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Suffering from a major case of writer’s block myself (PR consulting induced), I decided to see what my readers (and as it turned out everyone else’s) are missing. Somehow I managed to amble over to Rafe Needleman’s fine Webware blog first thing, and what did I find there? The 98th most popular website in the world (according to Alexa in my tool bar) suffering from what could either be called “Mashablitis” or “Copypasteosis”. I love Mashable, but it is news and articles of a type, while Webware has always been of a distinct other type - or at least this is my impression.

Rafe Needleman or Ahab?

Posting from other CNET entities as filler for the blog is certainly not a stupid idea, but it does say something - tho I am not sure what. Not long ago my partner Mihaela Lica sort of hammered TechCrunch for letting their content slip, but now I am beginning to realize that nearly all the blogs big and small are slipping. I thought the Web 2.0 boredom syndrome just applied to Facebook and other social networks!

Web 2 Point Blah!

Please don’t get the wrong impression, Rafe Needleman is one of the best minds in the business. It is not his fault that the steam powering the Web 2.0 engine is being diverted to mad Twitter typing orgies or Facebook meltdown application design parties. Hell, Rafe’s leading articles tonight are about two cell phone “whatchamacallits”, two map “do-dads”, two ticker tape “thingies”, sending pics to grandma, note taking application and last but not least - something called CookiePie. Holy cow! We have reached the fully integrated, hyper-connected, semantic “five and dime store” Internet. It’s like someone over at Webware ran past a keyboard and hot keyed “post BS version 5″ and left the building.

I respect what Rafe has done for and with his fantastic network of sites, but when Webware puts out 200 word snippets about nothing? There has to be a problem somewhere and I do not believe it is in Rafe’s commitment to quality. Either it is a terrible news day or content writers got so expensive no one but Pete Cashmore can afford them. Ironically, visiting Mashable revealed at least a series of unique articles - errr - blog posts about actually separate venues and etc. What is up with that? Even though they are not the blog versions of Melville, the consistency and type are evident as usual. So the bad news day excuse would appear to be out as far as a Webware “off day” is concerned.

Feeling for Rafe and sure that Web 2.0 must have virtually collapsed, I just had to go to the altar of tech blogdom and see what TechCrunch was munching on - just to see if Rafe was alone in the copy paste zone. Well, TC was there as usual, somewhere between in depth analysis and Mashable. At least all the articles were from TC and about different subjects. This is not to say any of the fare would re-energize the Web 2.0 movement however, but there was some content - period.

What’s Your Problem?

I am sure that Rafe has some very good explanation for the lack of unique content on Webware yesterday. This is not the point really, as he has done a lot and has nothing to explain. The issue is about content in general, and more importantly where it comes from and who it is for. My problem is basically 3 fold.

Since sharing the PR load with my partner and consulting, I have sent some of these guys better stories that any of those issued yesterday. Most of my communications were not even answered, save those to Pete Cashmore and others one might not think would respond as readily as Rafe of Michael’s crew.
This is puzzling to me, so I have a problem with it. Secondly, the overall quality of content everywhere (including here sometimes) in general is “tired” to say the least. This may be either a function of a weakening Web momentum or a valley in the trend of Web stories (innovations). Lastly, revered blogs like TC and Webware have reached the pinnacle of their respective niches. They receive the lion’s share of attention, and so should be held to a higher standard. Mashable is doing what they always did, so far be it for me to condemn them.

If I do not write for a week, or use posts from other than my personal blog, then perhaps 200 friends and some stumblers will be left holding the bag. Big deal! I hope everyone see’s my point. Just so you know, if I am not writing it is because I hate burdening people with less than 100 percent Phil Butler BS. Okay laugh. I should virtually never be able to go to even one of these blogs and not be able to find something interesting and new. As powerful as these people have become in the blog community, they should be able to manufacture news.

Hey! I just thought; “If I can do it, so can they!” Ahh, but being constructively critical is dangerous right? Oooooh! Come on guys, shake this thing up - the king is suffocating already! Rafe, if you were sick or had some emergency, you know I am so sorry. If you delegated blogdom to someone today, then tell them to hit F5 rather than F6 to insert original content. I am half playing man.

Editor’s Note: I almost forgot guys. I went to my old friends at Readwriteweb out of thoroughness and so no one would say I am biased. RWW and Sarah Perez are topping off the content tanks for the long journey from what I see. Just and observation - check out this post (which I did not read ahead of time) about boredom and Web 2.0. The irony is so thick you can cut it with a knife!