I can't agree, Asa. The solution for a biased blog isn't a second opinion. It's the unsubscribe button. A blog that can't reliably inform or entertain has no business existing.

And that article's title is shamelessly bogus. As you imply, a better title is "Subscribers Are Gonna Have To Be Editors". Way to unload the responsibility onto your readers, Mr. Scoble. But if it must be so, my publication will keep a very short masthead.

It's very interesting that out of all bloggers Scoble picked Asa Dotzler as an example, after all, he doesn't have the best record with Opera fans.

Mike, point me to a blog that doesn't have a bias.

- A

HK, I don't have to have the best record with Opera fans. If you want someone with a better record with Opera fans, you can go read some other blog. That's the whole point. You'd be foolish to assume that I was the best source of pro-Opera news.

- A

Mike, point me to a blog that doesn't have a bias.

Scoble seems to think that we read blogs for "the truth". I don't. I read blogs for their authors. Asa, I want to read about your experiences with Firefox, cats, Mars, and more; I don't need you to be a final authority on any of those subjects. Or even part of a "triangulated" final authority.

Even in the context of browser rivalries I don't think bias reigns here. (bias as in a knee-jerk reaction, not merely a point-of-view) If your Opera entries were merely catty remarks I might be upset, but so far your entries have always been informed by personal experience with the products. Subsequently I could read other opinions, or download the program myself. But I got what I came here for: a first-hand account and analysis.

Scoble can ask "How many blind men does it take to describe an elephant?" all he wants. But I don't need an elephant description. Those blind men have other interesting things to talk about.

It is unfortunate, that people lie. It is true however people are going to lie in blogs. So ... how do we know what is true?

Daruku, it's not about lying. Most people blogging are not doing it to spread falsehoods. They do it to express a viewpoint and to tell others how they interpret the world around them. This will necessarily come across with various biases of the writer (and the reader, for that matter.)

- A

Mike, I have a different view on what "bias" means ;-)

I don't think it's necessarily a knee-jerk reaction, though it often reveals itself most starkly in knee-jerk reactions. I take bias to mean a slant, leaning in favor of one's own views. In that light, everything I say has some bias to it. If you are interested in my slant or point of view, then you'll appreciate that bias. If you're not interested in my slant, or if your bias leans in a different direction, you may not appreciate what I have to say (though I think most thinking people can accept alternate view points and even find them useful or at least entertaining.)

- A

Could that page have had any less content? Apparently there actually was an article of some sort lost among the ads.... :-)

(This is a good illustration of the adblocking post a few weeks back.)