Other than using abuse to let the mods know when blog articles showed up in news/activism, I haven’t really been vocal about the blog pimps.
However, when the subject was broached directly, I didn’t mind discussing it. It’s not really that I find the blog pimps annoying, it’s that they are so non-useful because it is ALWAYS better here if all the words are in the article, so the bloggers taking a less-useful approach, for the sole purpose of getting blog hits.
Unless someone can tell me another reason why it’s better for us to have to click through to a blog, rather than just reading the information here.
Of course, there’s a more pressing matter — a LOT of companies are blocking “social networking” web sites. It’s gotten to where I can’t really read any of the blogger entries, even if I wanted to. Posting here would be helpful.
Lastly, the market blogs are getting increasingly active, and almost always post as “news/activism”, when they are just guesswork commentary.
FreeRepublic is a microcosm of the whole internet, which in turn is a significant part of what let’s call the “information universe”.
And there’s a fundamental problem you must grapple with when fishing for information. Anywhere — the library, the Internet, FreeRepublic.
Namely:
Do you cast a wide net? Advantage: you catch more and miss less. Disadvantage: a LOT of what you catch is trash, and it’s time-consuming to filter. Also, casting a wide net implies a certain confidence in your abilities TO filter.
Or, do you go into a prottected cove and fish (with a necessarily smaller net)? (Metaphor for letting someone else do your prefiltering for you.) The advantages and disadvantages are swapped.
Neither philosophy is “good” or “bad”. They’re just different.
Me? In most situations I prefer the wide-net open-water approach, because I have confidence in my own research skills (honed over time), and because I distrust the motives of anyone who presumes to filter what I see.
This even extends to yadda yadda blogpimp commentary about the same old news articles — because, occasionally, a blogger presents a slightly different viewpoint that gets me thinking in a different, useful way.
Or, as you point out, the “market blog” guesswork commentary. Well, pal, I got news for you — even the “experts” disagree big-time about what we’re headed for economically speaking. ESPECIALLY in the market commentary I like to cast that wide net for new viewpoints — and at the same time I distrust ALL of it.
Your mileage may vary.