You’re right there, Twenty – that could never fit the description of a blog at all…

In any case as the boggersphere grows the volume of post is going to increase – so we have been working on ideas to do various filters. We were going to do “technology”, “politics” and “sport” filters. We also are working on our “The buzz” section and bring that more to the fore. For those who register we do have 2 buttons “Add this blog” – and then you can look at “My Blogs” like a feed reader. Also if more people were inclined to categorise their posts it would be easier for people to filter them out. So using search, filters, the buzz, “my blogs” and categories/tags people should have some tools to help them find what they want. At the moment my thinking is that excluding sites will only put off the issue rather than resolve it and may indeed cause even more disputes – the days of a cosy coterie of bloggers may be over. As I said I’m very open on this and will take heed of comments by users and bloggers.

We could of course do an “A-list Bloggers” page. . Now that would cause ructions. What about an “Irish Blog Awards Nominees” page? A “Tech Bloggers” page?

You’re right, Sir. As soon as I find a new way to make fun of Indymedia I’ll get right back to you.

I agree. Irishblogs has been degrading for a while now under the weight of spammers. I was merely arguing that those who took particular umbrage to the indymedia posts were viewing the world through anti-red tinted glasses. The labour party photo feeds, the Oasis bulletins, the CSO statistics, the political press offices and so on have all been gaining more space and that’s not really what most blog readers want to see.

I think that technical solutions such as report buttons / user preferences and so on all help, some sort of loose definition of standards that blogs are expected to adhere to is indispensible. The very fact that somebody was able to subscribe indymedia to the irishblogs feed without any of the indymedia editors knowing about signifies that the current regime is too loose.

I think what most annoys people about Indymedia’s presence on Irishblogs.ie is the rapaciously large number of articles published and subsequently appearing. People seem fine with the likes of Toirtrap – who posts at Indymedia as well, I think – because it’s only one article every so often. I clicked on Irishblogs.ie today, and had to scroll to the end of the page in order to surpass the litany of Indymedia posts.

Indymedia appears spurious on Irishblogs.ie, and I think that is to the disadvantage of both parties.