March 09, 2006

Edwards Launches democro-macro-techno-blog

Ex-Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) has a new, dynamic, interactive and flashily-designed blog.

It's more of a website, really. The host calls it "blogocracy" which sounds suspiciously like "technocracy," because there are lots of rules and guidelines and funny quirks. Some are sensible, and others are experimentally weird. They're designed to induce participation.

For example: "The new blog is also what we call a 'blogocracy,' meaning that you, the online community, determine which user articles are posted. Here's how it works. When a user creates a blog entry and presses "submit," that entry is not immediately posted to the blog. Instead, it goes into a holding area called the "Voting Booth" where other users can view it. If someone likes it, he or she will give it a thumbs-up vote. If he/she doesn't like it, he/she will give it a thumbs-down vote. If an entry gets ten or more thumbs up votes, it gets posted. If it gets three or more thumbs-down votes, it gets tossed. That way, you guys act as quality-control officers, and you get to determine what we talk about on the blog. "

"What if you just want to post something without having it voted upon? You have two options. One would be to make a comment, as comments are posted automatically. The other option is to create a diary entry. Unlike a blog entry, a diary entry does not need to receive votes to be posted. Instead, it is automatically posted to your personal diary page and to the general Diaries page as soon as you submit it. The downside is that diary entries do not appear in the prominent "Open Mic" section on the home page, nor in the various blog entry sections in the horizontal menu: News, Arguments and Analyses, Action, Quick Posts, and All. Those sections are reserved for blog entries only. So, think of blog entries are submissions to a public forum, and think of diary entries as more private journal entries that others can read."

We could continue, but you get the idea. It's cool, though, and bound to be copied.

Posted at 01:42 PM

Comments

I can't believe this! So what is published is voted upon? What are these guys afraid of? Why not go for the unvarnished truth (or untruth as the case may be)?

DomarpMarkatnev | 03.09.06 11:53 PM

It's not new. Tacitus has been running this model since most bloggers were in diapers. RedState and DailyKos also run on the Scoop platform.

Machiavel | 03.10.06 12:07 AM

Amazing. It sounds just like RedState!

Erick Erickson | 03.10.06 08:47 AM

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