Magna Carta
Overall, I was a moderately well-behaved child, no more - or less - obnoxious than the next. Yellowing photographs and oft-retold family histories might sometimes reflect a mischievous heathen terror, but on the whole, I think I can confidently assert that my mom, if asked to describe nonage Aralena, would smile and reply, "Her own person."
Those of us, therefore, of angelic disposition, might find all the recent talk for a blogger's Miss Manners a bit silly. Is it really necessary to create a charter delineating correct and incorrect manners of expressing an opinion as a commentator on a blog?
This would be the point where an astounding YES trumpets from parting cumulus clouds.
I have yet to be the victim of "offensive or abusive comments," (consider yourselves officially invited to calumniate, mean-streakers) but have read plenty on many a blog. Admittedly, some of the worst disparagement spews forth in response to equally putrid or obtuse soapbox sludge. But more often than not, nasty, abusive commentators, behind the sad guise of anonymity, reveal a profound fissure between what the blogger saught to convey, and what the random reader interprets. This is to be expected, sure, as we witnessed with e-mail; not even jubilant emoticons can save a dry, all-caps e-mail telling you everything you did wrong on your last project.
Can a Declaration of Blogger's Rights keep people with poor manners and too much time from firing off useless, often unintelligible tripe on others' blogs? The fact that certain bloggers become victims of harassment and death threats is mind-boggling. Clearly, a wake-up call, un petit rappel is in order - you talk to your mother with that mouth?
The internet city upon the hill is still a patchy mound, though. Proposing that bloggers ban notoriously abusive commentators from their site is a given, and not really grounds for creating a civility guidebook; nor is the suggestion that only commentators with verifiable e-mail addresses revolutionary, since many blogs opt for this commenting condition already.
Mean, rude, abusive, threatening behavior on the internet is the fly in the soup of blogging, but it does seem to desist when the author of the blog ignores provocation. Remember the annoying kid at recess whose main source of pleasure seemed to be gained by pinching your arms, pulling your hair, or calling you names? Didn't pretending like he didn't exist ultimately turn out to be the most efficient, if not Zen panacea?
Really, it all comes back to childhood, and the timeless, golden rule: if you don't have anything nice to post, don't post anything at all. (Unless you post in French. Then, all bets are off-- let those swear words fly!)
Those of us, therefore, of angelic disposition, might find all the recent talk for a blogger's Miss Manners a bit silly. Is it really necessary to create a charter delineating correct and incorrect manners of expressing an opinion as a commentator on a blog?
This would be the point where an astounding YES trumpets from parting cumulus clouds.
I have yet to be the victim of "offensive or abusive comments," (consider yourselves officially invited to calumniate, mean-streakers) but have read plenty on many a blog. Admittedly, some of the worst disparagement spews forth in response to equally putrid or obtuse soapbox sludge. But more often than not, nasty, abusive commentators, behind the sad guise of anonymity, reveal a profound fissure between what the blogger saught to convey, and what the random reader interprets. This is to be expected, sure, as we witnessed with e-mail; not even jubilant emoticons can save a dry, all-caps e-mail telling you everything you did wrong on your last project.
Can a Declaration of Blogger's Rights keep people with poor manners and too much time from firing off useless, often unintelligible tripe on others' blogs? The fact that certain bloggers become victims of harassment and death threats is mind-boggling. Clearly, a wake-up call, un petit rappel is in order - you talk to your mother with that mouth?
The internet city upon the hill is still a patchy mound, though. Proposing that bloggers ban notoriously abusive commentators from their site is a given, and not really grounds for creating a civility guidebook; nor is the suggestion that only commentators with verifiable e-mail addresses revolutionary, since many blogs opt for this commenting condition already.
Mean, rude, abusive, threatening behavior on the internet is the fly in the soup of blogging, but it does seem to desist when the author of the blog ignores provocation. Remember the annoying kid at recess whose main source of pleasure seemed to be gained by pinching your arms, pulling your hair, or calling you names? Didn't pretending like he didn't exist ultimately turn out to be the most efficient, if not Zen panacea?
Really, it all comes back to childhood, and the timeless, golden rule: if you don't have anything nice to post, don't post anything at all. (Unless you post in French. Then, all bets are off-- let those swear words fly!)
Comments
1. Write something in French. That encourages all the frustrated high school French teachers in the Midwest to write in anonymously and tear your French apart-- even when you've only made one or two mistakes.
2. voice a political opinion that is not knee-jerk gauchisme.
3. give the appearance of being independently wealthy.
4. feature a photograph of yourself in a light-colored dress. someone is sure to pipe in and tell you you look pregnant.
and most importantly,
5. let it slip accidentally that you are good at something. no one likes it when bloggers are good at stuff, be it languages or school or music or what-have-you, unless it's cooking. people prefer their bloggers self-deprecating, in the kitchen, with children, or with knitting needles. Or all four at once.
delphine
I have done this with great success- neither of my readers, when they bother to read my blog, ever write negative comments. Your blog, on the other hand is clever,smart and causes people to think. You need to stop this immediately, dumb it down a bit or you will have to deal with annoying readers.