The Emirati Blogosphere

There is an interesting story in The National today on Emirati bloggers. The blog scene in the UAE - at least the English-language one - leaves a lot to be desired, but it is still cool to see it getting some attention and analysis.

One of the most remarkable things about the UAE's blogosphere - or at least the English-language portion of it - is how even-tempered it all is. Ali Gargash, the author of the Dubai Nights blog (dxbnight.blogspot.com) recalls the incendiary spirit in which he began his blogging career four years ago, when he was still in his teens. "When I first started I thought I'd be extremely controversial and all that. I thought that I had to blog under a secret name and everything," he says.

The story talks to the writers of some familiar blogs like

and

. I would have loved interviews with the epic trolls Proud Emirati and A Blessing in Tragedy, both of whom have a brilliant talent for annoying foreigners through pitch-perfect obnoxiousness.

Spot On's poll yesterday said that 40 per cent of people are blogging less now because of Twitter. I have basically abandoned my personal blog since twittering began, but have made a solemn promise to start again. There is something about blogs that should stay alive long after the culture of monosyllabic grunts fades away.