---
title: "Doin’ it for the People"
date: 2004-03-31
author: "Richard MacManus"
categories:
  - name: "ReadWriteWeb"
    url: "/category/readwriteweb.md"
tags:
  - name: "2004"
    url: "/tag/2004.md"
---

# Doin’ it for the People

My first reaction when I looked at my referer logs and saw [ I’d been slashdotted](https://web.archive.org/web/20050210171905/http://slashdot.org/articles/04/03/30/2333258.shtml?tid=126&tid=185&tid=95) was: Holy Shit! Actually it was [Marc Canter’s](https://web.archive.org/web/20050210171905/http://blogs.it/0100198/)[PeopleAggregator](https://web.archive.org/web/20050210171905/http://peopleaggregator.com/) that was the main link in the Slashdot article, but it was [my interview with Marc](https://web.archive.org/web/20050210171905/http://www.readwriteweb.com/2004/03/29.html#a218) that caused it. I’ve gotten 2000-odd visits from Slashdot so far (they’re still pouring in). This may not sound like much to some – but considering the second-best over the past year for this website was 200-odd visits in a day from a [davedotting](https://web.archive.org/web/20050210171905/http://www.scripting.com/), it’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

It actually makes me realise what a small world we bloggers live in. There are many people out there who either don’t know weblogs exist or who think they’re “online diaries” (which is the description I hear most often from ‘normal’ people). But I’ve [never been under any illusions](https://web.archive.org/web/20050210171905/http://www.readwriteweb.com/2003/09/30.html#a125) that weblogging is anything but a minority sport.

[ Personal Publishing](https://web.archive.org/web/20050210171905/http://radio.weblogs.com/0110772/stories/2002/10/03/personalKnowledgePublishingAndItsUsesInResearch.html), on the other hand, has potential to break on through to the mainstream. As my interview with Marc illuminated, personal publishing is **not just writing** – it’s photos, music, movies, reviews, audio, etc. Multimedia. Anyone can create and participate. Anyone can be a producer, not just a consumer. I call it [the Read/Write Web](https://web.archive.org/web/20050210171905/http://www.readwriteweb.com/2003/04/20.html#a1) (btw that was my very first ‘official’ blog post – almost one year ago).

Another thing my interview with Marc taught me was that the **people and content** are the Kings of the Web. There’s been a bit of talk in the web designer world recently about [focusing on](https://web.archive.org/web/20050210171905/http://www.7nights.com/asterisk/archives/the_peoplecentric_web.php)[people](https://web.archive.org/web/20050210171905/http://www.9rules.com/whitespace/design/they_are_just_tools_man.php) and not just tools. [Jeffrey Zeldman asked today](https://web.archive.org/web/20050210171905/http://www.zeldman.com/daily/0304g.shtml): “Can’t we all just get along?” – referring to the either/or arguments between web people such as semantic design vs effective design. And in the developer world, there’s the ongoing debate between simple vs complex – and variations thereof. But my specific point here is that, no matter what you’re developing or writing or composing or designing or just plain posting – the best results come when you do it for The People.

My interview with Marc is a good example – it looks like it entertained and perhaps even enlightened a lot of people (myself included). Sometimes I post silly little things that are probably only relevant to me – e.g. when I talk about my unpublished (and probably unpublishable) [novel](https://web.archive.org/web/20050210171905/http://www.readwriteweb.com/2003/12/01.html#a163), or when I write about [my hometown](https://web.archive.org/web/20050210171905/http://www.readwriteweb.com/2003/12/01.html#a161). I don’t do that too often, but when I do perhaps I am not thinking enough of my readers. The designers I linked to above – Keith, Paul, Zeldman – all have a habit of keeping their content focused on web design. Which is what their readers want to read and why I subscribe to them. There’s a lesson there for me.

So more interviews and less novel-gazing 😉 No seriously, I intend to supply you with further interesting web technology articles, mixed in with web design/development posts and some writing/sci-fi to keep everyone on their toes. Oh and a few more surprises of course!

*Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/001819.php))*