A Lesson On Blogging: What Is In A Name?
This is just sort of a quirky post, and is designed not only to offer advice on a particularly "important" subject with regard to blogging, but to give some insight to our readers as to our thought process. Hat-Tip to Professor Reynolds for this subject. Michael Weiss over @ Slate gives some advice regarding what not to name your blog. Here is a snippet:
As the just-completed YearlyKos convention demonstrated—with the presence of 1,500 liberal bloggers and nearly all the major Democratic candidates—the influence of the blogosphere, for better or worse, has reached a new peak. I've been covering the medium for Slate for two years, and of all the questions that have come from friends, family, and e-mail strangers, the most interesting is, "What should I name my blog?" Whether you plan to write about food, your miserable day job, or a viable exit strategy for Iraq, the answer is always a negation: It's more a matter of what not to name your blog. When CNN calls to ask for your expert opinion on farm subsidies, do you really want to be known as the Intrepid Ploughman? What follows are a few mild observations and modest suggestions based on a frightening amount of Web trawling.
1) Irony is a cruel mistress.One way to enhance your online charisma is through self-deprecation. In cyberspace, no ego goes unpunctured and no comment thread remains friendly for long. So, why not rile your enemies by wittily pre-empting their nastiness right on your masthead? (The lamented Suck.com applied this tactic with terse aplomb.)
If you choose to make a tongue-in-cheek debut, be sure your humor will outlast your self-importance. 2 Blowhards is a good name made better by the fact that its contributors are consistently enjoyable curmudgeons. Shiraz Socialist beats "limousine liberal" or "Mastercard Marxist" as the alliterative epithet of radical chic, and Bookslut gets the job done fine.
For some, the ability to come up with a blog name may seem simple. Indeed, our first site together was dubbed The Asylum. It seemed rather appropo at the time. We were both a little "off kilter," shall we say? But it never really took off. The idea, that is. So when we decided it was time for a change (prompted by our "blogfather, Hugh Hewitt, informing Thomas we needed a much easier URL to remember than the original one) we started brainstorming. Our previous endeavors on TownHall all met with disaster when we were unable to access our original sites there -- all three of them. When it was time for a change, we considered a return to TownHall for, oh, about a nanosecond before Thomas put a kabosh to the idea.
We agreed that Blogger offered us all we needed, so we only needed to set up the new site with the new URL. What to call it, though. We struck gold with the new name -- Hamilton, Madison, and Jay. Why pick the three people that wrote the Federalist? Well, there are three of us here. While Sabrina posts infrequently due to her job back in Chicago, she is still a part of this site. And the ironic twist is that Jay wrote only five the Federalist essays. Hamilton and Madison split the bulk of the remaining duties to the essays, as Thomas and I do daily. And, of course, Thomas hit on the idea from how he signs his posts. His signature is always the italicized "Publius II."
But read the piece from Mr. Weiss. He makes a sensible argument as to what you should look for in a name. He even points out that if you name the site after yourself, as Hugh Hewitt and Michelle Malkin, and you need not worry about seeming egotistical. Some people have the sort of name that will roll off the tongue, and stick in reader's minds.
The overall advice given is that when you choose a name, put some thought into it. Too long, and people just will not care unless the writing is exceptional, and readers mark it among their favorites. (For the record, we have over two hundred fifty blogs linked through our favorites, divided up amongst a half dozen folders, and yes we do visit them regularly.) Make it simple. Or, make it quirky. Little Green Footballs, anyone? For the most part, just put some thought into it, and make sure it is a name you like. Nothing will irritate you more than a site you name that you cannot stand the name of.
Marcie
As the just-completed YearlyKos convention demonstrated—with the presence of 1,500 liberal bloggers and nearly all the major Democratic candidates—the influence of the blogosphere, for better or worse, has reached a new peak. I've been covering the medium for Slate for two years, and of all the questions that have come from friends, family, and e-mail strangers, the most interesting is, "What should I name my blog?" Whether you plan to write about food, your miserable day job, or a viable exit strategy for Iraq, the answer is always a negation: It's more a matter of what not to name your blog. When CNN calls to ask for your expert opinion on farm subsidies, do you really want to be known as the Intrepid Ploughman? What follows are a few mild observations and modest suggestions based on a frightening amount of Web trawling.
1) Irony is a cruel mistress.One way to enhance your online charisma is through self-deprecation. In cyberspace, no ego goes unpunctured and no comment thread remains friendly for long. So, why not rile your enemies by wittily pre-empting their nastiness right on your masthead? (The lamented Suck.com applied this tactic with terse aplomb.)
If you choose to make a tongue-in-cheek debut, be sure your humor will outlast your self-importance. 2 Blowhards is a good name made better by the fact that its contributors are consistently enjoyable curmudgeons. Shiraz Socialist beats "limousine liberal" or "Mastercard Marxist" as the alliterative epithet of radical chic, and Bookslut gets the job done fine.
For some, the ability to come up with a blog name may seem simple. Indeed, our first site together was dubbed The Asylum. It seemed rather appropo at the time. We were both a little "off kilter," shall we say? But it never really took off. The idea, that is. So when we decided it was time for a change (prompted by our "blogfather, Hugh Hewitt, informing Thomas we needed a much easier URL to remember than the original one) we started brainstorming. Our previous endeavors on TownHall all met with disaster when we were unable to access our original sites there -- all three of them. When it was time for a change, we considered a return to TownHall for, oh, about a nanosecond before Thomas put a kabosh to the idea.
We agreed that Blogger offered us all we needed, so we only needed to set up the new site with the new URL. What to call it, though. We struck gold with the new name -- Hamilton, Madison, and Jay. Why pick the three people that wrote the Federalist? Well, there are three of us here. While Sabrina posts infrequently due to her job back in Chicago, she is still a part of this site. And the ironic twist is that Jay wrote only five the Federalist essays. Hamilton and Madison split the bulk of the remaining duties to the essays, as Thomas and I do daily. And, of course, Thomas hit on the idea from how he signs his posts. His signature is always the italicized "Publius II."
But read the piece from Mr. Weiss. He makes a sensible argument as to what you should look for in a name. He even points out that if you name the site after yourself, as Hugh Hewitt and Michelle Malkin, and you need not worry about seeming egotistical. Some people have the sort of name that will roll off the tongue, and stick in reader's minds.
The overall advice given is that when you choose a name, put some thought into it. Too long, and people just will not care unless the writing is exceptional, and readers mark it among their favorites. (For the record, we have over two hundred fifty blogs linked through our favorites, divided up amongst a half dozen folders, and yes we do visit them regularly.) Make it simple. Or, make it quirky. Little Green Footballs, anyone? For the most part, just put some thought into it, and make sure it is a name you like. Nothing will irritate you more than a site you name that you cannot stand the name of.
Marcie
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 5:39 PM
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