Blog bullying

[annwfyn]

I just stumbled across this story about a blogger who has received a lot of really nasty death threats. Unsurprisingly, my sympathies are entirely with her.

It's actually brought back a lot of memories - the crap hardwired went through when he was NST, the bullying that Leah and Robin got back on their blog, and some of the flame wars I've seen.

It's an odd thing we do, really. We create this unreal space, and then pour so much of ourselves out there - hopes, dreams, fears, personal details about our lives - and yet we do so in a space which actually doesn't have a lot of the protective barriers of normal human interaction. Most strange.

Why do we do this?

Why do you guys blog?

Comments

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

I write stuff on LJ because I am almost always bored :)
Plus it is the nearest thing I get to social interaction.
I read others' LJs as it is nice to know what they are up to - I don't talk to people much in real life and extremely rarely if ever on the phone :) I guess I am just nosy :D

[castorlion.livejournal.com]

I can't be there as much as I'd like for all my friends' day to day lives. This is how I share their lives and how they share mine.

[ksirafai.livejournal.com]

*shares with Mattmatt*

I got free doughnuts for breakfast today.

:D

...Or, rather, I use LJ as a means of organising outings, posting things I want to keep track of and having somethign to do during the day; provoking discussion is also somethign I enjoy doing if I can think of anything.

Currently, my main provocation is that I _can't_ work out how to make sense of two chips of phrases in my head, so they're burrowing deeper into my brain. At some point, they'll turn into either tat prose or character concepts. :)

[lawrencegillies.livejournal.com]

Ooh, love the Sinister icon!

[ksirafai.livejournal.com]

I totally spend way too much of my life looking for decent Sinister icons. I've got, I think, about six or seven.

If you need Icons, I know where to hunt. Give me themes, and I'll bring back bits and pieces of 100x100 art. :P

[lawrencegillies.livejournal.com]

Actually, I would rather like a John Constantine icon of some description.

Apart from that, what sort of thing do mean by themes?

Sinister has always been the X-men villain I've wanted (and largely failed) to find out more about. Him, and Exodus.

[ksirafai.livejournal.com]

*laugh* I can fill you in on both if you're bored, but Sally will despair of her LJ being used as such. Catch you some weekend and geek at you? :P

Themes are things like subject matter, mood, colour, style; I can fiddle through and look for things easily enough. JC is nice and easy start point, tho. :P Will prod through the day...

[lawrencegillies.livejournal.com]

Geek away!

[lawrencegillies.livejournal.com]

It largely a means of keeping in touch with friends and the like.

[chrisvenus]

Firstly I think it is important to note that there are two sorts of "blog" on the internet. Those who write diary's which is what LJ tends to be and what I do and those who write more article type stuff (technical blogs and the like) which are more like magazines than diaries. I tend to think of blogs as being more the latter and certainly don't think of myself as a blogger.

The main reason I bring up this distinction is because Kathy Sierra, the blogger in question, writes an article style blog. There is not the same hopes, dreams, fears and personal details that you mentioned happens here on LJ. I don't read her blog so there may be some but a quick glance showed it to be mainly professional style opinions on things.

I think this makes it all the more scary that she came under such an attack. She's not been telling people about her personal life and people have taken objection, she's just shared professional opinions on stuff (caveat: as far as I can see from a very quick glance).

As for why I do it, that's simple. I don't do it as a blog to reach a wide audience, I do it as a way of letting friends that I don't see often (such as you) know at least vaguely what I'm up to. Occasionally I do it to entertain people (by link sharing or just trying to write something funny). Occasionally I do it to share personal experiences that I think are good to be shared.

One of the things that has most vindiacted my LJ was after talking about my depression last year a friend e-mailed me and said that the post had really helped, that they were going through similar things and somebody else's experiences were really valuable to them. That kind of justified my LJing in the past and everything in the future with just the knowledge that the one post had helped.

Also I guess I do it so people who dont' know me can get to know me better. My friends list keeps expanding as I come across friends friends on other people's journals, think they look interesting and add them. I don't really know them but through LJ I get to know them a bit better and vice verca.

Did you expect that long a reply? :)

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Firstly I think it is important to note that there are two sorts of "blog" on the internet. Those who write diary's which is what LJ tends to be and what I do and those who write more article type stuff (technical blogs and the like) which are more like magazines than diaries. I tend to think of blogs as being more the latter and certainly don't think of myself as a blogger.

Good point, well made. I didn't go through Kathy Sierra's blog in any real detail and was probably just projecting a bit. I've got a lot of really quite miserable memories from the time hardwired was getting comments like "because you're the misbegotten son of a whore, aren't you?" and "why don't you just commit suicide. I would if I were you. Why don't you just do it?" on his LJ, backed up with e mail death threats, and so I think I just automatically put this new furore into that same category.

Do you really think there are two clear categories? I've mostly been of the impression that most blogs sort of straddle the personal and the magazine column-style categories you describe. I mean, a lot of blogs aspire to be like newspaper columns, but still tend to be someone's quite personal perspective on events, and a lot of personal blogs/livejournals still cover quite a lot of politics, film reviews, perceptions of the world in general.

BTW - I do like your livejournal. I like livejournal a lot in general as it does mean that you can maintain a connection of some kind with friends that you don't get to see as often as you might like due to life getting in the way.

And thank you for the long reply. It gives me much more to think about than a two line comment about livejournal being a good way of keeping in touch. :p

[chrisvenus]

I think hardwired's experiences are comparable to Kathy Sierra's in that the attacks were not personal but because of the job or whatever they were doing. It might have been done through LJ but i suspect it was not really related to what he was posting but because he was NST or whatever.

And I think there are two clear categories of post. Some journals do tend to mix up the posts a lot but many stick to one or the other. For example a friend of mine has a blog (possibly had considering how much he updated it): http://www.earth.li/~dave/techie/blog/index.html

All the posts on there are useful articles that tell how to solve a problem or discuss methodologies.

If you look at my journal its all about me, what I've been up to and sometimes what Iv'e been finding funny recently. Nobody is going to want to look at it apart from to get to know me.

Calling them two separate categories is probably forcing boxes to a certain extent but I would be reaosnably sure taht every post can be put into one of those two categories.

There is another interesting blurring I guess when you consider things like http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/ that is actually quite often Neil Gaiman posting about what his life is (in much more of a journal style) but due to his position as a famous author he is of more general interest to random people searching the web than mine would be. I think I'd still put him in the journal category because he is mostly about what he has been up to rather than more solid articles.

Maybe its more noticeable to me since I work in tech because in searching for solutions to problems you find a lot of blogs out there (I've just realised http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/ is a much better example of what I think of as a true blog) that have very factual article like things on them.

Then again I guess with any labels they are useful in some ways but are never the whole story. They are just attempting to put artificial and more importantly subjective boundaries around things.

At the end of the day I guess the only real upshot is that I call what I do a journal and would never refer to it as a blog. :)

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

And there I was just thinking (the RSS feed of his journal is showing up pretty much alongside this post on my f-page) how amusing it was to see Gaiman squeaking excitedly (OK, bouncing) about being nominated for a Hugo award.

He often writes about what he's up to, but I'm thoroughly entertained by such a very human, recognisable *bounce* - when most authors would just be demurely sound-bitey and quotable for fear of looking stupid if they didn't then get it - whereas he's like a kid at Christmas getting all excited about the pile of presents, even when they might turn out to be for other people.

[chrisvenus]

Indeed. It is one of the things that makes gaiman so wonderful to read, even in blog form. It is very much like reading journals of friends except that he gets to do more exciting stuff like flying round the world to film sets, book signings and all that. But still chats about his family, has his daughter occasionally randomly post stuff to his journal and all the real things that real people should do. I think I'm sounding like a fanboy. :)

[chrisvenus]

And you look hot in that userpic. :) I'd do you. :)

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Bless mortalcity - tis one of the Women of the Camarilla photoshoot pics. Technically I think I'm not meant to use them, but White Wolf never paid me for the shoot, and so are in breach of contract to me too, and as such, I care not. :p

[chrisvenus]

You should totally send me an e-mail with all of them in then so I can see your hotness properly since I've not seen it in a long time. :)

[adze.livejournal.com]

Seconded.

As has been said before, you're remarkably photogenic.

And there's some really nice photos of you kicking around, too ;-)

[castorlion.livejournal.com]

Sheesh! Sorry for the apparently lack of quality, I thought I'd just answer the question with my honest thoughts and feelings. I'm sorry that's not good enough for you.

*strops*

[lawrencegillies.livejournal.com]

Indeed!

The cheek of it!

*flounce*

[castorlion.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I think we should de-friend her immediately!
I may even delete my journal out of pique!

*huff*

[lawrencegillies.livejournal.com]

At the very least!

*Harumphs*

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

Why do you guys blog?

For the money. Oh, and the chicks.

Seriously, it's because I like the sound of my own keystrokes, because I like to share, and because very little helps you get sequences of events in your life in order (both chronological and comprehensible) than keeping a running narrative of them permanently published on the internet.

It also acts as an interesting sort of focus group for the people I'm likely to come across in my life, so I can ask stupid questions about gender constructs, childhood memories, the proper way to eat Kit-Kats or where people keep their wallets (suckers) without too much effort.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

It's publicity work to make the world more aware of the wonder that is me.

[portilis.livejournal.com]

I don't really.

I will occasionally put up a post for general consumption, but not that often, and it's usually fairly irrelevant drivel really. I make a very small number of personal posts, but they are generally restricted to about half a dozen people.

Combination of laziness and paranoia really I think.

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

I read that blog - it's a great professional blog on encouraging, developing and training users of your product. (It's definitely not the kind of blog you're used to - there's basically no personal stuff on there at all, aside from incidentals).

I have *absolutely no idea* why the bastards who've decided to target Kathy have done so. I honestly couldn't think of anything she's ever posted that would have the potential to annoy anyone that much. She's not even that smug or American, given that it's a business blog.

And it'll be really annoying if she stops posting, given that it's a great source of free information.

[kittyboo-tastic.livejournal.com]

I originally came on Lj b/c a very important friend of mine, who lives 10.000 miles away, kept us updated on secure posts (so i had to join, basically). And then, b/c all my family / close friends are abroad, i figured it would be nice and easy to keep everybody updated via posts, rather than send thousands of emails...
but then, there is something addictive about blogging.

blogging and blog bullying

[mangochutney04.livejournal.com]

I think I blog for two main reasons:

1) I find it really cathartic sometimes
2) I used to send loads of group emails and writing one blog post for everyone is just a whole lot easier.

Obviously, I think blog bullying is horribly wrong. If I don't like someone's blog, I don't read it. And even when I've seen something annoying on a blog or something I totally don't agree with I just think it to myself and don't say anything or post a nasty comment because I know how it feels to be on the receiving end and I don't want to upset anyone in the way I was upset and we were upset.

Some of the nastiest comments we received included 'no one would ever look at you except in HORROR' addressed at me and to tell me that I have 'rugby legs'. We were also told to get over ourselves and that our blog was an addictive read because it had a theme of failure running through it. We were told that our blog was not fit for purpose, badly written and tedious. I got called Mrs Barbishire, La Essex and told I could never have gone to Oxford and that if I had they would take my degree back. Also I couldn't ever have had anorexia judging by the 'state of me' now. We got cited on 'nutter watch' and I was told I was insane and obviously 'deeply unhappy with my life'. One bizarre one - when we were in Singapore a Lib Dem wrote that we weren't doing much in Singapore except slating the Lib Dems and maybe we should look around. One look at our photo album shows that was complete bollocks! Dirt on us was also dragged up from all over the place with so called 'friends' helping with it.

I have a lot of evidence to suggest that the nastiest and most personal looks-based of the comments aimed at me came from a girl whose boyfriend came on to me once (who was in the same political party) such that it was a personal vendetta. This girl also phoned the police to accuse me of harassing her when I hadn't spoken to her or seen her for six months at the time! I thought that proved she was a bit crazy.

I think the rest of it - the less personal stuff - was politically driven. People in the Party knew that we knew a lot of behind the scenes stuff and they didn't like us talking so openly about it and revealing the truth. It was pure bullying. If we are nasty to them, they will shut up. Several blogs made repeated comments to the effect that 'hopefully they will see sense and stop their blog'. The same thing has happened all over again to a lady called Suz who has also just quit the Party and is blogging negatively about it. She has received several nasty emails saying she should stop her blog from Party members and the other blogs are slating everything about her oh....and they claim to have expelled her too. We, apparently were 'exiled' even though we chose to resign against the wishes of the CEO.

I have waffled on but that is my insight into it. Funny enough I was thinking about the exact same thing today. I was wondering why people would go to such lengths to maintain their beliefs in a political party that they would suspend moral judgement and make nasty personal attacks on people who used to be their friends. I can only assume that political belief like that can be a kind of delusion.

I have full sympathy for your friend, hardwired, who went through a similar thing and anyone else who does. Speaking honestly I am angry that we have had to stop our public blog just because of these twats because we still hear from people to this day who miss it. However, I know it's for the best. And one thing that is refreshing about the privacy of livejournal is that I don't feel so worried about work colleagues, contacts or my boss seeing me write about work or finding my bikini photos anymore! It's also nice to finally have peace again but if I'm honest I really resent the fact we were bullied, I resent the fact that a google search still pulls up these nasty lies about me because I know some people will believe them however far fetched and I resent the fact we can no longer blog in the way we wanted to.