Odd that Microsoft should jump in after the party has peaked with its announcement that it is going to provide blog-like things called Spaces. After the US election, there has been a decided waivering of purpose and an inordinate expression of disinterest in blogging. Sifting the stats is not comforting:

According to blog analysis firm Technorati, the so-called blogosphere, has doubled every five and a half months for the last 18 months. It now estimates that the number of blogs in existence has exceeded 4.8 million, although some speculate that less than a quarter are regularly maintained.

I think a quarter is a pretty generous estimate. Google any topic and "blog" and you will find bunches of dead sites. It may provide a "word of the year" but what was the word of the year in 1999? Bubble? Enron? Terror? Those were all the words of 2001 even though they were the real events of 1999 - but no one noticed.

Awards are the work of the idle employed. Such games provide little, flame big and die out. MS Spaces? Worst idea of 2004.

[Ed.:It gets better. As reported on Boing, they are censoring words like "bum" and other bad ideas. Post titles must not contain "prohibited language" which means, of course, prohibited ideas. Expect a real rush, Bill.]