[wp-hackers] Re: Blogroll, Bookmarks, Links?

[Marci O'Daffer]

I think we all have valid points from each of our own perspectives. We're
never going to decide on the BEST option, because everyone differs in their
view of how the internet works, and what "most" people are doing with WP,
and whether we should be setting trends or doing what most people
understand.

Wordpress is an incredible blogging platform. Best ever. But we can't forget
that Wordpress is being used extensively as a CMS because it's incredibly
good at that too. I just talked to a lady yesterday who has three sites --
none of them blogs -- all built on WP. We've got a core platform that does
SO much cool stuff, that it evokes emotional debate from everyone who likes
what THEY do with it....and that is good. :)

I know the "lowest common denominator" concept is a little ugly sounding,
but as someone said, "Links" is short (good for a tab), and everyone knows
what it means. "Bookmarks" sounds like something personal to me: MY
bookmarks, sites I personally want to come back to....whereas everyone who
has any internet experience knows that "Links" take you to OTHER sites and
you put Links on your site to help OTHER people find what they are looking
for.  Bookmarks is just as bloggish as Blogroll (well, almost...) whereas
Links has a more universal meaning. Hmmm...if neither Bookmarks nor Links is
very accurate, then maybe we can call them xLinks or something....make up
our own term.....something that causes people to blink and wonder "how are
xLinks different from just Links?" Then we are being trendy and unique and
creating waves of change, as well as meeting the lowest common denominator
folks where they're at, and pushing them beyond their assumptions.

But maybe the real debate here isn't over Links or Bookmarks, but about what
WP actually IS. Is it a blogging platform, first and foremost, which some
people use as a CMS? Or is it the best CMS ever created for any purpose,
loved by bloggers and web developers alike for it's flexibility and
user-friendliness (how's that for a 90's term :P)? This is where we have to
"look around" and see how people are using WP. It's easy to say it's
primarily a blogging platform if you're an avid blogger and you hang in
those circles. If you're a web developer using it as a CMS, building sites
for clients who don't blog, then you're not going to "see" how many zillions
of bloggers are using it. That doesn't make anyone right or wrong, but it
makes it really hard to determine what WP really "is" and develop little
details like "links" or "bookmarks" based on that.

Maybe the only ones who can decide this are the developers themselves, not
the users and hackers. In which case perhaps we should just hand this back
over to Matt et al for their final decision about what WP "is". And all hail
the plugin developers who can put the ultimate functionality and decision
making back into the hands of the USERS -- whether they are bloggers or web
developers!


Marci :)