Randy's Journal: Archives
05 April 2005
Trading spaces
It's not exactly "Extreme Makeover: Blog Edition." Maybe something more along the lines of "Trading Spaces." Whatever you want to call it, we've got some new software and a new look, and I couldn't be more thrilled with our new home.
In the 10 weeks or so that we've been blogging at Boeing, we've gotten hammered by blog improvement experts offering advice on building the proper blog. Actually some of the criticism has been far from constructive.
You can't be serious with such a blog. I just can't find anything of interest in it. Maybe you should think about credibility.
Nick F.
Today is the last day that I read Randy's blog. This isn't a blog at all.
Fred S.
Take down your "Blog." You embarrass us, everyone who reads it, and you make the world a dumber place.
Dan S.
I wish people would just say what's on their minds, don't you?
Anyway, we appreciate all the comments. We'll be sharing some of them here - positive and negative. You'll notice some other features we've activated. We got nailed pretty hard for not having RSS, or news feed capability. Now we do. We've also added permalinks, a search feature, archives, and links to a lot of background material.
A note about comments. I've read and heard a lot of remarks along the lines of: a blog isn't a blog if it doesn't _______. Fill in the blank. One person emailed this comment:
Blogs are where your employees go to expose you.
I didn't realize that the blogosphere had such a rule. Sorry, that's just not what we're about. Sure, we're going to post some of your comments. Even critical ones. But it's not a free-for-all.
A number of articles have been written in print and on the Web, implying that Boeing's blog and others like it just aren't "real" blogs. Why not? Because we don't rip on the company in the blog. Because we don't trade in gossip. That's funny. I happen to like the fact that I work for Boeing and talk about aerospace. I never saw myself as the "Hollywood Reporter."
So, what's a blog? According to the official rules of one recent blog awards contest, "a ‘weblog' is defined as a page with dated entries." That works for a simple guy like me.
The blogosphere exists so people can talk about whatever they want to talk about. Here, we're going to talk about the future of flight. The exciting things on the horizon for air travelers. The new trends and technologies that are shaping this exciting industry. Quite a few people have emailed to say that they've very much enjoyed reading about just those things in this blog.
You're welcome, of course, to start your own blog if you like. We kind of like ours the way it is. But our door is always open to advice from neighbors - even if an occasional brick gets tossed in.