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Jan 05 2008
Five Easy Ways to Piss a Blogger Off… For Good!
Each of us has paid our dues on Web 2.0, well except for those still just out of the starting gate, but every experienced blogger has had to contend with certain irreconcilable aggravations. Most of you know where I am going with this but it is important that we air out such insufferable affronts to our integrity and kindness. Bloggers are a unique lot, opinionated, often informed and irrevocably independent. It is an interesting aspect of our independence that we are so dependent upon one another don’t you think?
So, I thought it was high time I list 4 or 5 things that even the best bloggers absolutely deplore in this helter skelter world of new age journalism. Here is my list (and perhaps yours) of the 5 most frustrating and annoying things anyone can do to a popular blogger to piss him off permanently! Please note that any one of these grievances is as paramount as the other and they are in no special order of importance.
The fable of friendship – On every one of 20 networks the term “friend†is used way too loosely in my opinion. I remember when I first started hooking up with so many people thinking: “Wow, so many new friends!†Little did I know that friend means altogether something completely different to some people. In order to really piss me or any good blogger off permanently, simply proclaim to be my friend and never reciprocate any kindness whatsoever. Friend means someone who cares and those that don’t care should never utter the word.
Content or idea theft – Any good blogger has been copied on some level. The actual theft of a good idea or indeed the wholesale “copy and paste†of an entire article is the shortest way to piss off anyone of merit. Scrapping, copying or otherwise “stealing†content without due credit is perhaps the most disrespectful act anyone can inflict on someone who is a professional.
Lack of respect – Every day someone asks me to do something that is so far beneath my ideals and essentially my integrity that I am highly insulted. I always play the game by a fair set of rules not unlike many of my blogging and journalism associates. Asking a writer or blogger to create content for virtually no compensation, credit or recognition is unethical and primitive. Ghostwriting under contract or agreement is completely ethical as is being asked to promote viable and worthy products. However, “ham handed†excursions into shady or idiotic machinations for dubious purposes really drives me crazy.
Narcissism and elitism – People who attain a certain level of popularity or notoriety often slip into the mist of self importance. This really pisses me off! In nearly every venue from social media to blogging itself we see these primadonas flittering in and out of our spheres of influence. A blogger (no names) who asks his commentators to pay for removal of the “nofollow†attribute from his signature links is exploiting people. Some do things like this to the very people who made them popular in the first place! We cannot forget the people who help us express, inform and ultimately get to where we are.
Art turned to dribble – Everyone reading this has done one some really fine work. One of the most frustrating and infuriating things that can happen to a blogger is to write something excellent and apparently have no one see it or appreciate it. I cannot tell you how sad it makes me to work really hard on a project and know it is good only to realize few ever see it. Compounding this frustration is the realization that someone else copies your story and it makes the front page of digg. This often happens simply because another entity has a better network of (paid’?) friends. Infuriating no?
POED bonus – Off topic or inappropriate comments plague us all! The aggravating thing about this is probably the frequency of the affront and having links to SEO or unrelated sites or topics. Why do some people feel the need to skim an article and then trackback to something from outer space?
OK, now that we are all up in arms about the barrage of inhuman treatment we all have to endure, perhaps we should do something about it. I challenge you: Laura, Matt, Phil, Lillie, Pearl, Yvonne, to come up with your own set of unforgivable contrivances.
i like what you say here
“Asking a writer or blogger to create content for virtually no compensation, credit or recognition is unethical and primitive. Ghostwriting under contract or agreement is completely ethical as is being asked to promote viable and worthy products.”
one of the things that is irritating me a bit lately is how the word “ethical” is thrown around in the blogosphere. i’m glad you’re saying something about this.
isabella mori | Jan 5, 2008 | Reply
Mig,
What an outstanding article! You have covered all of the points, so no need for me to add to them.
I will say this: if you are good at what you do, then taking a paid blogging position makes sense. Don’t settle for b5media or the other low paying opportunities, instead search for companies who really appreciate your work and understand what blogging is all about.
I have two paid blog positions which are immensely rewarding for me. I’m able to ignore the false friends, while continuing to call on and depend on my real friends.
Mig, you’re a very good example of someone who works cooperatively with other bloggers, a true “friend” in the blogosphere sense of the word. And, if we lived in the same geographic area, I am sure you’d be a good business and personal friend too!
Best Regards,
Matt Keegan
Matt Keegan | Jan 5, 2008 | Reply
I agree with Matt! This is a great post.
I think that I’ve had nearly all of these things happen to me at one time, or another.
I guess that my particular pet peevers would be the content scraping and people asking me to odd things, like work for practically nothing.
One person even e-mailed me and asked me to write a manual for his “system.” My only compensation, I would get access to the system.
Umm. When I write a manual I always have access to the system. That’s how I am able to make it accurate.
Personally, I just try to ignore those who are other and don’t play nice (and there are a lot of them). Hopefully, some of them will read this post and change their ways.
laura | Jan 5, 2008 | Reply
Mig,
As Matt said, you have done such a good job of covering the topic, I don’t know that I have anything to add.
I don’t think you have to worry about no one seeing or reading your work. I’m sure I’m not your only fan who reads you faithfully and appreciates you immensely.
Lillie Ammann | Jan 5, 2008 | Reply
Mig Dear,
As always you are incomparable – these very things drive me out of my mind. As Matt says:”You are true blue!” I am glad that so many others find your integrity and talent so extraordinary too.
So many people are pressed for time in this business, but somehow you and a select group of others attempt to go beyond what most reasonably expect. I admire you a great deal and hope that others will take inspiration from you.
Always,
Phil
Phil Butler | Jan 5, 2008 | Reply
I know exactly what you mean, Isabella. The ease of using the word “ethical” is frustrating for me too.
Matt, you make me blush! I know you’ve experienced in your career each and every one of these aggravations. But somehow you managed to keep your verticalness. I too admire you a great deal and I know we will be able to cooperate in many fields in the future.
Laura, I am familiar with the problems you had recently. I was really sad to learn that your entries were plagiarized. But this about writing a manual without actually having access at the system really takes the cake!
Lillie, I am humbled by your words! The admiration and respect are mutual. You know that.
Phil… I hope you enjoyed the two cigars.
mig | Jan 5, 2008 | Reply
I have had people scrape my content without giving me proper credit (I publish under a Creative commons License) and I have had people “steal” my ideas and repackage them to great effect.
It is very annoying to find an article on the front page of a social media site that is either scraped from you or rehashed from you. It is even worse when the original article gained no traction on the same site!
As for paid blogging, don’t reporters get paid for writing? I have no problem with with writing a post in exchange for exposure.
HMTKSteve | Jan 5, 2008 | Reply
Excellent point, Steve. I used to be a reporter myself. And some of my readers know my heart. But you know more, don’t you? How is my heart beating now? Metaphors are for twin souls.
And you know this one, don’t you?
mig | Jan 6, 2008 | Reply
This blog already had my attention. Now it has my heart too.
Liz Strauss | Jan 7, 2008 | Reply
A visit from the great Liz Strauss and her heart? What an honor!
mig | Jan 7, 2008 | Reply
I’m only getting started in blogging but hoping someone can tell me if blog aggregation is ethical? What I mean by this is giving 100% credit to the authors but showing their content in one template, like a portal. The idea is there are so many incredible blogs on a specific niche, but some readers can’t hope to get to them all. but blog rolls are so small – I’d like to call out these great authors, show specific entries in a consistent format, but not necessarily every one of their entries as some go way off topic. I would ask permission but want to understand if there is a downside to these bloggers that I should mitigate to ensure content isn’t read by search engines as duplicate for example?
Nancy | Apr 4, 2008 | Reply
I noticed Problogger does this so it looks like it’s OK as long as a blogger knows about it, as a guest blogger…but still wondering about how to protect from this appearing as duplicate content to search engines for both our sakes or whether it matters.
Nancy | Apr 4, 2008 | Reply
Nancy, the best way to do what you want to do, is to write a short introduction to the article you want to present to your readers, mention who wrote it, take a snippet of the article – the most interesting paragraph for example – put it in quotes and then link to the original source for your visitors to read the rest.
Problogger doesn’t do what you say. The guest authors are often paid to write for Problogger and the articles they submit are unique, especially authored for Problogger. If you want to feature these great authors on your blog, why don’t you just invite them to write an article for you? I am sure that some will agree.
mig | Apr 5, 2008 | Reply
I appreciate your response. Thanks for clarifying what Problogger is doing. There is so much information around blogging out there now it’s tough for a newbie to separate the wheat from the chafe.
Nancy | Apr 7, 2008 | Reply