I’m Not Joining Scoble at MSN Spaces

Scoble has opened an MSN Spaces blog dedicated to our book project’s progress. Instead, we’ll link from separate rooms. I’m not going for a few reasons.

First, loyalty to Six Apart. Robert works for Microsoft, so MSN Spaces is his home court not mine. Robert argues that since the book will recommend tools for corporate bloggers, he thinks we should jump around every few weeks so that we’ve both explored all opportunities. Me? I’m an older dog, set in my habits. I’m very happy with Typepad , its tools and support. It ain’t broke, so I’ll stay here and maybe open a new blog for the book.

Second, and most important: Ad hoc censorship has elected to practice an arbitrary and quixotic form of it and that genuinely pisses me off, if I may still speak freely. MSN Spaces won’t allow certain words in blog titles or headlines. As BoingBoing’s exotic Xeni Jardin hilariously writes, http://www.boingboing.net/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=MSN+Spaces, MSN has imposed some bizarre rules. For example, you can say “prostitute,” your blog title, but not "whore." It seems to me that the spirit of blogging would say that if people don't like certain words or pictures, they shouldn't look at them and I resent anyone imposing their standards in this way.

My third reason for not going, is to register protest with the name selected by my esteemed partner. “The red couch” is his unilateral choice for a working title. To me, it sounds like our book is about a promiscuous psychiatrist. Our audience is corporate. Many of the people we will buy the book are not yet blogging and their heels may etch the dirt as they inevitably get dragged into the blogosphere. Cool and hip, or racy is not necessarily a wise marketing course or so it seems to me.

So we’ll link our two sites and collaborate and debate about this book. My thanks to all the encouragement and ideas that have come in on this our first day. You’ve already made it likely we’ll have a better book once we starting writing it.

Comments

[Andy]

You gotta be kidding. You must be an old dog, it's all about you and not compromising in this new collaboration? Seems more like an abortion to begin with. Ah well. Good luck on the book, though i won't be reading it.

[dotnetjunkie]

You should try some new crazy ideas from time to time!!! Seems like you are stuck in that traditional "IBM"-like corporate culture...

I agree about the censorship on MSN however, it's REALLY stupid: last night I was putting a comment on a friend's MSN space, and closed the post with xxx (3 kisses), well... you can guess, i had to be more thrifty with my kisses, and reduce them to just one... Now, if she accuses me of being stingy, blame Microsoft!!!

[Tyme]

Hmm...I have some thoughts. The first, your unwillingness to try other blog software. If you intend to write about them don't you think you need to try them? Is this "corporate" book going to suggest that users use MT? Corporate sites might need corporate software and that would put all the pressure on Robert to write about the different software.

The working title "The Red Couch" is a catching working title. As the both of you write the book (and determine what is going to be in it) you will change your mind on what works and what doesn't - if only by the feedback you receive. If you receive feedback from executives saying "Hey, call the book TRC" then it would be in your best interest to do that. :) It's way too early to tell.

You might be set in your ways but blogging is evolving right now. If you you're so set in your ways that you are no longer open-minded (not trying out other software) and objective how will that affect the final product?

[Shannon Clark]

Actually - a counterpoint to Tyme's point.

I think the book should NOT be focused on the technology.

Rather, I would argue that blogging is a practice, a form of writing and communication - not tied to a specific tool or platform.

Sure, different tools and implementations have implications for the tone, layout and flexibility of the resulting "blog" but there are serious bloggers who still "roll their own" and many others who hop from technology to technology.

I think that while tech books rapidly and quickly get outdated - books on business can stand the test of time by being focused on generalities, not specifics of a particular tool.

Likewise, I think "The Red Couch" should be about the big picture of blogging and specifically about blogging in a corporate environment. i.e. in a way not unsimilar to the effect of pervasive email (i.e. that anyone in the firm could bypass normal chains of authority to talk to anyone else just being one example) could it be argued that blogging is or at least could change the relationship between the corporation and the "outside" - which currently might in the case of large firms be gaurded by marketing and PR professionals, generally including outside firms (perhaps as well "investor relations")

Blogging can open up the gates - positively and perhaps negatively - but in a world where transperancy is increasingly not just accepted but expected - it is likely a price that can and should be paid.

Shannon

[Mike Torres]

For what it is worth (to dotnetjunkie), the profanity filtering on commenting was a bug that has since been fixed. Please let me know if you experience it again.

Shel: I do find it a little odd that you wouldn't be interested in exploring other services. Especially in the realm of something you are writing about.

And I really have no idea how your disagreement on the title of the book has anything to do with using MSN Spaces... but that's alright ;) Good luck with the project!

[Tyme]

I don't think it should be too technical but I think it should cover the pros/cons of the major options fairly because I know from experience "what software should I use?" is one of the first questions they ask. There are pros/cons to each of them, like with Expression Engine it's easy to put content in but not easy to export, which could be a huge issue for some companies. Or MT requires a generous amount of disk space (if posting often) and can be resource intensive. To have a successful blog takes time and if the corp. picks the right software originally it will save them frustration in the long run. I've seen many small businesses attempt to start blogging and stop when they were frustrated with their software choice.