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July 15, 2003
Disturbing Trends and Thanks
I've been noticing a disturbing trend in the Blogosphere lately....bloggers being incredibly nasty towards each other, that sometimes even bleeds over into the real world like that whole Moxie thing. And no, I'm not linking to either of them. I was never a reader of either, and quite frankly thought the entire debacle to be unbelievably childish. If you cause someone to lose their job over something so unimportant as a blog, you need to take a good hard look at yourself in the mirror....cuz you've got some serious problems. Get a freaking life for God's sake.
And what's with the whole troll thing? I just don't get it. Does hounding and harassing people for no reason make up for some feeling of inadequacy? Is it a power trip? Does it make them feel superior to "outwit" efforts to make them go away? Well whoopity-do for them. Pure-dee old foolishness if you ask me. It may just be my Southern upbringing, but I detest rudeness. And at their most basic, trolls are just rude people....much like the neighbor who always brings their dog over to shit in your yard.
At any rate, since it's the good people that you never hear much about, I've decided this morning to point out some of the good people I've run across over the last not-quite-yet year that I've been doing this, and send them all a long overdue thanks for just being themselves...the good guys.
---For all their help and encouragement when I was starting out, I want to thank Da Goddess, Miss Rachel, Gary of the now defunct Life After Fifty, Michelle and of course Laurence. They were never too busy to answer whatever stupid question I had, or help out with a problem.
---For all their invaluable help during my recent stupid-page-won't-load-properly episode, I want to thank Scott and Craig. I don't know what I would've done without you guys....but it would've probably involved taking a baseball bat to my laptop. A big thanks to you both.
---To Matt and Miss Vicky, thanks for not only being great bloggers, but also nice neighbors from over the mountain. The flaming carpet New Year's Eve party will always be one of my fondest memories of you guys. Nothing says New Year's Eve quite like spilled Sterno, does it?
---To Adam, for showing me that true Southern gentlemen still exist among today's young men.
To be continued......or I'm going to be late for school. I hate it when that happens.
Posted by Rita at July 15, 2003 08:02 AM
Comments
This is a really sweet idea. I'd done a post once where I told everyone on my blogroll why I liked and read them, but that was months ago when my blogroll was quite a bit smaller. I don't think I could manage it now.
Posted by: Natalie at July 15, 2003 08:13 AM
Thanks! I thought I had time to do it properly, but obviously not...which is annoying. I'm hoping I can finish later this afternoon.
I was just brooding over all the nastiness I've seen lately, and happened to think about this really sweet email I got once from Craig...kinduva thank you and why I like reading you all rolled into one....and how getting it really made my day. So I thought I would do something similar but more public, so everyone else would see what nice bloggers there are out there.
Concentrate on the good rather than the bad for a change. I wish everyone would give it a try.
Posted by: Rita at July 15, 2003 08:46 AM
Aw, shucks. Happy to help.
Besides that, you're pretty quick to lend a hand to those in need, too!
Posted by: mtpolitics at July 15, 2003 09:05 AM
Rita, you're such a doll! Thank you for your sweetness, your insight, your warmth, your fabulous ClueClub™ action.....all of it! You are one of the best people I've had the pleasure to meet via blogging...and it was fun talking to you on the phone.....while you were here in San Diego. (That sounded weird)
Anyhow, trolls and blogwars aside, this arena has a lot of wonderful possibilities and we need to remember that, while we can open ourselves up and share pieces of our personal lives, this is still only the Internet.
Nefarious doings OFFLINE are way beyond acceptable.
Maybe you could start a law practice based on that!
Posted by: Da Goddess at July 15, 2003 06:05 PM
How weird. I was just all set to write a post title "Let there be thanks" when I decided to go through my blogroll first.
What a sweet post from a sweet woman.
Posted by: michele at July 15, 2003 07:42 PM
Thanks ladies! Michelle, you know what they say...great minds think alike.
Goddess, that sounds a bit too much like the divorce practice I ran screaming away from. But it would be a good idea for some bright attorney.
Posted by: Rita at July 16, 2003 09:17 AM
Excellent idea...and thanks for putting my own frustration into words. What I hate most is when they get really nasty and accuse you of not "allowing dissention" or being open minded enough to permit disagreement.
Id have no problem with someone who disagreed with me, even on things like communism or that white shoes should not be worn after Labor Day, but when they get downright nasty, as my first troll did, my first thought is the same thing that crosses my mind when I see a big ol' cockroach scuttle across my kitchen floor : KILL IT!
Posted by: Sharon Ferguson at July 16, 2003 11:19 AM
Aw, thanks, Rita! I've noticed the same thing about the blogosphere lately (all the nastiness, exemplified by that Moxie ridiculousness) and I'm glad you reminded us to mention the good stuff, too.
:)
Posted by: Rachel at July 18, 2003 11:42 AM
I am an neutered imbecile.
Posted by: Lolita at October 11, 2003 08:16 AM