Can I rant a bit? One of the bloggers I read, who is a published author and a key leader of the house church movement, does some strange things on his blog (And no, he is not listed in my blogroll, so don’t try to guess who it is).
His posts are ridiculously long, and most often, they are about himself, his books, all the famous people he knows, and how he’s running a sale right now on the recording of his most recent seminar session. His blog is one long commercial. I guess that’s all okay. I can understand that. Especially since I think his only income is from his book sales and speaking fees.
My real pet peeve is how he treats his readers.
First, I have noticed that he moderates his comments, and rarely allows a critical or questioning comment through. I know because I have tried…several times. He seems to block all negative or questioning comments. Why would he do this? Does he want to give the impression that everybody agrees with him? If you want to disagree with me, want to challenge my thinking, or even want to call me a heretic, go right ahead. I will not block it. Even use profanity if you must. I welcome all verbal abuse.
Second, this other blogger has a big copyright warning on the bottom of all his posts. You cannot repost any of his posts in part or in whole. Really? Why? Is he afraid people will steal his ideas and pass them around? Maybe so. I, however, give you permission to steal from me. It would be nice and ethical if you cite where you got your ideas and want to link back here, but if you don’t, I (probably) won’t sue.
And finally, this other blogger blocks most trackbacks and rarely allows links to be posted in the comments. He apparently doesn’t want other bloggers to use his blog to advertise their blog. Again, this is just bad blog behavior. I welcome trackbacks to me, as well as people who put links to their blog in the comments. Even if you just post a comment to get some of my readers to possibly read your blog, feel free! That’s how it works. It is also how I have found most of the people on my blogroll. So comment away!
The only comments I block are the spammer comments talking about male enhancement, discount prescription drugs, and porn sites. To prove how much I encourage you to put links to your blog, I turned off the “nofollow” code on my comments so that even the comments get indexed by Google and other search engines.
Well, sorry for the rant. Do you have any blogging pet peeves? Or do you want to criticize my criticism? Go ahead, post a comment below.
I know exactly who and what you are talking about. In fact, as I began my journey out of the institutional church I was questioning everything from both sides and the responses I got from the blogger you mention were downright rude and I haven’t commented on his blog since (unless I totally agreed with him and could’t resist). This is the first time I’ve seen your blog (I followed a link from your comment on mine) and I may be stealing from you in the near future since you don’t seem to mind. Hehe. You can steal from me as well, if you find anything worthwhile in my irregular rants and notions that spurs you on.
Bobby,
Good to “meet” you. I loved your Where were you at 11 o’clock on Sunday post. I added you to my Google reader earlier today. Keep writing, and I’ll keep reading!
I think the whole point of the ‘blogosphere’ is sharing and learning and interacting with each other.
As far as the issues you brought up with how the other blogger treats his readers..I think you have to let all comments come thru, good or bad. Critical or questioning comments are gateways to awesome conversations, where most of the time you learn something new. Now, since you say this blogger post alot about himself and his books and what have you..then I say he probably does want to give the impression everyone agrees with him. It wouldnt be great marketing to allow a bunch of comments that try to poke holes in his thoughts and materials. I dont agree with that notion, but that would be my assumption on why he would do that.
As far as the copyright stuff goes..I say that depends on the material you’re posting. You will find copyright notices on my blog (http://devotionsofgrace.wordpress.com) We post devotions and poems/songs…the main reason we do the copyright notices is more to do with future plans for the writings. But I dont mind if people share our material..but I do as for linkbacks and credit and all that good stuff. So, I cant criticize on that front. And considering the blogger you were referring to is a published author..I’m not surprised he’s big on the copyright.
Jordan,
Yeah, I probably shouldn’t be too hard on him. If he makes his money off his writing, and people steal his writing, it’s hard for him to make money! Ha ha. It wouldn’t be good if people stole your music…