{"id":4426,"date":"2004-02-01T15:57:27","date_gmt":"2004-02-01T19:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2004\/02\/01\/ghosts-will-kill-the-legal-we"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:59:05","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:59:05","slug":"ghosts-will-kill-the-legal-weblog-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2004\/02\/01\/ghosts-will-kill-the-legal-weblog-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghosts Will Kill the Legal Weblog Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"ghost <\/span><\/span>Weblogger, JD?<\/span><\/em><\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

The notion of ghost-written weblogs scares me.\u00a0\u00a0 It looks like they’re coming, and they signal a new kind of weblogging devoid of the very spark of life\u00a0that\u00a0has put\u00a0magic<\/a> into this way of communicating and\u00a0created\u00a0a community.\u00a0 [See yesterday<\/a>‘s and today<\/a>‘s Netlawblog<\/a>, where Jerry Lawson tells of four vendors “selling blogs to lawyers.”]<\/span><\/p>\n

Going from weblog as “the unedited voice<\/span><\/strong><\/a> of an individual<\/span>” to weblog as the fabricated voice (and image) created for<\/em> an\u00a0individual lawyer will turn this fresh community into a stale commodity.\u00a0 And<\/em> it won’t work as a marketing tool, because what makes a weblog “good” and attracts repeat visitors is a strong personal voice,\u00a0content that is\u00a0interesting and well said, and rapid response time.\u00a0 [“The Good, The Bad and the Blogly,” by Glenn Harlan Reynolds<\/a>]\u00a0\u00a0 Those are three elements very unlikely to come from Blogs-R-Us (or, better, Weblogs-B-We).<\/span><\/p>\n

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There are times when I hate being the gadfly or prophet of doom.\u00a0 The role is particularly uncomfortable when the ox that I might be goring is owned by people who I admire and like.\u00a0 Jerry Lawson said yesterday that “Kevin [O’Keefe<\/a>]’s <\/span>approach looks promising, and not just because the Perry Mason photo is priceless.”\u00a0 Jerry has\u00a0been a constant supporter of this website, helping it\u00a0gain credibility and an audience.\u00a0 Kevin<\/a> not only gave me my first cyber-pulpit at PrairieLaw.com (and signed the checks), but is creating a wonderful tool for serving legal consumers with his Project Lawyers Serve<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0[I don’t even\u00a0hold a grudge that Kevin continues to use the\u00a0ugly little word “blog,” despite\u00a0admitting<\/a> “the term ‘blog’ sounds funny.”\u00a0]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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Despite my esteem for Jerry and Kevin, I must protest that the notion of creating content for weblogs — especially postings — threatens to turn weblogs into merely<\/em> a marketing tool, as opposed to being a special, personal platform that is also <\/em>a marketing tool.\u00a0 Besides set-up, Kevin’s\u00a0maintenance & publishing<\/a><\/strong> services include:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n