Miss Venomous Kate examines Wonkette’s quick rise in the blogosphere, and takes on those who have begrudged Wonkette the way they have begrudged Miss VK:

[...] Have we become so petty that we now believe a blogger shouldn’t attract readership unless and until steps X, Y and Z have been completed and a suitable time since startup has passed?

[...] I contend we shouldn’t delude ourselves into thinking that blogging is, or even should be, held to the same legal standards as journalism. Call me irresponsible (and I’m sure some of you will) but I believe that by aiming to be “neo-journalists” we do a disservice to blogging that will ultimately quash the very thing which makes blogs interesting, resulting in the same regulation and censorship which bogs down Big Media and produces the sanitary and “politically correct” reporting which bloggers hold in such contempt. We are not journalists, and we should not seek to be thought of as such.

[...] And, while we may fact-check ourselves, we do so primarily by using sources that agree with our own personal political leaning. No special degree, skill, or qualifications are required beyond online access and the ability to tap at a keyboard.

And that’s what’s good about blogging: it gives every person, regardless of their background, the ability to freely communicate opinions on subjects which interest them without filtering it through a layer of bureaucracy… just as if we were, like Kaus described, at a cocktail party. We need to keep it that way.

All this talk about “ethical standards,” seeking to codify the rules of blogging in the hopes of turning it into a “credible” form of new journalism, will only hasten the end of blogging as it exists today. By seeking to hold a person with a modem and a blogging software package to the same standards as a professional journalist, we eviscerate the best thing about the blogosphere: self-expression and freewheeling punditry from millions of viewpoints to which we might otherwise not be exposed.

I hope I have not just butchered her post; its entirety is truly better than the salient points I have chosen to lift here. I say to each his own, and as long as one’s blog is true to one’s self — or one’s online persona at the very least — then there really is no problem about someone rising “way up there” in a short amount of time. I know this because I have read, more than five or six months ago, a vile post or two from other bloggers complaining about how Miss VK (through the letter of the day and other gimmicks) and Kelley (through her Cul-De-Sac) are getting all the glory for doing what just about most other bloggers do, which is link to others. I can only scratch my head at such self-serving complaints. So what? They have an attractive gimmick, they want to share in this big show and tell session called the blogosphere, and? And? And plastic turkey. Boohooing up the wazoo.

Ultimately we should stop debating how other blogs — and the blogosphere — should be and focus on how other blogs add to the richness of online content. Even if it’s junk to someone else.