Another Meta - Blogging Moment
I am going to Meta - Blog again (Talk about the craft of blogging). I don't want to. I feel it takes away from carefully crafted, frivolous nature this blog normally inspires. The name of this blog is comes from a notes one of my college professors had attached to an assignment. The professor said, "You are shockingly provincial in taste and attitude ..." Part of the reason she said this was that I had mentioned that it is alright for a story, poem or any other literary work to be primarily entertainment. One does not have to go looking for deeper significances in everything one reads. Shockingly Provincial is entertainment. If their is a message it is up front. We will say, "I think..." or "I like ..." You don't have to go over this blog with a fine toothed comb. (Except perhaps to figure out my typos and those occasions where I will skip from the beginning of a sentence to the end of it and forget to write down all the words I the middle.) Quirky. Funny. Silly. Deviously trying to take over the world.
The topic for today's meta - blogging rant is search engines. Google, in their infinite wisdom, has pushed through the blog search. They had to hurry the job as Technorati has been getting a lot of praise lately in the blogging community. Pick a news item or a tag word and Technorati can find you the hundred most relevant or the last hundred blogs to talk about that subject. Technorati will rank blogs according to links. Shockingly Provincial is currently in the top 20 Chicago and Illinois blogs (I also added the geek tag, but we are no where near the top). With only 28 sites currently linking here, those number will almost certainly drop, but for the time being I'm enjoying the bump in traffic. (So maybe it has accounted for a grand total of perhaps 3 new visitors, but I'm basking in that glow, none the less). Google, on the other hand, has taken what was once a very simple site search located at the top of the blog and made it anything but simple. I tried to do a Master Plan search on this blog and it gave me links to hundred of other blogs and none to my own. I had to do an advanced search to get results for my own blog, and even then it only searches the past six months or so. I know that I've written more than six rants wherein I've referenced the Master Plan (to take over the world). Google has dropped the ball.
I've also notice that some local media folk have been doing narcissistic self searches. One of my favorite bears to poke -- Roe Conn -- still cant help himself. I usually tune into his show for at least the first couple hours, because I'm still hoping against hope that he will find the funny, start doing a little extra preparation and make me laugh again. Still hasn't happened. Even the traffic girl is searching herself out. I call her the traffic girl because her on air personality is of the somewhat frightening sort when she says things like, "Oh my god. Who Reads?" and is called upon to give her opinion on celebrity dating. She only sounds intelligent and competent when reporting the traffic, the rest of the time is this off putting teenage person that doesn't befit a thirty something professional broadcaster.
Paige Wiser has also been showing up in the search engine referrals. Once upon a time I commented (and not very flatteringly) on her column in the Chicago Sun Times. I partially regret being as harsh in my criticism, not enough to delete my post, but enough to clarify my opinion. She writes well, I just can not stand the topics she chooses and the almost childish point of view perpetuated by these columns. This may not be her fault. She is a "lifestyle" editor and that's exactly the type of stuff the paper is paying her to produce. Even if she were to move on to write something more meaningful such as reporting or commentary, the news paper would still want to fill that slot with someone who would produce the same kind of tripe. Then again. I could have been right the first time. She could just be an educated person who is wallows in ignorance, an anti - intellectual if you will.
Finally I'm finding search engines to be less useful as a blogging tool than they used to be. You need to scroll past five or six paid advertisements just to get a relevant search result. The advertisements on the side of this page are sometimes better targeted at what I'm trying to talk about than the search engine results.
More Laters
The topic for today's meta - blogging rant is search engines. Google, in their infinite wisdom, has pushed through the blog search. They had to hurry the job as Technorati has been getting a lot of praise lately in the blogging community. Pick a news item or a tag word and Technorati can find you the hundred most relevant or the last hundred blogs to talk about that subject. Technorati will rank blogs according to links. Shockingly Provincial is currently in the top 20 Chicago and Illinois blogs (I also added the geek tag, but we are no where near the top). With only 28 sites currently linking here, those number will almost certainly drop, but for the time being I'm enjoying the bump in traffic. (So maybe it has accounted for a grand total of perhaps 3 new visitors, but I'm basking in that glow, none the less). Google, on the other hand, has taken what was once a very simple site search located at the top of the blog and made it anything but simple. I tried to do a Master Plan search on this blog and it gave me links to hundred of other blogs and none to my own. I had to do an advanced search to get results for my own blog, and even then it only searches the past six months or so. I know that I've written more than six rants wherein I've referenced the Master Plan (to take over the world). Google has dropped the ball.
I've also notice that some local media folk have been doing narcissistic self searches. One of my favorite bears to poke -- Roe Conn -- still cant help himself. I usually tune into his show for at least the first couple hours, because I'm still hoping against hope that he will find the funny, start doing a little extra preparation and make me laugh again. Still hasn't happened. Even the traffic girl is searching herself out. I call her the traffic girl because her on air personality is of the somewhat frightening sort when she says things like, "Oh my god. Who Reads?" and is called upon to give her opinion on celebrity dating. She only sounds intelligent and competent when reporting the traffic, the rest of the time is this off putting teenage person that doesn't befit a thirty something professional broadcaster.
Paige Wiser has also been showing up in the search engine referrals. Once upon a time I commented (and not very flatteringly) on her column in the Chicago Sun Times. I partially regret being as harsh in my criticism, not enough to delete my post, but enough to clarify my opinion. She writes well, I just can not stand the topics she chooses and the almost childish point of view perpetuated by these columns. This may not be her fault. She is a "lifestyle" editor and that's exactly the type of stuff the paper is paying her to produce. Even if she were to move on to write something more meaningful such as reporting or commentary, the news paper would still want to fill that slot with someone who would produce the same kind of tripe. Then again. I could have been right the first time. She could just be an educated person who is wallows in ignorance, an anti - intellectual if you will.
Finally I'm finding search engines to be less useful as a blogging tool than they used to be. You need to scroll past five or six paid advertisements just to get a relevant search result. The advertisements on the side of this page are sometimes better targeted at what I'm trying to talk about than the search engine results.
More Laters
posted by Rich Rosenthal II at 1:00 AM
2 Comments:
I will be back with something serious to say after i get the groceries. But i wanted to say that it was funny that you mentioned the ads to the left. currently, mine are for Pet Urine Remover Recipie at stinkypets.com and for Cat Urine Behavior at catfaeries.com
if my html is wrong, forgive me. i'm tired and cranky i have to go out into public in about 5 minutes.
perhaps it isn't more intelligent, but i said that i would be back. Here I am.
Speaking of the internet and its many advertisement pages, I never understood some of my former classmates need to do research only on the net. Sure, there are plenty of reliable sites and online libraries (and it’s there—no need to wait 3-5 days for an interlibrary loan book), but the mess of crap that you have to filter through just to find some sources can be daunting.
Speaking of roe conn, I still haven’t managed to listen to him. Maybe some bushmills could aid in this?
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