Why DU journals are cooler than "real" blogs.

[crispini]

One word: Built in audience.

Ok, that's three words. But you get my point. Anyway, I tried to get a "real" blog going for awhile, but I felt like I was totally spending all of this time writing well-crafted pieces on that nobody was reading. I mean, yes, I got a few people coming by, and yes, I got a few comments, and yes, I've read all about the different ways that you can attract eyeballs to your blog, but you know, I didn't really want to mess with hunting around the internet trying to build my audience. I just wanted to say stuff and hear people answer and maybe get a little conversation going. In other words, I wanted a small soapbox, not a HUGE soapbox, and I didn't want to build the soapbox myself.

DU is GREAT for that -- we now have a totally built-in soapbox, with built-in eyeballs! Yippee! And I think it's really going to increase the quality of discourse around here too. I've noticed more than one person saying things like, "Now I feel like I have to write more intelligent stuff so I can add it to my blog." And I think that it's true that when you felt like stuff was just going to fall out of sight into the archives, who cared what you said? But now, there's a way to keep tabs on the good stuff.

I'm excited. Once again, DU proves it's the coolest place to be on the internets. All of them.