Websites and blogs, oh my

Are websites on their way out? Certainly not the big-people businesses and porn websites, hell no, but how about personal sites?

Which one is simpler:

• Register a domain, get a host, create a unique layout, create content, add extensions to count your visitors, create a forum and a guestbook, make a photoalbum, design a template to make your site have a continuous theme, etc.
• Sign up for a blog and start posting. Post text, pictures, multimedia, games even. Individual feedback is already enabled. Practically no setup cost, aside from the time to choose a template.

Yes, blogs aren't as configurable as websites. They are certainly limited in a major way: a particular look, content that has to abide to specific guidelines, etc. But for the lazy Joe Schmoe like myself, a blog is a pretty neat alternative to a website. There's not much that I have to set up and I can create "webpages" instantly.

The internet is moving away from the old static format to a much more involved, interactive and communication-based existence. No longer are users satisfied to read lines of text on a screen and click a link once in a while. They expect an experience. They want to reach out and talk with others. That's why sites like Facebook, MySpace and the multitude of blogs (or journals) are enjoying such popularity: they give the user a simple way to put ideas on the web, allow other users to comment on those ideas and make communication as easy as writing on a person's virtual wall or leaving a quick comment.

The new, "interactive" sites are here to stay. And that's a pretty sad thing. Everything is getting easier. A "site" can be run by anyone, be they 6 or 91 years old. Such a wide user base produces a lot of content. And a whole lot of it is pure drivel. Crap. A decade ago, a person had to be more than slightly determined to make a website. It wasn't as simple as signing up for an account and jotting down some thoughts. Naturally, this weeded out the not-so-serious crowd and created a much better crop. In the end, there were websites with content and meaning, not just another pre-teen bemoaning their existence and complaining about the hard life in Orange County. Give me a break.

This is true for anything, really. At the Microsoft-wide company meeting I was "fortunate" enough to see new technology that will allow a game to be made in as little as half a minute. Will the game be absolute crap? You better believe it. Will we see hundreds of minute-games within a week of the release of this tool? Yup. And they will suck! No originality, no replay value, just a quick app put together by the last person in the world who should be designing games: the user.

Am I being too forward? Not nice? Pessimistic? Spend enough time on the internet and you will be convinced that the last thing we need is an easier way for idiots to be heard. Sure, with the multitude of morons "creating" content, we are bound to find a gem. It's a statistical inevitability. Unfortunately, on the internet, it means shoveling 10 tons of manure to find 4 grams of gold.