Is blogging a lost art? Has it been superseded by social media such as Facebook and Twitter? Do we only communicate now in 140-character snatches?
I didn’t mean to start this post with such a complex series of questions.
I really wanted to comment on comments etiquette.
There are several blogs I read every few days and others I visit infrequently. I’m not an avid RSS feed user, but if I remember to open RSS Owl it sometimes prompts me to visit a particular site.
I don’t always agree with the opinions I read on my favorite blogs and I don’t expect readers here to always agree with me.
Although published to a public forum, blogs are a private thing. I’m not forcing you to read this and you are not compelled to comment.
I’ve got a personal policy of not arguing with bloggers on their websites, although Dina might say otherwise.
I certainly don’t allow inflammatory comments to be published here, not that it’s happened for a long time, fortunately.
What prompted this post?
Someone I used to follow on Twitter linked to Wendy’s post on the irony of India calling Australia a racist country.
I followed the link out of curiosity, thinking it would take me to some neo-Nazi site with offensive rabid views.
It was my first visit to Wendy’s site. She’s a violist who loves classical music. I don’t know her, but I can tell from reading her blog that she’s not racist and she doesn’t deserve the aggression that’s been directed towards her.
Wendy doesn’t need me to defend her and she can decide for herself what comments moderation policy she employs.
It just strikes me as wrong that casual readers, let alone regular visitors, should want to leave argumentative comments on a blog. If you don’t like a post, stop reading it and move on.
If you feel inclined to comment, add something to the discussion in a polite conversational way.
As for the present state of blogging and its future, I’ve seen many blogs fall by the wayside over the years. I miss the various incarnations of Sue’s once-titillating blog, for example.
I’ve been writing here since July 2003 and there have been times I nearly gave it away. I think it’s a good practice to write at least once a week. It also serves as a useful chronicle of a person’s life.
Wikipedia records that Mark Zuckerberg invented Facemash on October 28, 2003 while attending Harvard as a sophomore. Facebook was launched on February 4, 2004. Twitter launched publicly in July 2006.
There’s no doubt Facebook and Twitter have influenced blogging. A lot of people don’t feel confident or capable of writing long posts. Nearly everyone can type 140 characters.
Some people may have drifted from blogging to social media because it’s easier and connects them more directly to friends and family.
Many people who never blogged have joined social networks. These people are sometimes introduced to blogs through social media.
A few tweets about Wendy’s blog drove numerous people to her site for the first time. Most will never return.
If you create a website that’s theme based (eg politics, sport or literature) you should expect robust discussion on the theme.
But visiting a personal blog is like visiting a person’s home. Be respectful and don’t argue with the host.
That doesn’t mean you can’t tell me I just wrote a lot of crock, but say it nicely please.
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Twitter: delmerw
says:
I’d assumed Wendy’s post was going to be something about a cricket player handing out KFC to some people of color. I, obviously, don’t recall the deatails of the commercial I heard about but it appears to have touched a nerve over here. I understand why, just as I understand how Americans might be shocked by a group of guys showing up in black face to do a Jackson 5 sketch. But I also understand Australia’s history is not our history.
When I heard about the Jackson 5 bit my first thoughts were, “what were they thinking?” and “how did they let that get on the air?” I quickly realized the sketch might not have the same social impact in Oz.
I was pretty sure the KFC in Australia knew what they were doing when they ran the commercial in question. If the commercial were offensive down under, they would have been offending the folks they were trying to market chicken too (if they were following American stereotypes)… and what would be the sense of that? As it is, I assume they’re trying to market chicken to everyone (and, with that in mind, I have some of their grilled chicken a couple of times a month).
Twitter: mgorey
says:
Delmer, you’ve identified the other racial issue that’s dominating discussion in Australia at the moment. Here’s the ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPb7zdKJ-Dw
It didn’t offend anyone in Australia and nobody was talking about the ad until it went on YouTube and attracted negative comments from the US. KFC rightly pointed out it wasn’t intended for an American audience. Shows we live in a global village, I guess.
The other issue is what Wendy wrote about. There have been a number of attacks on Indians in Australia over the past few months, including a recent homicide. There’s no clear evidence they are racially motivated. The areas where they have occurred in Sydney and Melbourne are notoriously dangerous.
Oh goodness….I just wrote a whole comment and then deleted it because I reread your post and realized you didn’t say what I initially thought you said. There’s a lesson there: Before commenting on something controversial, make sure you carefully read the blog entry!
Yeah. I’m with you on what you said. I think it’s okay to disagree and have a polite debate. It’s not okay to be rude and nasty.
lol. I totally misread your line about me. I thought you were saying that you’re against arguing on blogs, but I’m all for it. Now I get you though. Yeah. You’re VERY argumentative on my blog. What’s the deal? I can’t say anything without you disagreeing with me!!!!!!
I’m joking…of course.
I think disagreements can bring about interesting discussion. You just have to have people who can disagree without name-calling and/or an attitude of anyone-who-disagrees-with-me-is-stupid.
I had a REALLY bad experience on a blog I used to frequent. I politely disagreed with a blogger (well actually their adult daughter wrote the post…but I didn’t realize it until later). They were very nasty in their response. And then it escalated into very abusive language….not just from the blogger and her daughter, but also their blogging friends. It was very psychology stressful. Because of it, I’ve become very weary of the whole blogging world, and read much less blogs then I used to. What’s that saying? Once bitten…twice shy.
I WAS lucky in that the attacks happened on other people’s blogs, and not my own. Eventually, I had the good sense to just stop going to those blogs. I could “make it go away” by simply not reading anymore. I really feel for people who are attacked on their own blog.
Twitter: mgorey
says:
Australians are strong on irony Dina, as you’ve probably discovered.
Micheal this is a very interesting topic and it is good that you have raised it. Sometimes I will opt for the ‘inflammatory’ presentation of an issue and when I wrote the article about the India-Australia story it was merely to point out how quick a section of the foreign media was to call the racist card. As well as that I think I raised quite a pertinent point regarding the resentment some Sydneysiders feel about the foreign students being prominent in the part-time work force in some areas of Sydney. I know this is an issue bothering many people because I have first hand reports of people being refused employment on the basis that they were not foreign students. Members of my own family have experienced this. I don’t have an answer for this – obviously foreign students are preferable to some businesses because they are paid on a lower scale, plus I feel that universities must play a part in securing these students employment before they arrive in Australia so that they can pay the university fees. It must be a pre-arranged scheme but it is one that is disadvantaging local Australians and young people at that. I never criticised Indian migrants – only the students who are getting, I feel, a very good deal courtesy of a very tolerant society and conditions that would not be so welcoming elsewhere in the world. Yet it was they who were complaining…
I never edit comments I receive unless they are purely offensive to read and contain no reading value at all or contain excessive swearing. I don’t mind people disagreeing with me at all – who wants a mutual admiration society? how boring! I like differing points of view and there have been times when I have had my outlook changed for the better by seeing an issue from someone else’s perspective. I also don’t belittle a person or their comment, hosting a blog is like hosting a party…don’t insult your guests and let them have their say. I have seen some very redneck sites where bullying tactics very much reign and one time a blogger distributed my email to others and I received some very childish and abusive missives. I think being discriminating about your reading on the WWW is as important as how you would be in a library or bookshop. Leave the rubbish to those who like it.
Debating an issue or arguing a point – both have their place in blogging and I have noticed that there are people out there who cannot manage to do either without quickly resorting to name-calling, which denotes total lack of thought and no creativity whatsoever. Funny though – not one of those people from WA who responded to my post addressed any of the points I raised, because none of them were personally affected by them. One question I would like to raise is this: how does one prove they are NOT racist…? and should you even try…?
Twitter: mgorey
says:
The basic rule is to be polite, isn’t it? And if something consistently annoys or angers you, don’t read it.
As someone who works in the media, I was interested in how Twitter was used in your case to galvanise visitors into commenting on your site. It’s the first time I’ve seen that.
I do waffle on though