People have been saying that weblogs represent a new way to communicate. I'm starting to see what they mean.

Mailing lists, chat (IRC / instant messaging), and weblogs are the most popular ways for groups to communicate on the Internet right now. The three methods have a lot in common, such as the keyboard, monitor, and Internet connection, but the small differences between them are surprisingly important:

• chat is synchronous
• mailing lists are centrally managed
• weblogs are asynchronous and decentralized

It's hard to schedule group communication, so synchronous communication doesn't often work for large groups. Mailing lists are very useful, but sometimes too formal. When differences of opinion arise, participants start writing large essays and engaging in battles over proper mailing list behavior.

Weblogs provide a better way to handle differences of opinion. By posting on my weblog rather than on a mailing list, I can easily present my view in the context of my other views. For example, if I posted concerns about Zope 3 being hard to use on the zope3-dev mailing list, observers would think that many members in the group also share that opinion. Alternatively, in my weblog, I can present a more precise view: Zope 3 is great, but I've struggled with some parts. People are less likely to confuse my views with the partly overlapping views of other people.

This weblog has also given me opportunities to think out loud and receive feedback. I've pondered the controversy of teaching evolution in public schools my whole life. By writing weblog entries and answering comments, I suddenly found a satisfying answer. Writing has effects like that, and weblogs are a pretty good forum for practicing writing.