Have you heard of Helium?

I've been trying to look around and read random blogs because I'm finding that reading about them without a lot of context is... well, not very enlightening. I suppose I've been trying to bring the subject out of the abstract a bit. Reading about literature is great because I've read a lot of literature, but this is a bit different.
In any case, I wanted to share a website I found (called Helium) that seems to be a cross between a wiki and a blog, in which people write about anything and others rate the writings, with the dual goals of trying to compile knowledge (subjective knowledge--there is no emphasis on factual knowledge) and... get this... improving their writing skills. (Who'd've thunk?!) At least these are their stated goals. Sadly, from what I've read so far, it looks like a bank of blog entries and essays that are entirely opinion based, and if they are trying to build a database of knowledge, their tools for searching this database are not evident. But the idea is very interesting. They are not asking people to blog (or "write articles" or whatever you'd like to call it), they are asking for a submission that the writer knows other people will respond to, because everything is "rated." The site dignifies everyone's opinion piece as a valid piece of knowledge that will build their store of knowlege. It is like all the best parts of blogging (like expressing your opinions and having others respond) without the pressure of doing it all the time. Oh, and one more catch--they pay their writers. I don't think it's very much, but a paying writing gig is nothing to laugh at (you know you were laughing).
Could we be seeing a new genre emerging? I know, we need another like a hole in the head... but it certainly is interesting.