It would seem there are people out there using the word blog to mean what I would normally call a blog post:

I’m back, starting with an apology for the lack of blogs over the last few months.

– Garry McGhie, V/Line

Not to single this instance out, because I’ve seen other examples of this use around the place, too. But it just doesn’t sound quite right to me.

Wiktionary / Dictionary.com / Urban Dictionary / Merriam-Webster / YourDictionary.com / Encarta — All these appear to agree with me.

But “Man disputes $66 traffic fine” is NOT news. Something that happens thousands of times a day across Australia is NOT news. Not unless the protagonist is a senior cop or politician.

Certainly it’s worthy of a blog entry. But showing up on a news site (particularly as the top item) just makes a mockery of what citizen journalism could be and should be.

Surely there must be some real news people could be reporting on? I mean, stuff that actually matters to more than one person?

Basically an excerpt from a blog, with a random introductory paragraph up-front to make it look human, presumably in the hope that the trackback will be accepted.

Random introductory paragraphs:

• I’ve a passion for X and keep looking for good articles. Today, I checked if I could find more info by entering ‘Y’ in Google and found this
• People are always asking me to blog more often, well here you go, I looked up some info on ’Y’.
• Last night I used Technorati to find more info on ’Y’ so I could post it into ‘X’. And this is one of the many results I found
• Today I was digging for some info on ’Y’ and came across the following section

Of course, it’s pretty obvious if you look at a few posts in a row. Less so if you’re getting the occasional trackback request.

Name: mirror
E-mail: mirrorconsultancy@yahoo.com
IP: 125.22.69.34

Talking of [topic], may be if you want to buy [product] at best price, I have a suggestion to make do look up Online Shopping

I’ve had about a dozen of these today, hitting various entries, where the topic closely resembles the topic of the blog post hit, though the link to [product] is often tenuous.

Apparently (see comment 16 here) the company offers discounts from products in return for people posting blog comments about them. Certainly looking around they appear to be successfully hitting a lot of blogs.

Not mine though.

More examples after the fold.

Name: mirror | E-mail: mirrorconsultancy@yahoo.com | IP: 125.22.69.34 | Date: Wed 7 February 2007
Talking of walking shots, may be if you want to buy some new cameras at best price, I have a suggestion to make do look up Online Shopping

Name: mirror | E-mail: mirrorconsultancy@yahoo.com | IP: 125.22.69.34 | Date: Wed 7 February 2007
The great thing about election day is you can exercise your right to democracy. Talking of democracy,may be if you want to know more about democracy from history books, notes etc., I have a suggestion to make do look up Online Shopping for interesting offers on history books. They have a good collection.

Name: mirror | E-mail: mirrorconsultancy@yahoo.com | IP: 125.22.69.34 | Date: Wed 7 February 2007
Talking of fog, may be if you want to buy some fog prevent dress such as shutters,caps, shoes, tavels etc., I have a suggestion to make do look up Online Shopping

Name: mirror | E-mail: mirrorconsultancy@yahoo.com | IP: 125.22.69.34 | Date: Wed 7 February 2007
Talking of Christmas season parties, dinners, may be if you want to buy some drinks, foods, fruits, cakes, dress, shoes etc., at reasonable price, I have a suggestion to make do look up Online Shopping

Name: mirror | E-mail: mirrorconsultancy@yahoo.com | IP: 125.22.69.34 | Date: Wed 7 February 2007
Talking of food court, may be if you want to buy some fruits, vegitables, cooking and kitchen items at best cost, I have a suggestion to make do look up Online Shopping

Name: mirror | E-mail: mirrorconsultancy@yahoo.com | IP: 125.22.69.34 | Date: Wed 7 February 2007
Hi, May be if you want to buy some christmas shopping items, dress, shoes, toys etc., I have a suggestion to make to loo up Online Shopping for interesting offers on christmas purchases. They have an excellent colletion.

Name: mirror | E-mail: mirrorconsultancy@yahoo.com | IP: 125.22.69.34 | Date: Wed 7 February 2007
Talking of 2007, may be if you want to buy some books, movie VCD,DVD you should look up Online Shopping

Name: mirror | E-mail: mirrorconsultancy@yahoo.com | IP: 125.22.69.34 | Date: Wed 7 February 2007
Talking of Power and heat, may be if you want to buy some books related to this topics, I have a suggestion to make do look up Online Shopping