Pulpit vs Forum

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Since the rise of ILE I have almost stopped writing long-form pieces. Re-reading some of my old longer stuff I think this has coincided with a slide in the quality of my writing, too. But of course I love ILE dearly.

Have you found this happening to you? And what are the advantages and disadvantages of the single-author piece as against the communal back-and-forth of debate?

Tom, Thursday, 27 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Oh god! I should dig up and post my paper I gave at an academic conference in 1996 about how on-line back and forth debate was going to change the way we thought about writing and reading texts. ;-)

As I see it -- me on my own: my own merry, lengthy ramble. Me here: more prone to quick posts. I think it's just a matter of tailoring your approach to the appropriate forum rather than a self-conscious stylistic shift.

Ned Raggett, Thursday, 27 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I was about to start something about it. The disadvantages of debate are that I'm never going to get paid for it. I could have written lots of stuff for Losing Today, not that they deserve it, but I've said alot of it here. And I couldnt be arsed re-writing it.

Ronan, Thursday, 27 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I am pretty dubious about my writing long or short, so I don't think the "quality" has suffered much either way. I should try something longer, only because I haven't for so long and it would be interesting to see how it turned out.

Nicole, Thursday, 27 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I talk quick and fast. On my blog its rarely over a page as well. But i just finished a 15 page paper on Greenberg so , come on ILE is not as rigously academic as uni. But it is more intellectaul. It requires you to be quick witted and witty polymath.

anthony, Thursday, 27 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I've never been a man of words. My internet connection also manages to click off when I'm typing, so it's a fearsome battle against the clock.

jel, Thursday, 27 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

four years pass...
One thing that keeps me suspicious of blogs is that they are less about interaction than messageboards.

DV (dirtyvicar), Saturday, 9 September 2006 20:51 (nineteen years ago)

That's the one thing that always keeps me from writing (or continuing to write) blogs. You need to do it a long time before you'll get any chance of a meaningful response/community interaction. You just have to keep pitching it out into the void. Same thing for writing for (traditional) publications though, I suppose, although at least there you get the satisfaction of seeing your writing in print.

g00blar (gooblar), Saturday, 9 September 2006 21:29 (nineteen years ago)


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