Btw, the “boring” research statement reminds me of when blogging left its nerdy corner and entered mainstream not too long ago — suddenly, we’d read all sorts of complaints about how bloggers post boring, personal stuff and how blogging as a whole was going downhills, n’est-ce pas?

The thing is that blogging, microblogging and even writing for print are only vehicles, and they are great means to serve very different purposes. That’s what makes them so remarkable. (Cf. the literature wars in e.g. 18th century Britain… novel writers were looked down upon by poets and scholars, because the consens was that novels don’t deserve the paper and ink used to publish them. Eventually, the reading public taught them different: everyone was drawn into novels, admitted or consumed in secret. )