Blog baloney

The New York Times looks at how literary hoaxes have made the leap to the world of blogging, citing the amusing billclintondailydiary.blogspot.com as a prime example:

While enabling everyday people to publish a continuing chronicle of their thoughts and deeds, blogs are also are becoming a popular medium for having a little fun with the credulous. The more frequent the postings, the more they respond to reader feedback and the more interesting the subject matter, the more people are drawn into the fiction. ...

One reason that many people put faith in such blogs may be a desire to escape a mundane daily existence. But unlike the films and movies that people rely on to transport themselves, blogs offer an actual give-and-take with the authors.

And, consequently, the people taken in tend to react somewhat badly upon learning the truth.