It should not be surprising that politics was where blogging hit its stride as that arena tends to provoke some of the

It should not be surprising that politics was where blogging hit its stride, as that arena tends to provoke some of the strongest feelings and most heated debates.Most of the popular sports blogs (such as Deadspin, EDSBS, and SMQ) began in 2005 and 2006. The first time many mainstream outlets covered their existence was in the reaction to Trent Lott’s infamous statements about Strom Thurmond. It was another way for people to communicate, and people have always been communicative creatures.Blogging began to hit the mainstream around 2001, and mainly in the political category. I can remember there was a big debate in high school shortly after the turn of the century about whether LiveJournal or Xanga was better. You really have to have a thick skin to get through it all.BlogsIf you’re unfamiliar, the word “blog” is just a shortening of “weblog.” The practice predates the term, as it began mainly as people keeping online diaries or routinely updated special-interest sites. They are bastions of poor taste and lively discussion, where ideas, regardless of what they are, flow freely. Many of its most popular destinations, from Something Awful to 4chan to Fark, follow those same veins of discussion without censorship.

Many of the people who have shaped the Internet along its journey through the Endless September and corporatization grew out of that culture. Whether you wanted to be rude or civil, there was a place for you.That still remains true today. It was its own little world; aside from a few kooks and trolls, no one bothered it and it didn’t bother anyone. For the most part the Internet was a place of libertarian ideals, where there was no censorship, a naturally-occurring etiquette and slang, and in most places, no one to chide you for being profane. It was the main influence for message boards and chat rooms as we know them today.

It was where the things such as the World Wide Web, Linux, and Mosaic (the first graphical web browser) were originally announced to the world. Usenet is where a lot of Internet culture was born, including concepts such as FAQs and spam.Usenet was divided into categories, ranging anywhere from academic discussions of science and math to discussions of nonsense and unspeakable horrors. Someone would post something he thought was interesting, and people would discuss the topic by replying to it. By the end of the 1980s, the most popular part of the Internet was Usenet, a distributed system of newsgroups where people exchanged messages. As time grew on, it became more and more academic, and later, social.