Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Blog Whoring and Me-Too Blogging

Dan Riehl has a worthwhile post this morning on "Iconoclastic Bloggers."  He defines an iconoclast as a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions.  I like that.

I like even more what he said about blogger cliques and groups:
"Still, cliques and groups around certain larger blogs have grown up, along with the professional sites and aspects of it."
A light went on in my head.  Dan had described a phenomenon that annoys the hell out of me, though I hadn't fully verbalized or defined it.  Cliques!  I have simply referred to the phenomenon as "Me-Too Blogging."

"Me-too" blogging is where one assumes a role in the king blogger's court and begs for links and attention and indulges in throw-me-a-bone bootlicking. "Me-too" bloggers are beholden to bigger bloggers for traffic they haven't actually earned, and so compromise their principles and honesty in order to retain their benefactor's good graces. Some people have called this "blog-whoring," and the description is apt.  It means you must defend your benefactor, even when he or she is wrong or has done something unethical.

Also, Clique-Blogging is a form of group-think.  Riehl also pointed out:
Group-think is the enemy of freedom and I detest it, in its various forms.
Me-Too Blogging is compromised blogging.  Don't do it.

11 comments:

Randy-g said...

Not to be confused with shameless blogwhoring

Adrienne said...

I read his article, too.

My pet peeve (besides what you mentioned) is a certain "high-end" blogger who states on his blog "I only link to people that link to me." Say what??? How about linking to something you might think is worthy or true regardless if the other person even knows who you are.

IMO too many of the bloggers who sort of "hit it big" start to think they're smarter than everyone else when in some cases they're dumb as rocks (no insult to rocks intended.)

Always On Watch said...

What's the point of blogging if one isn't going to be honest in stating one's views?

I realize that people can change their views. But to write something so as to suck up to somebody else seems pointless to me.

Stogie said...

Adrienne, I link to sites I like to read whether they link to me or not. I agree that some really big bloggers out there are not nearly as smart as they think they are.

The Griper said...

all you're describing is something we learned as kids, the game of "follow the leader". a lot of people don't know how to lead therefore they become followers. tis a sign of collectivism and it occurs on the right as well as on the left.

Stogie said...

AOW, I think some people are overly concerned with hits. They get a lot of traffic from butt-kissing, and that's why they do it.

Stogie said...

Griper, yep. Following the leader is probably seen as the safe thing to do. There's safety in numbers.

Carrie Ries said...

I am new to blogging and someone recently blocked me from commenting calling me a blogwhore? I do not understand this? I read the article, left an intelligent comment,and a link to my own blog. Is this not acceptable? I didn't see anything saying no links and I have seen others leave links. In searching it seems google and others recommend leaving a link. Confused? Please help!

Stogie said...

Kitty, it appears the blogger who called you that objected to you leaving a link to your own blog. Maybe he/she views that as competition. Personally, I don't generally have a problem with that as long as the link is to a topic related to the discussion.

Carrie Ries said...

Thank you for the advice. That is very helpful.

Stogie said...

this is really a very good article to read.i liked it very much as i found it really informative here with us.keep it up.all the best.Tax Deed.