The log is your friend. The log can sit quietly. The log can burn. The log can provide warmth. The log can be very cold. The log can be filled with gold. The log is your friend.

Lotsa people be dissing the daylogs. It has very often been in vogue to bash the daylogs and denigrate those who make use of them. Lesser humans. Weak noders. Birdbrains on acid who think everyone gives a shit about the fact that they spent $22.56 at the grocery store on diet soft drinks and the bag boy looked at them funny. Why don't we do away with them? Why do we allow them to be included in a person's node count? Why don't we make them "unvotable?" The snickers and back alley accusations make it all the way around the world. Everyone wants fairness and equity and a perfect little world that conforms to their concept of reality, justice and righteousness.

There ain't no justice, WalMart brain. There is just this and, for the moment, nothing more. Words on an imaginary page broadcast to you through computer magic onto a screen that is slowly eating away your vision. This is what your science has done to us. Bastards. Now, step up to the holy altar and place an offering. Prepare for judgment.

There are those who abuse daylogs and drag them down into the horrible swamps of Hell. They see them as an easy place to dump a couple of random thoughts about nothing in particular so they can get closer to having the right number of nodes to jump up to the next level. Hey, guess what, you don't get a blowjob when you move up a level. It doesn't mean all that much. Your soul is more important. There are so many damned fine daylogs out there and you could spend a day winding your way through a couple of months worth and find some pretty spectacular reading. Some understand that often what they have written isn't quite the kind of thing that deserves its own node or fits into an existing one. It is worth writing and worth reading, but perhaps it is a fleeting moment. A daylog brings in many readers, for it is easily accessed and discovered at its time of posting. It might be topical, dealing with present day issues and perhaps won't stand the test of time. It lives in the moment. It is a fire in the bushes.

So, you think you're ready to write a daylog? Good for you. Let's take a look at some of the possible reasons why you might be feeling this way...

  • You are a journal writing type person. Nothing wrong with that at all. Some very interesting material has come from journals and the people who write them. You comment on key events in your life and the world around you and weave them together in a style that is truly your own. Excellent. Let us savor your work.
  • You just had a really crazy day or strange experience. Perhaps the events of one particular day in your life are highly unusual and have the substance of a truly interesting tale. It could be a work of prose, but you want to keep all the facts intact and just relate the events as they happened. Excellent. Tell us the story.
  • Rant. This type of thing is generally discouraged on E2, but a well written and focused rant can often find a home in a daylog. Strong opinions are best reserved for daylogs, as they won't last very long elsewhere. Pissed off about tailgaters? Hate the government? Focus your thoughts and give it to us straight. Just keep it in the daylogs, please.
  • Experimenting with your wurds. I have seen a lot of this in daylogs, and it warms my cold, cold heart. Poetry, strange formatting, toying with phrasing, trying a new way to tell a story... it is all very tasty and fits well in the daylog format. Want to try writing something a little unusual and outside your usual style, play around with it in a daylog.
  • Immediate impact. You have something you want to say that is about the present moment in time and you want it to be seen. Daylogs give you exposure in the light of the moment and they'll rarely be looked back on months from now. Take the September 11th daylogs as an extreme example. The events of the present and your reaction to them are something of a snapshot of history, even if just for yourself. They are there for you.

So, you say you are a "serious" noder. Yes, we know, "serious noders" don't do daylogs. What is a "serious noder" anyway? A noder who takes E2 "seriously" is one who knows the rightful place of all kinds of writeups. There are certain writeups that belong in daylogs. They may be as good and possibly better than other writeups with their own titles. They are often much, much worse. There are crappy daylogs. There are brilliant daylogs. There are a lot of good daylogs somewhere in between. The bottom line is that even a daylog should be a well written piece of writing worthy of the time spent by others to read it. It might make them laugh. It could make them cry. It could touch them in super special ways. It could shock them and it could piss them right the fuck off. These are the things that good writing does to people. Not everything is "just the facts, ma'am." Writers write. They write constantly. Sometimes a thought or an idea needs a jump start. The train of thought needs to be focused. A daylog can help you find where you lost your place. A lot of daylogs are so much more. Use daylogs wisely. They are your friend. They beckon to you. People are listening. People are reading your wurds on the other side of a computer monitor screen on the other side of the world. Remember to consider them when you weave your wurds. Make it count.

Information! Yes, I have been known to /msg people and tell them that a work they submitted that was nuked from orbit would have made a good daylog. For whatever reason, this is seen all too often as an insult. "Daylogs? I'm better than that." Pull it together captain. I'm making a positive suggestion. Come into the daylog garden. Let us upgrade the neighborhood. Okay, let's dance. Someone cue the music.