Comments on: Around Edublogs: Twittering

By: links for 2008-02-12 « The View From My Window

links for 2008-02-12 « The View From My Window — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:30:15 +0000

[...] Edublogs – twitter Edublogs – twitter (tags: twitter) [...]

By: Judy O'Connell

Judy O'Connell — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:52:48 +0000

James, you have deleted my comment twice now, while leaving your impolite comment in place. I have removed all my posts related to this matter in the interests of harmony. I am not sure how you can justify your comment while continuing to delete my responses, in which I apologize to your readers for causing any upsets.

By: James

James — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 01:22:49 +0000

Judy, while I respect what Stephen has to say I really wish you’d keep your sanctimonious claptrap on your own site.

By: Judy O'Connell

Judy O'Connell — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:00:57 +0000

I want to thank Stephen for all the points he has made…spot on, and said much better than I could. I think you’ve worked your way through and clarified the essential issues that caused me such concern in the first place. While you gave me a hosing down James, (and perhaps I didn’t articulate my thoughts as clearly as I should have) the key points made here by Stephen are at the core of the matter. So yes, be clear about how you use the term ‘edublogs’ and ‘Edublogs’, and remove the heading ‘The top ten edublogs’ – because they’re not! Though you clarify it in the next line, the title is still misleading, and it is the title that will be picked up in people’s minds – and search engines. As Stephen said “When you refer to weblogs on Edublogs as though they were the only edublogs, that’s different” and very misleading. After all the magazine will attract many ‘noobs’ in the blogosphere – not all of whom realise that there are other greater bloggers out there of the calibre of Stephen. Do the right thing and we’ll all be happy … and likely the magazine will be all the stronger for it.

By: Weekly Digest: Starting Edublogs Magazine, Blogging Big and Small, and More « Lorelle on WordPress

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:25:29 +0000

[...] Around Edublogs: Twittering is a look around the the Edublogs Network of blogs which includes Edublogs Network of blogs at who is using Twitter for personal or professional reasons. [...]

By: James

James — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:48:30 +0000

Yep, I agree entirely with all of the above, thanks for the clarification.

Oh, and you know I’m still a n00b at this lark anyway ;)

By: Stephen Downes

Stephen Downes — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:48:17 +0000

oops, missed a bit:

‘The top ten blogs on Edublogs this week’ – fine

‘the top ten edublogs’ (referring only to blogs on edublogs) – not fine

(And if you wonder why I am such a stickler about this – it’s because the word belongs to the community, not to a company, and needs to be defended as such or it will be lost).

By: Stephen Downes

Stephen Downes — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:46:14 +0000

James writes: “I started off calling the site edublogs.org (so people knew what the address was) but since then have been referring to it as ‘Edublogs’ or ‘edublogs’ pretty much all the time mainly for convenience & ease of use… haven’t you referred to it as Edublogs (with a capital) too?”

Sure. And I have no problem with you calling the site Edublogs. But…

When you refer to weblogs on Edublogs as though they were the only edublogs, that’s different.

‘The top 10 edublogs’ is very different from ‘The top 10 blogs on Edublogs’.

James again: “I reckon that using a capital for the E is a pretty good description and when it’s prefaced by a word like ‘around’ or followed by ‘network’ or ’site’ that should be really clear too?”

Yes. Again, I have no problem with that usage.

The problem is with the Magazine referring to edublogs.org sites as though they are the only edublogs.

It’s a bit of a fine line, I know. But the Magazine should be clear about what it is covering. Thus far, it has used language suggesting it is covering all edublogs, but is in fact focusing on blogs hosted on edublogs.

Finally, James says: “I don’t think we’re stealing a word either, really? The term ‘edublogs’ was hardly searched for at all 2.5 years ago and now it gets a mass of traffic, largely because of the use of Edublogs, which has aways been called that and which we’ve never tried to portray as the only place you’ll find edublogs… if you know what I mean.”

I know what you mean. And historically, you’ve been very good about this.

That said, there were edublogs around before edublogs.org – my own being one of them – and it’s stealing if you appropriate for your exclusive use a word that was in common currency before edublogs.org existed, which it was.

And (humbly speaking) I would say I had a bit of influence in the use of this word as well.

So, to summarize:

‘Edublogs’ (the website) – fine.

‘blogs on Edublogs’ – fine

‘edublogs on Edublogs’ – fine

‘the edublogs’, ‘the Edublogs’ or ‘edublogs or ‘Edublogs’ used to refer exclusively to blogs on edublogs – not fine.

And that’s not changing either, this post clearly begins ‘The top ten blogs on Edublogs this week’ which is pretty frank.

By: James

James — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:36:16 +0000

Didn’t we discuss this before at some time Stephen? I started off calling the site edublogs.org (so people knew what the address was) but since then have been referring to it as ‘Edublogs’ or ‘edublogs’ pretty much all the time mainly for convenience & ease of use… haven’t you referred to it as Edublogs (with a capital) too?

I reckon that using a capital for the E is a pretty good description and when it’s prefaced by a word like ‘around’ or followed by ‘network’ or ’site’ that should be really clear too?

I don’t think we’re stealing a word either, really? The term ‘edublogs’ was hardly searched for at all 2.5 years ago and now it gets a mass of traffic, largely because of the use of Edublogs, which has aways been called that and which we’ve never tried to portray as the only place you’ll find edublogs… if you know what I mean.

And that’s not changing either, this post clearly begins ‘The top ten blogs on Edublogs this week’ which is pretty frank.

By: Stephen Downes

Stephen Downes — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:37:16 +0000

I have no problem with you saying ‘around Edublogs.org’ or ‘the top ten blogs on Edublogs.org’.

But if you insist on using the word ‘Edublogs’ to refer only to blogs on edublogs.org then I’ll just put it down as another case where a commercial enterprise steals a word from the public domain and claims it as its own.

To this point Edublogs.org has been very good at respecting the edublogosphere that exists outside its borders. I would hope that this will continue.