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August 18, 2003

Blog Wars

The history of Scotland is full of internecine warfare. Basically the different clans were almost continually fighting each other. Mind you that was probably just as well because whenever they did unite they were extremely sucessful - it just took a lot of effort to get the unification going. The best way was to arrange for the English to invade and do all the horrible things that they usually did to "inferior" races. The Scots would then forget their differences long enough to deal with the invaders.

Well it looks like the external threats are fading, even the fuss about Iraq is dying down. As a result, the bloggers all appear to be imitating Scotland and indulging in some form of self destructive blog war. The first shots appear to have been almost games - like the one referred to in the latest Blog Roundup which involves Hi, I'm Black, Practical Penumbra and Dead Parrot.

More recently there seem to be some real nastiness creeping in and spoiling things. Medium nasty is this argument (via Paul Jané) between two bloggers. The comments posted were personal and direct. If someone chooses to open up and talk freely on their blog, it would be nice to be at least a little polite about it rather than slapping them in the face. I certainly see the whole thing as a warning not to reveal too much on the blog.

[EDITOR: Please read the comments attached to this article before responding to the next paragraph....]

Even more scary is the argument between Kate (Electric Venom) and DaGoddess (another hat tip to Paul Jané). Now I don't know either of the protagonists personally although I have read Electric Venom before (and used to link to the site) but the whole thing has escalated way out of hand. To some degree I think (personal judgement here) that Kate appears to be trying to make amends for the inital problem....

The whole thing raises the question of what to put on your blog and what to leave off it. Is it safe to put photo's of your kids? In the past I have commented on things like corporal punishment - is that safe?

I try to think of an email or a post like this: would I be happy for the subject of the email/article to read it? If you feel I don't live up to that standard, let me know....

Posted by Ozguru at August 18, 2003 07:08 PM

Comments

It is always good to keep an open mind about things. One of the protagonists in the last argument has been in touch via email and I have to say that her comments were quite convincing. The debate appears to have wider ramifications and what you read may not be the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If you choose to take sides, consider what little evidence is available and don't just accept blindly what you read nor what the supporters inject into the story. In retrospect, my posting is not as neutral as it should have been. I was lamenting the loss of innocence in the "blog neighbourhood". My wife has decided to withdraw the photos of our kids from the archives and has mandated that I be more careful about what I say in the future. Anyway, don't let this debate ruin either site for you. Feel free to read them and assess them for yourselves ....

Posted by: ozguru at August 18, 2003 07:08 PM

For what it may be worth, 'Da Goddess' is still in the blogroll six months later ....

Posted by: Ozguru at August 18, 2003 07:08 PM