Take Back The Blog! & Stop "wrestling with the pigs".
The past month has brought up a lot of generally shitty stuff in the Land O' Blogs.
The online attacks and threats against female bloggers Kathy Sierra and Devious Diva lead to the Blogging Code Of Conduct proposal by Tim O'Reilly, that either pissed a lot of people off, or had them nodding in agreement.
There's a division brewing in the so-called *blogosphere*, and I hate to say it, but even here on Vox.
In any community, there are fights, and lies, and snarky comments, and the fur will occasionally fly.
And obviously, everybody knows that on in social networking and in online communities, these are byproducts of having more than 3 people connected, and this shit will happen.
However, communities are not just formed of crazy outsiders, Others, or random folks. They're made of US. It's our own personal responsibility to TAKE responsibility and own up to what we say and do online. The emails we send. The comments we leave.
Some try to cop out and say,"Well, it's the Internet. Things happen so quickly and everything's so instant, it's hard to think fully about what we're saying before we post it." Sorry, but no one's holding a fucking water pistol to your head, forcing you to press 'Post' other than yourself. And because everything is so instant, maybe that should cause us to think even harder about what we're saying.
However, the truth of the matter is, our once small community is growing. Rapidly. We're all starting to deal with the "Check out my awesome band!!1!" messages and are learning that if you're going to post a bitch fest about one of your *haters*, chances are, somehow, some way, they will either read it or hear about it. It's the internet, not a fucking Hello Kitty diary you keep hidden under your mattress.
Just because you have the legal right to say whatever you want, doesn't always mean that you SHOULD.
I'm sure all of us have had to learn, at one point or another, to grow thicker skin, or learn to not take every bad thing someone says about us personally.
As O'Reilly said: "Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it."
Bottom line, we all need to take the efforts into making Vox and the entire blogosphere a FUN, inspiring, proactive, SAFE, respectful and a free place to express ourselves and share our lives online.
Not everyone is going to get along or agree, but as bloggers and writers, we need to own our words. We also need to OWN our blogs.
This is exactly what the Take Back The Blog! blogswarm is about.
It's about OWNING respect, and the freedom to express yourself online safely, without having to worry about extreme harassment and threats online.
It's about taking YOUR blog back. Back from all the dramatic melodrama bullshit, and getting your blog back to what YOU want it to be about.
Bruce from Crablaw has organized this kick as blogswarm, and is hosting Take Back The Blog!
Bruce says that Take Back the Blog is in support of:
"The rights of women to participate fully in all aspects of our society, including specifically online in the world of blogging but indeed everywhere and at all times, day and night, without fear of harassment, intimidation, sexual harassment, online stalking and slander, or predation or violence of any sort."
Can I get a fuck yes?
Take Back The Blog! is taking place this Saturday, April 28th.
If you're wondering what the fuck a "blogswarm" is, The Lazy Iguana has the best definition:
"A 'blogswarm' is when a bunch of people blog about the same crap ON PURPOSE! It is a premeditated thing, as opposed to the usual randomness that tends to rule the Internet. Order from chaos. Entropy. Call it whatever you want."
For full details, please read Bruce's post over at Crablaw.
This isn't even just about WOMEN and WOMEN'S RIGHTS. This is about all of us, and how we're going to shape the safety and the future of blogging.
I'd go all P.Diddy on you and threaten "Post or Die!" but that may be sort of defeating the purpose of this entire thing...
**UPDATE** I just came across this article today called: "Is your self-worth wrapped up in your blog", and I think it brings up an excellent point, and touches on some issues that I've read throughout Vox.
Comments
Fucking YES!!! This is Great!!
I'm not much of a joiner, kiddo, but I really like and admire your attitude.
Go get 'em!
FUCK YES!
:)
Karen, I usually don't pay much attention to stuff like this either, but this just spoke to me. Kind of like the same way cheese does...
Liz, I feel like that could be classified as a tagswarm? lol
Spooook! Going to "war" against people in a blog is just sort of pointless, lol. I agree with you. Thanks for your interest!
Heck yes is right! I'm really excited about this, so I'm glad you guys are too :)
I lovah you all!
xx
Hell ya! Fuck ya! Hizzah... It is easy to insult a person when you are hiding behind a computer screen and a profile picture of Mr. T. To me, it's more fun to explore differences and create discussion. Actually, to me, it's more fun to read, think about how I would reply and then turn my computer off.
i'm sick of the petty drama that's going on. though i've dealt with so much drama in the past, i'm ready to move on and be able to be me without having to be worried or paranoid about people harassing me. i love this idea and it's about time this happened! :)
Thanks for sharing this.
We all bring ourselves to our blogs. The trick is not to care what anyone feels about what we write. Writing with intent to get comments sets people up to want as many positive comments as they can get and then floors them when any comment is negative. The people who blog like this don't seem to see it. But many of us do see it and it affects us.
Vox is a small community, and people read holding back from making a negative comment that might hurt only to find themselves in a blogswarm. Suddenly all the negatives they could not say as a comment come out in another blog. People get sucked into the energy.
The thing is, this would not happen if people were able to own what they write - to write for themselves and not for the attention they get.
When you go looking for attention, you'll get it and odds are 50% will be negative.
The internet allows more people to come together than ever before with more ideas than have ever been thought. It also allows people who have absolutely nothing to say about anything to say it to millions of people over and over ad nauseum. I treat people's blogs as I would their house. I come by, visit, talk a little bit and move on. Some people just feel they have to urinate on the wall. Common sense and a little respect is all the difference. I agree wholeheartedly with spooktastic, if you don't like it, move along. Thanks for sharing!
As O'Reilly said: "Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it."
I've also heard it said, "Don't feed the troll." A troll is anyone who sits on a message board, blog comment stream, etc., trying to inflame others into argument.
I can't say I care much for the idea of a "code of conduct," though I do support a blog site's right to shut down someone who's advocating violence against someone else. Beyond that, I vote with my feet. If I think you're an intolerant pig, I won't read your posts, and I'm likely to ban you from commenting on mine.
It is also extremely difficult to write with paws.
I am into being criticized. It is a part o f my schtick. So any one can say anything to me. But i try not to piss others off.
GEE i sound like a Blog submissive?!
Cate you are a rare bird with silliness, charm and brains all wrapped up in a pretty package. Keep it up kid.
I drink my own urine, whadda want?! La