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Are we all a bunch of cowards?!

May 10

At last I found something I agree with David Bullard (Scary, I know!):

“I find anonymous attacks cowardly”

(You really should read his follow-up response here.)
Not so long ago Sessa wrote about the blogosphere cliques. Mike’s comment on the post was:

“Name names! Be the cocky shit I know you can be!!!”

What puzzles me is that ALL of us writes these anonymous rants. Always these nameless inuendos. I get to a post like that and start re-evaluating myself, thinking: “OMW, where did I do this…” (If the shoe fits…)
So why are we all too afraid to name names? Why do we not point the attack directly at the source rather than spraying bullarts ( ) in the air? Why do we not want to be the “bad guys”? Why do no-one have the guts? Yes, a war will errupt. We have seen the proof of that. You will lose plenty of “friends” and gain enemies and a huge readership. You might even be the cause of a massacre at the next 27 dinner! Fortunately, nobody is that brave yet!

Now do not get me wrong. I myself would (almost) NEVER do this. I’m simply not that kind of person. I do not like to be the bad guy (my wife can happily vouch for that!). I do not like to be the center of controversy. I would (almost) never publicly attack someone. (At least, so I though until the Bullard saga! Dammit, man! You are making me doubt myself!) Seriously though, apart from that issue, I would much rather avoid confrontation. If that makes me false or a coward, so be it. It seems I’m not alone… I suppose one could argue that our community is way too small and intimate. “An attack on one is an attack on all!”.

I’m no psychological expert. Hell, my social skills is not the the kind that will be blogged about. I’m in no way capable of analysing issues like this. I do find it amusing though. The fact that unless we get publicly attacked, we’ll never shoot first! I guess we’re just a good bunch of people then, eh? Or is there a storm brewing somewhere? A festering boil waiting to errupt? (Excuse me while I poke out my mind’s eye…) I have to say, at least we do not simply turn the other cheek!
Maybe, just maybe, this will change with David Bullard starting to blog…
Ugh, CRAP! I feel like I’m starting to like Bullard. And that makes me feel like a cop-out who cannot stick to his word. I think the issue went much deeper than the mindless drivel it looked like on the surface. He made me think. I’ll give him credit for that! Even if its in a field where I’m the novice.

(Credit for this badge goes to Colin Daniels. Got it from his blog!)

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15 Comments to "Are we all a bunch of cowards?!"

Imel said: On 05/10/2007 at 7:28 am
Yeah, I agree in a sense. I found the whole BullardGate saga quite amusing, especially in the way David managed to redirect all the flames into a one on one challenge to be better at what we do.

Great stuff, the blogging world will be better because of David Bullard.
Nic said: On 05/10/2007 at 8:41 am
Stii, I agree with you 100%. I love this post.

This topic has crossed my mind a million times. There are bloggers who I really don’t enjoy reading, who I think are idiots and who I would like to tell my opinions too. I have written, saved and deleted at least 3 posts focusing on this topic. I just can’t, right now, bring myself to be the blogosphere bullard (not that we need that anymore!! ). Not yet at least. I am one of those people. I like to tell people what I think of them.

The reason that I have not done so is simple: I might not like/read/trust certain bloggers, but that doesn’t mean that they are not great people to know, learn from and work with.

You can’t always get on with all the people you encounter. Sometime I just think that it costs me nothing to be nice and pleasant and swallow. Then other times I really think that some of the blogosphere needs a smack upside the head!!

I dunno, at the end of the day we all do what we do irrespective of opinion of others.
Stefano Sessa said: On 05/10/2007 at 8:46 am
What if I was generalising in that post? And was avoiding typing out every single blogger’s name? I am not afraid to name people, really, I couldn’t give a rats arse. In that specific post, though, I generalising.
Stii said: On 05/10/2007 at 9:00 am
Stefano, I understand that. I apologise that I used your post as an example, but it was the only post I could lay my finger on which was relevant to this topic. Nothing personal.

Nic, you have a good point. I guess one should not judge people by their posts. They might be great people after all.
Nic said: On 05/10/2007 at 9:11 am
Don’t get me wrong, I think you are on to something huge with this blog-war idea. If I were to name bloggers that I hated and thought were shite my ranking would fly up and i’d be sitting pretty!
Stefano Sessa said: On 05/10/2007 at 9:40 am
Hating is a bit harsh, dont you think Nic? I can understand a dislike, but to get to hate someone, purely based on his blog is a bit much. Unless of course, he really is a racist/sexist/scrofulous prick.
Nic said: On 05/10/2007 at 10:11 am
Ja, hate is a bit harsh, but I can openly say that I hate at least one blog. And it’s no secret, “why South Africa Sucks” is the worst piece of blog turd rubbish web-usage ever. I hate that blog and the four authors. But otherwise, You are 100% right, I think i was a bit hasty with the word hate in my comment!!

Thanks Stefano!
Charl van Niekerk said: On 05/10/2007 at 10:11 am
Wow, some people are indeed much more bored than I thought!!! Going back to coding (yeah, actually doing something that can even vaguely be classified as useful and constructive)…

Ah, maybe that’s my publicity stunt: attacking others that attack Bullfrog. I mean, Bullard. ROFL!!!
Colin Daniels said: On 05/10/2007 at 10:13 am
Stii - I’ve made a version of the badge with a white background which you can get here:
http://www.colindaniels.co.za/iknowbullard(wh).jpg
Stii said: On 05/10/2007 at 10:38 am
Thanks Colin! Looks much, much better now!
Colin Daniels said: On 05/10/2007 at 12:20 pm
/agreed
danette said: On 05/10/2007 at 5:25 pm
Anonymous quotes suck - I agree.
BUT… I have no clue who David Bullard is, what he stands for, or why on earth everyone has suddenly converted to blogging about him? I’m in the dark here! Totally not part of the “Bullard-clique” :O
I’ve opened his link on your post and I’m gonna go read now…
danette said: On 05/10/2007 at 5:33 pm
Ahh… now I get it
danette said: On 05/10/2007 at 5:53 pm
He is arrogant, right. But I know there are crappy blogs out there. I myself am guilty of writing junk, and in a way its good that he’s taking people on about it. Its like a challenge you know? A lot of bloggers will probably have the reaction of “we can show him we’re not that bad”, and I think that’s a good thing.
Understand that I’m not taking his side, I’m just saying we can choose to react to him either way we want Or ignore him for that matter
Bullard Blogs And Makes Some Good Points… | nicharalambous.com said: On 05/13/2007 at 8:23 am
[...] I rue the day we did. Tsk Tsk Bullard lives amongst us now. He might even be one of the first to come out with his disdain for certain other bloggers by name. From Bullards latest column: Apparently freedom of speech is [...]