Comments on: Insecurity and The Online Community

By: Miss Britt

Miss Britt — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:14:27 +0000

OK. Whew.

So I started reading this and my first thought was “the Internet is a community like the Earth is a community. Realistically, we feel more tied to SMALLER communities – like families, neighborhoods, cities, etc.”

But then, well, you said that.

And after that, I’m not exactly sure WHAT you said…

By: Bridget (@bcyberchondriac)

Bridget (@bcyberchondriac) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:05:39 +0000

Neil, good news, I think you can be more free here in the blogosphere. But it’s populated by people in the real world, so…..but as in the real world, there will be people you get to really enjoy, trust, bond with. Surrounding yourself with those people — that’s key to it all. Never mind the rest.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:05:32 +0000

I don’t think you can control the emotions that are triggered by these sorts of things. I have wondered the same sorts of things that you write about, but when I really dissect similar situations, I know that I am unwilling and unable to do some of the things necessary to get there. Kind of like the longing I have to achieve the looks in magazines being hindered by my fear of the knife, aversion to spending too much, and the lack of endurance to maintain. We can certainly argue the merits of writing quality or honesty or whatever*, but at the end of the day, you can’t argue popularity or conquests. They just are. And so, I say, let it be and be happy.

By: better safe than sorry

better safe than sorry — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:48:06 +0000

i always find in my real life, i can deal with things easier once i write them down, it clears my head. you on the other hand, you think too much or something, maybe it’s part of your creative process, which explains your being a writer.

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:12:55 +0000

I am a part of several communities within the blogosphere. And every 18 months or so I see a series of posts bemoaning how things used to be better.

Within my original community, the Jblogosphere there was a time when we all basically knew each other.

Now it has gotten to be so big you just don’t know everyone anymore.

It used to really irritate me to see new bloggers come in and become more “popular” than me in not time at all.

But most of them don’t last and I have. Not that any of that matters. For me the bottom line is this,

“Do you like to blog? Do you enjoy it?”

If you can’t say yes to those two questions than why do you bother with it.

By: Jurgen Nation

Jurgen Nation — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:42:44 +0000

Jesus Christ. I don’t really know what to write. I hadn’t heard about the Broad Summit. I guess I’m not in the circle.

I can’t say anything bad or good about the sponsorship stuff because I haven’t the experience with it. The community is different, though, and I do think what we knew our community to be 2 years ago has cracked and split off. I make no judgment calls, I just miss our old community where we all seemed to know each other and we blogged because we liked to write and communicate and make new friends. That’s what I miss, the basic equality of everyone and that everyone treated each other equally and with interest and respect, not to enlarge their base. Or whatever. Again, I don’t know, I don’t know anything about that aspect. You know me. I despise niches and strata. It chaps my fucking ass. But I haven’t been “back” for long to understand all of this. I guess the good thing is that I am meeting a lot of new people and amazing writers that captivate me. The bad thing is that so many have gone another direction.

I’m not making much sense, I think. I’m just glad to know that our community isn’t completely gone and there are still a few of us who just like to write and talk to each other.

By: Katebits

Katebits — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:25:56 +0000

I had not heard of the Broad Summit. Yikes.

By: Joe Crawford

Joe Crawford — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:27:26 +0000

I think blogging is no kind of refuge from human emotion and competition. It's not a utopia. You know, the KKK is a community. Community just means group of people. :-\ I think blogging has opportunities for potential money to be made as much as traditional writing, I think blogging does not remove the possibility of having a lucrative /other/ career in writing, I think much of the drama and ethics and "what is true blogging" issues you bring up again and again are mostly in your head. The "highest-end" blogger I read, financially and popularity, is probably dooce, and she sells ads, and makes her living that way, and the "lowest-end" blogger is way2neurotic, read by nobody, but blogging about issues of grave concern to him, his life, his brain tumor. You can rank and categorize them if you like, or get upset at other people ranking and categorizing them, but I find such ranking and categorizing mostly useless other than turning me onto some good blogs sometimes. It's possible I'm missing your point though.

By: Headless Mom

Headless Mom — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:04:50 +0000

fuck.

Loukia made me self conscious because I’ve never gotten 20 comments. Is that what you have to do to be in the in-crowd? (tongue firmly planted in cheek)

By: harmzie

harmzie — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:52:23 +0000

I’m not really very good at this whole “blogging community” ~~crap~~ stuff, probably because I’m not really very good at the whole real life community stuff.

Like real-life, there are a very select few that I consider actually *meeting* in real life (yes, I re-read that a couple of times & it stands). Like real life there are a lot more I appreciate from a distance, but just assume they won’t like me, so I just do what I do for me (and possibly those select few, see above) & maybe a couple of more will come on board.

I don’t know what that has to do with your post. Probably nothing. But the beauty of it is that in real life, I wouldn’t just stand at your front door shouting this to you.

(Probably).