Normblog has alerted me to the Joan Smith article in today's Independent. Joan's article puts forward two quite different arguments.
1 - The blogoshere has a tendency towards aggressive boorish behaviour and that this must change.
2 - The explosion of published words via blogs and the Internet devalues all written content.
While I totally agree with point 1 I can't agree with point 2.
Point 1 - I agree this needs to be looked at but I think the Internet is already creating its own solution via social networking. As social networking becomes prevalent on the Internet a person's online persona becomes just as important as their real life image. As the Internet integrates further, OpenID, myBloglog and Google Account being good examples, I'm sure we will see many websites/communities that allow comments/user content requiring a central account that removes anonymity and forces Internet users to be respectful. Ebay's rating system is a good example of regulation.
Point 2 - I disagree that a medium open to all devalues 'premium' content. People can still differentiate between nonsense and top quality content. If we as people could not differentiate the whole entertainment/art industry would be in tatters as the principle could be carried over to most other content industries such as music, television, film and sport.
All the above have seen a huge increase in supply over the previous few years. Does 'channel 435 - you do it TV' really devalue The Sopranos? Or a home made movie/rant on youtube effect a film such as Downfall? In sport does the fact that Isle of Man division 3 football can be seen on sports for insomniacs really sway anyone from wanting to watch Barca v Liverpool in the Champions League? Of course it doesn't, content is still king and given the right market channel will always rise to the surface.
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