I could not think of a better discription for a title.
We all know (or should) that public forums/bulletin boards always have there trolls. That is kind of expected. Lately many of the forums that I stop by and read seem to be on a theme of disaccord. On one forum the originator and paid overseerer of the sight was fired. It sounds like it was done rather corporate like and unexpected. Many of the regulars of that forum jumped ship in support of the PAID host that was fired and formed a new forum on another service. Ok. Now to read posts from favorites I have to log onto two different forums. But now there is what can be construed from my point of view as a pissing contest has begun. If you post on the original forum the people who moved lable you a traitor. If you post on the new forum you are following a click and ignoring the fact that the host was treated so bad. Makes me stop reading them both :(. Very much like the stupid he said she said playground fights in the sandbox.
In place of these forums I have taken up reading flickr group discussions. I was starting to enjoy the D80 group until recent where the posts have gotten off photography and camera’s to PC v Mac and why Nikon should let unregistered users download printable manual rants. LOL Hope they go back to D80’s and photos soon. I have also recieved numerous invites to be a contact of someone that as far as I can tell never ever looked at a photo of mine they just want another contact in hopes that they will fav a photo or two. Another are you kidding? Again similar to the playground popularity contests and birthday invites. Would you be a contact for someone whose nick name is assquake**? Or for someone that as not one real photo in their
Then there apparently is still the blog wars over the PayPP thing. Cheezzzee.. I am sure that you all have noticed that my blogroll is very small. I read these blogs and a few others most days – because I enjoy them. Not because they are A listed or Z listed or on any list other than my own. In fact the top A list type blogs that I read are not on there because I figure if they are something you would like you probably already have them listed on your own blog roll. The few personal blogs that I read but are not on the list are not there because the folks blogging do not want the attention – yeah they blog for themselves and a few friends. Something I can in some ways relate to. After the Scoble photowalk link traffic I became very aware of a funny feeling that hundreds of folks were reading what I typed. I am not complaining it was this blogs 15 mins of fame :).
In keeping with my lastest urge to include a photo I present my playing with the macro lense, a cd disc, and water pic.
Tim also took up the challenge and posted some nice shots himself on flickr here
We are now on a mission to get creative with the water drop shots.
Well, the water drop shots are all amazing. What a creative way to shoot them! They’re all really iimpressive.
Now on the trolls and pissing matches…it seems like there are ebbs and flows in the online bickering that goes on. I have about 300 blogs subscribed in my reader and lately I can hardly get through the blog posts without running through some kind of bickering match, particularly among those widely read. But message boards can get downright ugly, which is why I stay away from them these days. I do participate in Flickr groups to some extent, but it’s mostly commenting and not really going into the discussions.
On the PPP thing, well…it’s disruptive. And it really has exposed a class breach that bothers me enough to keep blogging about it. If you go through the different posts on it, there’s this group that seems to be uber-protective of the “pure Blogosphere” referred to in my post last week, and along with that, the self-designated white knights protecting all those “underpriveleged women who are being prostituted with the PPP model.”
There’s something wrong with that picture. Really wrong. Getting past the condescending tone of those protective posts for a minute, it’s insulting to me as a productive, working mom to be condescended to and “protected” when I never asked for a protector and more importantly, when those claiming to defend the honor of the “poor posties” really just want to shut down their source of income, no matter what it’s used for.
It’s sort of like disguised racism — rather than actually doing something that might truly help (like coming up with a more open, alternative model for people to have an opportunity to monetize their blog if it will help with the bills or enable them to buy new camera lenses, for example), they puff up and call themselves “pure” and others “prostitutes” in the name of removing the opportunities that ARE available.
Scoble is at least interested in having a conversation and finding a middle ground. Good for him for trying.
Sorry for the rant, you caught me after a day of chasing adware and spyware from one of the children’s machines, and then cleaning all the clutter they left downstairs….not a happy camper tonight. 🙂
Karoli
I just try to bypass the pissing contests and contribute in threads where cooler heads are prevailing. I hate the us-vs-them temperament that seems to be flowing through those forums right now (really by only a few people), but I’m hoping in time it’ll abate. I do spend more time on the new one, though… It’s not even a matter of “choosing sides” but playing where all the other kids play.
Wonderful photo. It’s like an alternate universe!
Ah yes, forum and blogging wars. I gave up on AOL since the design increasingly favored trolls and slam artists.
Now I happen to think of myself as an outsider but on a rare occassion I get called an insider! Me? Ouch.
I just keep doing what I can.
Craig – I hear ya! and appreciate the quality of your and Poechewe’s blogs. It is a shame that there is an insider outsider classification at all.
Thumper – I never really posted on the first forum much let alone the second. There were a small number of people who acknowleged my posts anyway LOL. If you read some of Denny’s posts on Bubba’s you will find the one where he states that he was told who to reply to and who not to. Ha! I always suspected there was such a thing going on but his post reinforced that feeling.
I really am glad that such playground crap does not bother me – much – ;O I usually only play on the ignore this thread.
Karoli – I agree that Scoble is trying. I choose not to do PPP as you know. Not because I see anything wrong with it -it’s just not my thing. Perhaps you all have them on the run – I mean why would they want to share the bucks with some blogger they deam unworthy of their royal status? LOL Go get em girl I want to see the pictures you get with the new lense!! As for the spyware and adware – it sucks! I now use mcaffe full deal, SuperAntiSpyware, and Ad-Aware. I still can accidentally click the wrong button and end up in spy&^$%^#^ hell.
I think Scoble should have taken the money for speaking and split it between us two 😉 After all you sent me there and they left all of us small folks behind LOL
Then we could have 8gig cards! Ha ha . … but then again his and Thomas Hawks mention of my blog sent my visit meter to an all time high. One day beat one years worth LOL My blog is very under read!