Blogging Terminology

When most people think of blogging, what comes to mind is usually basic information that's not particularly interesting or beneficial. But there's a lot more to blogging than just the basics.

The world of blogging has made and is making a contribution to the language. As you get into blogging, read blogs and read about blogging you'll run across some terms that are not easily understandable but valuable if you want to immerse yourself in the culture. Following are some common phrases you'll run across while blogging:

Blog: Blogs were originally called web logs or weblogs; “web” being a reference to the World Wide Web (now commonly called the Internet) and it was called a “log” because, like a ship's log, a weblog was most used as a running commentary on events in the writer's life. Weblog was eventually mispronounced often enough so that all that was left was “blog.”

Blogosphere: The name given to the virtual “world” of the blog and the blogger. (Also occasionally called the blogaverse.)

Blogroll: A blogroll is a list of links to blogs. You will usually have a blogroll somewhere on your blog that lists links to your favorite blogs. This is often (but not necessarily) a reciprocal arrangement where the blogs you have linked will also have a link to your blog (the cutesy blogging term for that is “linky love”).

Blogorrhea: This term refers to blogs that have a many posts added every day. Some posters add ten or more posts per day to their blogs.

Blogspot: Blogspot is the most popular blog hosting service in the blogosphere -- you'll often see a reference to Blogspot or Blogger (Blogspot's other name) and you'll also see some chat about Typepad and Moveable Type, other popular, but more technical, hosting services.

Comments: Almost every blog gives its readers a way to comment on what is written; this function can be disabled by the blogger and some of the high profile bloggers do, in fact, disable it.

Comment Spam: Spam, as you probably know, are unsolicited e-mails -- the ones that try to sell you something. Comment spam are unsolicited comments to your blog, i.e., comments that do not directly refer to what you wrote but are attempting to either sell you something or entice you to visit some commercial site. 

Fact-check: Verifying that what is written . . . statements presented as fact . . . are, indeed  factual.

Fisk: When someone, in a comment, repeats your entire post with their own comments, criticisms or observations inserted between your paragraphs and/or sentences you've been “fisked.” 

Those of you not familiar with the latest on blogging now have at least a basic understanding. But there's more to come.

Flame: A comment to your post that not only disagrees with you but resorts to personal insults and open hostility is a flame. If you respond in the same insulting and hostile manner the situation has elevated to a “flame war.”

Meme: A meme (actually a scientific term that relates to genetics) in the blogosphere is simply an idea that has spread rapidly and seems to have acquired a “life of its own.” 

MSM: An acronym for “mainstream media . . . referring to newspapers, national magazines and network television news. Another term used in place of MSM is “old media.”

Permalink: A link that leads directly to a post, rather than to the latest entry in a blog, is a permalink. This give a reader the opportunity to go directly to an older post.

RSS: An acronym that is commonly defined as Really Simple Syndication. RSS allows you to syndicate your blog -- that is, make every new post automatically available to readers who have subscribed to it. The subscribing reader will receive every new post from your blog, as well as from any other blog he or she subscribed to, without having to actually visit the blogs.

Sidebar: Blogs are normally set up with two or three columns; one wide column for the main posts and one or two columns on the side(s) of the wide column. These side columns are called sidebars and are usually used for contact information, the blogroll, links to blogging services, and etc.

Thread: A term occasionally used to describe a series of comments that relate to a specific post.

Trackback: A system used to associate a post on one blog with a post on another blog. Just as an example: if you had just posted an article discussing Admiral Byrd's second Antarctic expedition and then happen to run across a similar or related post on another blog, you could use the trackback mechanism to notify the other poster and that poster's readers of the existence of your post.

 Troll: A blogger who has a reputation for adding obnoxious comments to blogs is referred to as a Troll.

XML: XML is an acronym for eXtensible Markup Language. This is a programming language used for blog sub-programs such as syndication programs.
 

That's how things stand right now. Keep in mind that any subject can change over time, so be sure you keep up with the latest news.

James Mahony is the founder of A Guide to Blogging A site dedicated to blogging

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