Day: December 6, 2004

Toto, we’re home. That’s the weblogs category in the main Yahoo directory, courtesy of Jeremy Zawodny. He’s right… I didn’t know that existed and I’m obviously too lazy to check before posting. I don’t mind the differences Jeremy points out between the My Yahoo mini-directory and the main directory, as I expect that if it matters, those will eventually be corrected. What I do wonder is whether or not the main directory is still vibrant and growing in an upaid manner. Having seen up close the work that goes in to maintaining a directory of any size, I think Yahoo should do what’s best for Yahoo. I see that there continues to be two options for submitting your site, and one of them is free. Good for Yahoo. I do wonder how much time and attention goes to that queue over time. Again, I don’t begrudge Yahoo their choice, but I’m still curious about the answer. I just submitted this blog. We’ll see what happens.

This “conversation” is more drawn out and public than email, but I appreciate Jeremy’s time in participating, even without a threaded aggregator. Of course, do we really need a threaded aggregator when so few folks are even using a plain and simple aggregator?

Bob Wyman of PubSub on the Yahoo FeedMesh group comes out with this epigram:

It is very difficult to publish and hide at the same time.

It’s not quite poetic, but it feels pithy, at least. The context? He’s explaining why syndication is less full of unwanted messages than, say, e-mail, because tracking the world of syndication requires “pulling data from people’s sites.” Of course, some technologies are about how to publish and hide, but — so far — attention hasn’t been abused by those applications and ideas, just copyright. (Just, he says…)

Nice Vannevar reference in Wyman’s blog title, too. The dream never dies.

How to Sell a Candidate to a Porsche-Driving, Leno-Loving Nascar Fan is a NYTimes article looking, after the fact, at the data which drove the media decisions for the campaigns, especially the Republican campaign. The entire article, in a phrase: “Democrats watch more television than Republicans.” Yes, there is a bit more than that, with details, but I’m saving you time, right?

The outcome? If you want to reach a Republican, target people who water-ski behind their Porsches. If you want to reach a Democrat, look for Volvo-driving WNBA fans. Some cliches stick, some don’t.