Houston Chronicle Blogs Open Up

Micro Persuasion reports The Houston Chronicle has opened up their blogs to comments and trackbacks. And the people in Yao-land rejoiced.

On the Houston Chronicle's TechBlog Dwight Silverman blogged The conversation begins

Welcome to the rebirth of Chron.com's weblogs, or blogs. When we first began posting features we called blogs on the site, we heard from online users who insisted that, no, they weren't blogs. Online columns, maybe, but not blogs. Those critics were right. When done right, blogging is a lot more than short, well-written items with attitude. Blogging is also about collaborating with readers and connecting with others on the Web who are addressing the same topic.

Congratulations to the Chronicle for recognizing that fact, and switching. It has been 35 years since I have been in Houston, but I think I will being following the Chronicle's blogs.

We have switched to software that lets you comment on what you see here in TechBlog, in Kyrie O'Connor's MeMo (Cultural blog) and -- soon -- in Richard Justice's (sports) blog. Because of comment spam and those who like to scream obscenities in public places, we'll be moderating comments before they go up.

Eliminating obscenities is fine, but I hope their moderation control does not extend to blocking statements critical of something the Chronicle said.

We're also interested in what others across the Web have to say about what's written here, so we're allowing a feature called trackback. When a site that supports trackback links to one of our blog items, you'll see evidence of it below that item.

I applaud the Chronical for this as well. Trackbacks are useful for both blogs. I will be doing a trackback when I post this, and it will allow both Dwight and his readers to see what I thought, and if his readers want to challenge what I said, they have the freedom of doing it on Dwight's blog, where he will certainly see it, but where I might not, or they can do it on my blog, where I will certainly see it (but Dwight might not). They have a third option and that is commenting on their own blogs, and doing a trackback to both Dwight and me.

What you're seeing here is more than just the Chronicle using a different piece of software for blogging. This is the beginning of our taking a very different stance toward our core mission -- finding out what's going on in the community and letting others know.

The conversion of these blogs are baby steps, but our goal is to turn Houston's news into a conversation.

Let's start talking.

At the time I posted this, they had 7 trackbacks and 30 comments (including responses from Dwight)

rorschach commented Dwight, excellent move. The MSM has in the past been very anti-blogospere. I'm sure the reasons run the gamut from fear of competition, to embarrassment when mistakes are pointed up. I however don't think the MSM and the blogosphere are competitors, they are in fact symbiots. We need the MSM because we do not have the infrastructure and resources to gather news the way you guys do. But on the other hand, we are your consumers. We do not like being preached and propgandized to. We want our news raw and cold. Spin is for tops, not news. A merchant who does not listen to his consumer is not in business long. Someone else will come along and serve the consumer better. Capitalism is a wonderful thing. The news business is no different than any other service. I'm very VERY glad that The Chronicle is moving in this direction. I know you have a long row to hoe, and there will be resistance. I ask that you do not give up.

John Wagner blogged Dwight says the Chron is adding "quite a few" new blogs in coming months.

Charles Kuffner blogged As promised yesterday, check out the new TechBlog and MeMo (who's apparently a little resistant to the change - Kyrie, speaking as a ten-year veteran of customer service work, I have bad news for you: It really is always the user. Accept the truth of that and move on. It's the only way.)

Brent blogged A few months ago, News.com started accepting comments and trackbacks, and that did indeed make me read News.com more as a source of mainstream tech news (meaning, glorified press releases). I used to read Ziff-Davis Network News for that type of thing, but I switched to News.com with their adoptation of trackbacks.