On weblog tedium

No Right Turn makes a good point in response to my post: blogs aren't really that different from many other things(including sitting round a table having a few beers and saying 'The world's fucked' in half a dozen different ways). You know what people's opinions will be, but you take part anyway.

It's the same with mailing lists. I started taking part in them in the early 90s, and they quickly formed a pattern. Misunderstandings due to the lack of tone of voice and facial expressions and consequent clarifications quickly drown out meaningful debate, and things have a tendency to go round and round in circles. People with entrenched opinions and certain bugbears tend to dominate the conversation, saying the same thing over and over again. It's over a decade later, but I still take part in them (hmm, which probably says something about me).

There, I've just contributed to exactly the thing I was whinging about in the first place. Good, eh?