by Andrew’s Blog, Legal Andrew, and say hi!

Thanks, Andrew, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar

Thanks to Week 60 SOBs

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muddy teal strip A

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

muddy teal strip A

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

deep purple strip

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Michelle Mitchell Is a B.A.D. Blogger!

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Michelle there?

The email started like this:
Anyone who wants to talk blogging is a welcome guest. My husband enjoys the medium and we talk frequently about it but most of my off-line friends are blank stares when I mention “blogs.”
And I thought
Oh, a writer, who wants to talk, how delicious!
That was my introduction to Michelle Mitchell.

Her introduction to me was a little less. A major brain glitch had me call her an hour later than I promised. I was embarrassed and goofy. She was gracious, wonderful, and forgiving.

I told she was the third person I knew from Alaska. Michelle told me about living in Anchorage. I got a picture of a place that was much more cosmopolitan than the average city of 300,000 people. She explained that planes brought people and packages from all over the world through Anchorage. I thought location, location, location.

Michelle talked with head and heart about the benefits that being six hours from the next big city can offer, how it gives a feeling of being set apart, how it takes longer for certain influences to get there. I said I understood a bit of what she meant, that my brothers live in Wyoming. She said she and her husband had lived in North Dakota for a while. We talked about the similarities and differences. It’s one time when talking about the weather made sense to me.

When I asked how she started blogging, Michelle told me her tech-savvy husband had suggested she start one, but what had turned the tide was a high profile murder trial. She explained how they searched the defendant’s blog for evidence — that led her to explore what blogs were about. We discussed our first encounters with blogs and how some blogs take on a “me too” commenting culture.

Blogging cultures became the conversational topic. We discussed hobby blogs, business blogs, mommy blogs, writing blogs — the people who write them, and the people who read them. Michelle said that she thought that lurkers aren’t rude, that people read newspapers without writing the editor. I said that Darren had reported that only 1 or 2% of all readers comment. Imagine if everyone did.

Michelle said that, when she first started blogging, she spent hours and hours preparing a piece for her blog — she posted about once a week. She explained that she couldn’t keep blogging that way, It took too much time and people wouldn’t know when to read. As a mom and a blogger, she wanted balance, yet do it well and right. She explained how she found her way to posting daily in shorter posts.

Recently, Michelle removed her stat counter. All of the reasons are in this post already.

This morning when I fired up my computer, I got this IM from a popular blogger:
I see you’re on scribbet.
That’s Michelle’s blog.

Once again, Michelle had gotten to the conversation before me.

I’m wondering how to fix that . . . I’m thinking another call to Anchorage.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

It’ll be curious to see what happens when the majority of people know what a blog is the way they know what a website is now.–Michelle Mitchell

Stop by Michelle’s Blog, Scribbit, and say hi!

Thanks, Michelle, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar.

Net Neutrality 12-15-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

Net Neutrality Works Both Ways: What Happens When Websites Block ISPs?

Some anti-spam organizations believe that collateral damage is the best way to get an ISP to stop harboring spammers, so they’ll blacklist entire swaths of IP addresses in order to force non-spamming customers to complain. That tactic has been violently debated for years without consensus, and the only way outfits such as SPEWS get away with it is by remaining anonymous. One can only imagine the broader network neutrality impact if everyone erected blockades to settle digital disputes. AT&T bans Google video to hinder U-Verse competition, Google bans AT&T DSL customers in kind, and pretty soon the Internet is little more than a cratered out highway, riddled by vendettas.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE