[fr]
De plus en plus répandue, la confusion entre "blog" et "post/billet/article" est un cancer qui ronge la terminologie blogosphérique. Pour mémoire, un blog est un type de site composé d'une série d'articles (ou posts, ou billets). On ne dirait pas, dans le cas d'un magazine composé d'articles, "j'ai écrit un nouveau magazine" -- et donc on ne dit pas "j'ai écrit un nouveau blog sur le sujet".
Photographiez les coupables à coups de saisie d'écran et envoyez-les-moi -- je les ajouterai à la collection dans ce b... illet!
[en]
Lately, I (and others) have noticed an increasingly aggravating trend: saying “blog” instead of “post”.
To make it clear: a blog is a type of website, made of a collection of blog posts, or “posts”.
Just like a magazine is a collection of articles. You wouldn’t say “he just wrote a new magazine” instead of “he just wrote a new article”, would you?
So, you don’t say “to write a blog” instead of “to write a post”. It just doesn’t make sense.
I’ve started collecting screenshots of offenders and I’m collecting them here (Flickr tag: ablogisnotapost). Post your own screenshots on Flickr and I’ll add them to this blog… post (!) — with credit, linkage, and everything, of course. Just drop me a line or leave a comment with the link.
Let’s fight back and get all those newcomers to get their terminology straight before it’s too late!
“Blog” and “post” confusion — offenders
E-mail:
Plasq, courtesy of Stowe Boyd:
Maria on Millions of Us, courtesy of Stowe Boyd (one could argue that this is, in fact, her “first blog”):
Foreign correspondent Telegraph Blog, courtesy of Adam Tinworth:
Alan Patrick (his excuse: lots of beer and a late night, and an attempt at justification by invoking a semantic shift of the word “blog”):
Dwayne Phillips commenting on /Message:
Send me yours!
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Amen sister. I don’t know how many times I have sat across the table in a meeting with clients and have been asked “how many times do you put up a blog in a week”. It always makes me have that deer in the headlights looks for a second. I have to sort the verbs and nouns too much.
Amen sister. I don't know how many times I have sat across the table in a meeting with clients and have been asked “how many times do you put up a blog in a week”. It always makes me have that deer in the headlights looks for a second. I have to sort the verbs and nouns too much.
A blog is a blog is a blog. Unless it is a post :-).
A blog is a blog is a blog. Unless it is a post :-).
Posting to a Blog, Not Posting a Blog…
I'm not the only one getting annoyed by the blog/post term confusion.She's right, you know…….
it’s quite fun to see that french speaking don’t make the same mistake. Or, to be more precise, I never heard that mistake in french, even with non-blogging people.
but the right word to say “a post” is sometimes not that clear (une “entrée” ? un “article” ? )
it's quite fun to see that french speaking don't make the same mistake. Or, to be more precise, I never heard that mistake in french, even with non-blogging people.
but the right word to say “a post” is sometimes not that clear (une “entrée” ? un “article” ? )
Well excuse me for making a freaking typo. What an ass. You could have dropped me a note letting me know.
Have a nice life.
LewisC
Well excuse me for making a freaking typo. What an ass. You could have dropped me a note letting me know.
Have a nice life.
LewisC
“Blog”, “Post”: is it really so important?
Just enter new content!
“Blog”, “Post”: is it really so important?
Just enter new content!
Semantic Shift Happens
Semantic Shift Happens
Semantic shifts happen because things move on. So what do we call the blogs on a blog, when there are several contributors? The Huffington Post is a blog - with blogs. Hmmm. GenevaLunch is a blog - with blogs. We can't label them posts: doesn't make sense. One person writes about wine, another about food, someone else about living a greener life in Geneva. What do we put on the menu when we need a catch-all label for them?
Blogs were once just blogs, and most still are, but the technology can be stretched further and when it gets stretched, so does the language.
Semantic shifts happen because things move on. So what do we call the blogs on a blog, when there are several contributors? The Huffington Post is a blog - with blogs. Hmmm. GenevaLunch is a blog - with blogs. We can’t label them posts: doesn’t make sense. One person writes about wine, another about food, someone else about living a greener life in Geneva. What do we put on the menu when we need a catch-all label for them?
Blogs were once just blogs, and most still are, but the technology can be stretched further and when it gets stretched, so does the language.
This is not a semantic shift, for me, but a mistake. You don't call a magazine article a “magazine”, so there is no reason to call a blog post a “blog”.
A blog can be composed of sub-blogs, when the master blog is a collection/aggregation of individual author blogs. This changes nothing to the fact that the atomic unit composing blogs (”an entry”) is a post.
This is not a semantic shift, for me, but a mistake. You don’t call a magazine article a “magazine”, so there is no reason to call a blog post a “blog”.
A blog can be composed of sub-blogs, when the master blog is a collection/aggregation of individual author blogs. This changes nothing to the fact that the atomic unit composing blogs (”an entry”) is a post.
Should we tell Tim that he made it wrong too?
http://dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/node/215
Should we tell Tim that he made it wrong too?
http://dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/node/215
Definitions, shmefinitions
Look: every once in a while someone comes to me and says 'I read your blog'. I don't have a blog, I've got a web site.
For me 'blog' is a synonym for 'disposable in the long term'. So half my things are disposable, and in the short term to boot, but half of them I will re-read and want to write them 'out of actuality' (for lack of a better french-turned-to-english notion).
I tend to tell people it's not a blog but a website, and when a professional blogger like you says I've got a blog, I can't complain. After all, yes, it's also a blog, kind of.
Long-winded as I am today, I'd say it's a classical case of synecdoche-in-the-making. Look, do you say “this is my mobile phone number”, or do you say “this is my mobile”?
Anyway. We'll see.
Definitions, shmefinitions
Look: every once in a while someone comes to me and says ‘I read your blog’. I don’t have a blog, I’ve got a web site.
For me ‘blog’ is a synonym for ‘disposable in the long term’. So half my things are disposable, and in the short term to boot, but half of them I will re-read and want to write them ‘out of actuality’ (for lack of a better french-turned-to-english notion).
I tend to tell people it’s not a blog but a website, and when a professional blogger like you says I’ve got a blog, I can’t complain. After all, yes, it’s also a blog, kind of.
Long-winded as I am today, I’d say it’s a classical case of synecdoche-in-the-making. Look, do you say “this is my mobile phone number”, or do you say “this is my mobile”?
Anyway. We’ll see.