Half of a conversation

[Edit: this post is bollocks. Read then ignore]

Is a weblog a written conversation? I say Yes.

Weblog posts may take the form of a monologue or a soliloquy, they are however in the public arena. Being in the public arena defines them as having been written to be read. By placing his writing in the public arena the blogger is extending an invitation to hypothetical readers to comment/riposte*.

Because personal weblogs normally have only one owner the writing is regarded as being diary-like. The posts may resemble little letters to the self, and it may not appear that there is any exchange happening, between the blogger and anyone else, which would normally define a conversation. However there is indeed a second person... the potential respondee... because weblog posts are addressed to a reader. A hypothetical reader, or idealised adversary. Therefore the discourse can be regarded as a spoken discourse with one half evolving from the blogger, in written form... the other half is not manifested, and occurs within the mind of the reader. Or in the imagination of the blogger?

* I acknowledge that the blogger may not have enabled the commenting feature on his weblog, hence readers aren't permitted to comment.

[tag: writing]