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I've got an idea. I say we stop using the term "blog" and "warblog" and instead start calling our daily-updated websites by the name of "puppies." Because everyone loves puppies. And then when someone tries to criticize us, we can say, "What? Are you saying you hate puppies?" ;) (PS: Wasn't "Peace Blog" a Doors song? Oh, wait -- that's "Peace Frog." Jim Morrison wrote a song about the French? This has been your silly commentary for the day.)

Thank you for arriving with your usual parcels of sense, Andrea: "Because everyone loves puppies." This is right up there with the band Anthrax deciding to change their name to Basket Full of Puppies. How can you be angry at that? Of course we'd like to purchase a coffee table book filled with baskets full of puppies.

It's the same old turf war. People who have been doing something for a while feel threatened by newcomers who don't follow an arbitrary set of rules. But in this sort of thing, tenure means nothing. Or at least a lot less than it does in other areas. If somebody says something you hadn't thought of, and says it well, it doesn't matter which "Wave" they're in. And if a crusty old vet is being dumb, there's no reason to pretend otherwise. And I don't consider myself a "warblogger," and I can't think of anybody who's "emotionally invested" in the term.

But Jim, don't you see you're falling into the same either/or us/them dichotomy? The point I was subtly trying to make (just call me Mr. Humble) is that I represent an exception to all of the above, and I am far from the only one. In my archives you'll find about 60 weeks of web log entries that predate 9-11. In web log perspective, that's the equivalent of about 4 Internet Years. I'm no pioneer, but Blogger had less than 20,000 users when I signed up, nowhere near the half million or so users of today. Compared to the vast majority, I consider myself a "crusy old vet", albeit Second Wave. Like The First Wavers, I'm pretty much a techie, a webhead who can't help but pile electrons in some manner. Like some of the pioneers, I even built a a community web log, prior to 9-11 (barely). But I'm also older than two average web loggers combined, being 43.5 years old. I live in Georgia, not exactly the Mecca of Blogs. A look through those 60 weeks of archives reveals ample evidence that I'm even a left leaning crusty old vet, though my lack of a California address make keep me closer to the center than some of "the pioneers" (geez, more labels). But now that we're well past 9-11, there seems to once again be a willingness to equate "war support" with "right wing," a willingness that was not present in those early months, because it was so clearly wrong. It still is. I just don't want to be defined or pidgeon holed by my stand on one issue, whether it's the war, abortion, or my contempt for Red Mountain Dew. Granted, the war on terrorism may be the biggest issue of my lifetime, but it's not the only one. Back in September and October, it seemed it was. That's where everyone's focus was aimed, regardless of opinion. In that sense, we were all "warbloggers," whether we were for it or against it. For weeks, there was little else on anyones mind. That's changed. I still feel just as strongly, but I refuse to talk only about that, any more than I would have a web log just about the Blasphemer Red Mountain Dew. I'm a crusty old veteran who's an opinionated SOB on a wide range of topics. I shall not be denied a large field of fire.

OK, I can see the "us/them" angle you're talking about, but it seems to me there also a bit of "How come they get to be in the book, but we don't? That isn't fair!" Denton says "Compilations are meant to be diverse..." Sez who? If he publishes a compilation, he can make it diverse if he wants to, but I don't know of any rule that says "Compilations must be diverse." Or am I missing something?

No, I don't think you're missing anything, Roy. I think some of this is because of the nature of differing mediums colliding as they converge. Web logs are by nature a democratic medium. Everyone can have a voice. For the most part, we all have access to the same "tools," and beyond that it's a matter of personal intent. No one can tell you, "you can't have a weblog, it's not up to snuff." Collections of work off the web of any type are usually far from democratic. You can be told, "you can't take part." There's a curator deciding what is "good enough," or an editor choosing parts that make up a coherent whole --- one voice, from many. These are purely subjective processes. But they are democratic in that anyone can try to start one. In the marketplace, like in nature,, those that are strongest prevail.

Actually, there *is* someone invested in the word "warblog" -- me! That's because I was the first person to use the term, I think, and so I want credit 50 years from now when Bill Safire, Jr. writes an etymology column about it.... On an actually serious note, I have deliberately avoided using the term since about November, because it was annoying the hell out of people even then, and there are few things I enjoy less than heated debates about goofy words. Re: the book & all that stuff, I sent a friendly note to Kottke asking him to participate, since he wrote stuff people really took comfort in after 9-11. People want to get excited about various us vs. thems, innies vs. outies, whatever; I find it all basically irrelevant and not worth paying attention to. We all defy categorization, thankfully. I'd just like to see a book collection of good post-9/11 blog writing.

I'm not falling into any sort of us/them dichotomy. I'm saying there is no "us" or "them," except in the minds of people who choose to think that way. The only thing that matters is the words on the screen. I thought I was fairly clear on that, but if not, I apologize.

Nice to see so much interest in the 9/11 blog book. Interesting that some people are so quick, perhaps even eager, to find themselves excluded, since we seek to exclude no one. Virtually all blogs are a hybrid of concerns and styles - as are the individuals who write them. I have found that if "traffic" is your goal, then "predictability," perhaps "reliability" makes that goal more readily achievable. As in anything, if people can categorize you and anticipate you, then they are more comfortable with you. That's where labels come from. The beauty of the relationship between bloggers and 9/11 is that it was all spontaneous - regardless of your specific interests or areas of expertise, people jumped into the fray because it was necessary, because the horror focused our attention. Of course some bloggers remained more interested in the aftermath of the attacks - which shortly turned into "war" - than others, who returned to their pre-9/11 concerns, and those who stayed interested became the "warbloggers." Perhaps some who feel left out feel some guilt over not pursuing the aftermath with a vigor that EVERYONE displayed regarding the event itself. Who knows? But I can assure anyone who cares, this book is about ALL bloggers and 9/11. Nothing more and nothing less.

I think the title of the blog book page might be part of it. "The Warblogger Book," instead of just "A Blogger Book."

For Matt and the others: Here's another example of history that's perhaps closer to what the "blogbook" will be: William L. Shirer's Berlin Diary : The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1941. "CBS radio broadcaster William L. Shirer was virtually unknown in 1940 when he decided there might be a book in the diary he had kept in Europe during the 1930s-- specifically those sections dealing with the collapse of the European democracies and the rise of Nazi Germany." -- Amazon review. The book was published in 1941. (Let me note that I prize my copy, and suggest that if you found Shirer's better-known Rise and Fall of the Third Reich fascinating, get hold of the Diary and read the two together.)

I know you don't like labels, but when you use them it's good to be accurate. The people you call "First Wavers" (Jason Kottke, et. al.,) weren't. When Bill Quick, Ken Layne, and I started writing our opinions on the web, Jason's was still playing NHL '94 on his Sega, by his own admission. That's why the indignation of people like Jason and Matt Haughey over the misuse of "their invention" is so hilarious. Personally, I'm doing exactly the same kind of commentary on politics and the media today that I was doing in '94, only today I have software that archives my posts automatically, instead of my having to cut-and-paste stuff I want to keep forever. Big whoop.