I got an email from a friend the other night asking me what I thought of a blog that asked the question of why people make negative comments on other people’s blogs. In reading the article, I came away with the impression that many bloggers despise the negative comments made by people who criticize a point, argument, perspective, poems, videos, or whatever else is published on a blog.
First, let's consider what a blog is:
A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world. Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules. In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.
A blog can be anything: Teenaged girls post things about wanting to have Justin Timberlake's next 10 children. There are blogs about PMS; there's one called Slice of Shit, and even one titled, Fuck This Website, and well...you get the idea.
In the comments section of the article, "Knocking the Fun out of Blogging," a commentator proclaims, "Bloggers are subject to rules of journalistic practices (including libel, slander, etc). As for journalistic rules…trust me, they do apply to blogs (as well as vlogs). I.e., grammar rules, quality of content, reliability of factual information, naming of sources, etc etc. Any blogger who thinks otherwise is simply kidding himself/herself."
So, maybe this is the problem with why people post negative comments: some people feel that all bloggers should be on par with the Wall Street Journal or even the Harvard Review. If you’re one of those people, then you have a serious inferiority complex, but don't be alarmed, either. There's lots of other blogs that do nothing but spew trash on a daily basis, and people snort it up like lines of cocaine at a party hosted by Lindsay Lohan.
Article comments
1 - Elvira Black
I came across your piece right after spending some "quality" time on my fave NYC forum, where the resident A-hole is doing what he does best. It's a heavily moderated forum, and you can report offensive, racist, etc posts to the moderator and they will ban your butt for a week or two if you get too out of line.
So I sent a few barbs back his way, and realized that my blood pressure is probably way too elevated at the moment for my own good.
The web is full of flamers, trolls, etc. There's a diff between debating respectfully and personal attacks. If you blog you gotta have a bit of a thick skin or else block comments, cause you're not going to always like what you hear.
I prefer to engage in a battle of wits with the nitwits til they back off, which they do sooner or later--moderator or no. I like an intelligent debate, or even a stupid one--they can be fun too.
2 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Paotie,
I stay away from the vanity blogs and pay attention to the ones that deal with what interests me - news. You never know when some blogger will scoop the MSM.
On vanity blogs, you can do what you want. Hu givs a fk how u spl or wt u sa wen all ur doing is showing off ur ignerans? ur reders r z smrt z u r.
But on one that is deliberately set up for the world to read, like Ralph's Rants or Shiloh Musings, the writer does need to keep up standards out of a respect for the reader.
3 - Erna Mahyuni
Yeah, I really don't get why some people make a habit of trolling blogs leaving behind snarky comments. My new rule is, if the comment is anonymously made, I just delete it. Because it's my blog and I don't hold for cowardly actions.
4 - Martin Lav
Without negative posts bloggers would get pretty bored exchanging comments with the trolls that post feel good "agreements" all day. Point is that all commentors both negative and positive are the same. They want to feel they are important in the world. That they have an impact, a voice and can be heard.
IS ANYONE HEARING ME?
I MATTER IN THIS WORLD.......
The same can be said for bloggers.
It's all ego.
Why single out the negative?
I believe it's the same motivation for all of us typing anonymously in the sphere.
I'm sure the author of this article is doing the same as he accuses others of doing, checking the fresh comments on his article getting ready to debate somebody, slam them, put them in their place, if only to keep his article in the stats sheet. After all does an article make an impact if no one is there to read it?
A leaf in the forest....
5 - WingBlade
One of the major facets of being on the internet is it's anonymity. While you're online, you can nearly say and do almost anything. This gives certain people free reign to "troll" on blogs or message forums either for effect, or just for the hell of it. Not to say that all of them are the way they are in real life (well, maybe some are..). Its unregulate feature of the net that allows the "inner bad guy" in all of us to occasionally come out every once in a while.
Yes its annoying but it happens. And I can bet that everyone at one point or another during their time on the web have - or have considered - posting something that can be considered "trolling".
6 - Anna Creech
If bloggers don't want negative comments on their blog, then all they have to do is disable the commenting feature. Simple, and more effective than whining about negative comments.