PhotoDude.com

Mon. Dec 27, 2004

Notable Net Neighbors

There’s been a boatload of blather about blogs here at year’s end, and I’ll probably get into that later. Maybe. But for now, it was Zack’s article about Award Season that inspired me to make a short list of my own.

Now, I really dislike the whole “weblog awards” concept, at least, in any organized form, because, as David Letterman says, “ladies and gentlemen, this is an exhibition, not a competition. Please, no wagering.” Just the same, looking back over the year, there are a few things that stand out to me and bear mentioning.

For me, the Most Welcome Addition of the year was Phatt/Fire/Sizzle. “PhaTTBoi” was one of the first “voices” I ever heard on the Internet, via an ISP’s private newsgroup in February, 1996. It was, frankly, an intimidating newsgroup filled with sharp minds, and “PhaTTBoi” was one of the most voluminous and entertaining posters (along with a certain donkey). That newsgroup is long dead and gone, so I was very pleased when he decided to join the blogosphere. He’s on a bit of a break right now, and though he claims to be a man on his last dog, I think he’s got a bag of tricks left.

The Anti-Google award goes to JimFormation, a site of many years, which is in constant evolution, where archives disappear down the sink like so much expelled toothpaste, and even entire volumes of Photoshop Tennis are sucked into the black hole that is Jim. But we cut Jim some slack, because he’s living in a cramped apartment while completely gutting and renovating his grandparent’s home to make it a home for his family, a family featuring a child not even yet a yearling (and older ones, too) ... and he just had a vasectomy. It’s a wonder he can even keep track of his socks, so I cut him some slack on his archives … and I keep coming back for more. He’s sort of the Male Dooce. Without the hemorrhoids and constipation. As far as I know. Or care to know.

Being a bit of an old timer myself, I feel perfectly qualified to give the Old School But Still Professin’ award to Dangerousmeta. Garret pumps out more interesting links than three average blogs, and has done so very consistently for a very long time. My taste in blogs may wax and wane, but Garret remains a daily stop. Plus, he gives me an occasional fix for my jonesin’ to go out West with his fine photos.

The Uniform Honesty award goes to Phillip Carter of Intel Dump. Phil described himself as “a former military officer and law student with a unique perspective on the military and legal issues now facing America.” And this past year has given Phil many opportunities to share that expertise and perspective with us. Though much of it has obviously involved topics and acts that pain him, he has been unflinchingly honest and even handed in his assessments.

To me, it has seemed like this has been the Year of Atlanta Blog. As I mentioned in February, it was the year the Atlanta Journal Constitution got blog. Sort of. They started up a blog about the Presidential election. Its final entry was back in March, though I hear they didn’t have an election for another eight months. However, they have some other blogs more recently updated. Plus, there’s Atlanta Metroblog and Bloglanta. And primarily, there seems to have been quite a list of individual Atlantans I’ve found in this past year. It’s good to have more digital neighbors.

However, we can have virtual neighbors on the other side of the world, as we’ve seen with the many blogs from Iraqis. While some lean to Riverbend, and some others lean to Iraq the Model (usually depending on if they lean left or right), I’ve found Zeyad to be the most real. I’m not implying the others are “fake” at all, that’s the only way I know to put it. Zeyad appears to have no agenda, other than offering us a window into his world and that of his family. It’s not always pretty, and he doesn’t pull punches. But in a place where it seems everyone of every stripe has their own axe to grind, Zeyad is real.

In the world of US politics, well, for now, let’s just say it was ugly. I suppose I could give out two Partisan Cheerleader awards, but then I ranted against that whole mindset the whole year. Instead, there’s one person who stood out to me for their sharp insights and observations, delivered without a hint of partisan rancor. You can call him a journalist, or you can call him a blogger, but to me Matt Welch is simply a fine writer. And he proved it all year long.

So. It’s far from exhaustive, and purely subjective, but that’s my small collection of notable people and sites from 2004. I’m betting they’ll be well worth visiting in 2005 as well.

Later: My midnight ruminations somehow failed to include what has been perhaps the most notable site for me this year … TextDrive. No, there’s not a lot of content there (“We have no photographs of our CEO strutting past server racks, or of women in telephone headsets ready to take your call, but we hope you’ll consider joining us all the same”), just the finest web host I’ve encountered in nearly nine years of placing my files in the care of others. And I mean, finest by a country mile. Dean Allen, Jason Hoffman, Ryan Schwartz, and all the other TD Elves have created a nearly perfect environment for the demanding site owner. Evidence? First, look at the manner it was created. Then, look at the list of “Applications (and their developers) on TextDrive” in the forum: Textpattern, RubyOnRails, Instiki, Photostack, PunBB, WordPress, and Epilog. In the coming year, should you have half of thought about switching web hosts, you’d be foolish not to consider TextDrive. It’s where all the Kool Kids are hangin’.