Boing

One of these days I'm going to do a take-down article on a sacred cow of the internet: BoingBoing. I've already got a few ledes written: "BoingBoing, the pretend-thinking-man's Fark," "BoingBoing, your source for two-week-old links," "BoingBoing, keeping post-hippiness alive since 1991...." And so on. Truth is, I like Cory and Xeni and the gang -- they're swell people. And I bet I'm the only one here who owns every single issue of bOING bOING -- the magazine. But BoingBoing is clearly the most over-rated blog on the internet (which is easy to declare, since it's also the third-most-popular). I thought that maybe BoingBoing TV might finally give me the opportunity to write this imaginary critique, but, like Slate, I'm mostly just bored with it (though the John Hodgman interview was alright). So until I write that take-down (oops, is this it?), I will continue to mumble about BoingBoing being slow, single-minded, and DIY smug... every single day, because I somehow can't unsubscribe from the damn thing.

20 comments

I also have every copy of the printed magazine, so there :-) Or am I thinking of Mondo 2000? I get them confused. And just for the record, I completely agree with your views on the site, although I remain subscribed as well.

posted by Mathew Ingram at 2007-11-20 11:03:55

It's easy, just press unsubscribe. I still visit it once every couple of weeks though, but it's far more palatable that way.

posted by Conrad at 2007-11-20 11:07:12

BoingBoing would be cool if it wasn't <a href="http://twitter.com/s4xton/statuses/366289682">the same stuff over and over again</a>.

posted by Aaron at 2007-11-20 11:20:41

On reddit today, on boingboing tomorrow.

posted by justin at 2007-11-20 11:22:11

Do what I did: unsubscribe from the RSS because it's just way too much, then wait for your social circle of other bloggers to point out the one or two things per week that aren't worth missing. That way you get the best bits without having to wade through 50 posts per day of the same subjects.* (* and yeah, I love each and every one of them greatly, it's just too much of a timesink to keep up on daily)

posted by Matt Haughey at 2007-11-20 12:04:50

I have every issue of Mondo 2000 too! (And Might. And Spy. And Wired. And Brill's Content! Kill me now.)

posted by Rex at 2007-11-20 12:44:30

I love BB and the people theret but part of me can't help thinking that everything got too big around them and now they're rushing to keep up. I also think their recent forays into gadgets & vlogs are the products of people telling them that they need to expand their business in order to keep growing it. And that's kind of the trouble with this, that to most of us BB isn't a business. I've always loved it because it's a source of passionate people talking about the stuff they love. Now, I'm starting to think that they're trying to get other people to help do that and I'm just not that sure this works as well with personal stuff. A company like TechCrunch or Engadget has a much easier time expanding to come in due to the types of content. However, it's hard to hire another Cory or another Xeni.

posted by Gavin at 2007-11-20 12:58:46

I've got some "Launch" magazine cd's circa 1997 laying around if you want to up your collection. Nothing like Ben Folds Five and Macromedia Director.

posted by taulpaul at 2007-11-20 13:13:58

In lieu of a takedown, how about a BoingBoing drinking game. a drink for mentioning "steam punk." Two drinks for promoting their artist friends' work. Chug if said artist is related to one of the BoingBoing contributors. I could go on....

posted by Max at 2007-11-20 13:20:20

oh you fuckin' pussy, rex. don't do a take-down dotted with kisses! you're in new york now. go full throttle or pull over.

posted by krucoff at 2007-11-20 14:26:20

Nobody who loves Gossip Girl as much as you do should be reviewing anything.

posted by Barrett at 2007-11-20 15:34:57

yeah, you're in NYC now, leave the not-a-take-down take-down for the midwestern bloggers

posted by taylor at 2007-11-20 15:37:00

Barrett: I love Gossip Girl? <a href="http://www.fimoculous.com/archive/post-3410.cfm" target="_blank">Try</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/fimoculous/statuses/295947762" target="_blank">again</a>. Taylor & Kruc: I mix my passive and aggressive perfectly.

posted by Rex at 2007-11-20 15:38:40

C'mon: Xeni does cuddly-snark web prose like no other. Pesco's the hippie, right? Frauenfelder's just a cool dad... don't hold it against him. And Sir Cory Rants-a-lot just needs to take a deep breath and back the fuck away from the Publish button. Also: what about Speak magazine? Still hanging on to a buncha those.

posted by bob tomorrowland at 2007-11-20 16:34:09

Brill's Content! You can look in an old episode on TV/journalist salaries and find a young Jason DeRusha from his days in Davenport, Iowa.

posted by Jason at 2007-11-20 16:45:42

Yes! I have all of Speak too! (I swear, someone's gonna make at least $20 off me on eBay when I die!)

posted by Rex at 2007-11-20 16:53:51

go fug yourself is the most over-rated blog on the internet. boing boing is a close second.

posted by spencer at 2007-11-20 19:47:57

i'd enjoy bb much more if cory didn't self-felate himself 6 times a day and post every goddamn time one of his stories gets translated into swahili or something...

posted by gslax at 2007-11-20 21:54:54

Cory Doctorows Kindle Hypocrisy http://www.edrants.com/?p=7131

posted by Cored at 2007-11-21 11:11:56

You can't unsubscribe for the same reason I can't - its like watching a train-wreck in real time. What bugs me most about recent BB is its constant attack on Conservative politics by Frauenfelder. The post today about Conservapedia's most popular topics being all about homosexuality (http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/21/top-ten-most-viewed.html) when its pretty clear that a bot is responsible is pretty typical.

posted by Bret at 2007-11-21 17:49:57

Boing

Rex Sorgatz