Blog Mobs, A Distasteful, Shameful Blight on the Web
Source Title:
Gangs of New Blog
Gangs of New Blog
Story Text:
Dana Blankenhorn makes a great point about the way social structures in the blog world, and the distateful reality of the "Blog Mob" can affect us all.
He's refering too, as prime example, Scoble's mates ganging on Orlowski over the IE7/toolbar kerfuffle. Orlowski is big enough and ugly enough to look after himself, but it's a good point, and one that those with power and influence on the web should be very, very aware of.
Dana Blankenhorn makes a great point about the way social structures in the blog world, and the distateful reality of the "Blog Mob" can affect us all.
He's refering too, as prime example, Scoble's mates ganging on Orlowski over the IE7/toolbar kerfuffle. Orlowski is big enough and ugly enough to look after himself, but it's a good point, and one that those with power and influence on the web should be very, very aware of.
Every top blogger has a gang of toadie blogs that will do its bidding. I got a little taste of that with the Ev Williams mistake (not that I didn't deserve the hammering) When a top blogger identifies a target for ridicule, others can jump in like wolves.
[...]
Tyranny knows how to use such mobs. Tyranny of all sorts, business and technological as well as political. The mob can be like Salem and the victims of this blog mob psychology may, in fact, turn out to have been right in the end.
For bloggers to say "let the market decide" and "let's not have ethical standards" is to turn the world of ideas into Lord of the Flies -- and any one of us can become Piggy at any moment.
Nice work Dana...
- Y! MyWeb
Yes ...
it does get tiresome when the "group attack mentality" takes over -- apparently without a one of them considering what they're doing and whether it's actually the right thing to do.
One wants to have, you know, a little class. ;)
Toadies Wanted
Toadie Blogs Wanted
Unknown blogger wants his own toadie attack bloggers for posse. Inquire within. :D
Rofl
I second Brad's notion. Where's my toadies?
Well.. I'd say that TW has
Well.. I'd say that TW has its own share of toadie blogs, although they're not nearly as loyal or "group mentality" oriented as those described above - maybe that's just a sign of a successful blog - one that's gotten into the heads and hearts of its readers. After all, watch what happens when Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly say something - the whole geographic middle of the US goes crazy writing letters, making angry phone calls, etc.
It's an old human trait
expressed in new technology. If there was an online equivalent of burning torches and pitchforks, I'd be selling 'em as fast as I could.
People just LOVE to bitch, and doing it online is a more attractive option than doing it in th epub, because theres a chance of actually seeing something happen. Power, however petty, is the strongest drug to most humans. I guess that makes SE's and A-list bloggers big time dealers....
When you look at the world through that lens, doesn't it all make so much more sense?