Thanks Cman. The first link you provided justed spewed a lot of venom. I know he/she was trying to make a point but it became shrouded in too much negativity.
Your article was much more balance, but it still seemed to contradict itself. I know what you're saying and I guess agree with it. But it's a conundrum. You have to allow freedom of speech, either verbal, written or digital, because somewhere in all the bullshit someone might actually say something worth listening to. However, that "something worth listening to" is subjective. One man's bullshit is another man's gospel. No one peson has the right to determine for everone else what is bullshit and what is gospel.
Blogs seemed to be like writing books. Someone feels that they have something to say so they write a book. Now they have to find a publisher who might like it and feel more than a couple of people might want to plunk down some money to buy and read it. The publisher, in this case, acts as an arbitrator of what should or should not be made available for public consumption. Lots of people can't get their book published (no, I haven't written a book that I can't get published) for whatever reason. Yes, mostly it's because publishers think it's crap and don't want to commit the money to have it published. So now, the determining factor is profit based, not necessarily quality based.
Blogs, it appears, have given anyone with a computer and access to the net, the opportunity to be heard. If you don't like what is said or how it's being said then don't listen. I guess I'm not clear on why people shouldn't be given the bandwidth to say what they want to say. It's o.k to criticize the blandness and binality of what's out there now. That's all part of the freedom of speech. For me personally, if I decide to start a Blog or a general information web site, I want to get as much advice as possible so I can make it appeal to as many people as possible. That's why I started this thread. I will definitely take your suggestions and comments to heart and any other information you can provide would be appreciated.