In January WordPress (WP) started to encourage people to blog more. They began two different campaigns: Post-a-Week and Post-a-Day. Every day, WP dutifully sends out a topic for people to blog on every day. For a while, they used topics from Plinky.com. I found those topics to be quite simplistic. Lately many of the topics have been downright stupid. Let’s explore some of these ‘gems.’
Topic #194
Citing Rupert Murdoch being bombarded with food WP asked:
Would you ever throw food at anyone? Perhaps in a college dorm food fight? Or have you ever had food thrown at you? Tell the first story that comes to mind.
Forgive me, but aren’t there far better questions that could be asked about Rupert Murdoch? What about journalistic standards? Or what about the damage that was done as a result of the phone-hacking scandal? I mean seriously if that is the only topic they can come up with out of the whole Rupert Murdoch situation they are pretty freaking dense.
Topic #195
They began the topic by way of a complaint that many blogs take the form of top ten lists for which they suggest David Letterman is to blame.
Write a top ten list about why top ten lists are lame (or awesome).
I can’t remember the last time I felt the need to write a blog about the style of other blogs. I suppose there could be blogs that discuss whether other blogs use the Chicago Manual of Style or the Publication Manual of the APA. Personally, I would find this to be really boring. I am sure most other bloggers have better things to write about without having to resort to critiquing how another blogger blogs.
Topic #205
Talk about simplistic blog titles – this one really takes the cake!
What’s a food you’ve always wanted to try? But have chickened out on trying? (lol, chickened.)
Again, this topic is far too simplistic. Why would anyone want to blog about a food they have always wanted to try but didn’t? Could you write more than three or four sentences? They could have picked much more interesting topics around food like food security to food banks. Food could be a very rich topic to mine particularly during a recession.
I think this was a very good initiative by WP. They have a great opportunity to get people thinking about real issues. Even if they were to link one or two topics per week to current events the project would yield great results. These suggestions could have also been very useful for those of us who are daily bloggers. I realize these topics are optional however they could have been a good resource.
Dispatches from the Swamp 