OFTEN THE AUDIENCE has more to give in a discussion. Yesterday's session about blogging at an IIA event in Clonmel affirms that an audience from industry normally knows more about a presenter's product than the spokesperson representing that product. Two things stand out about the IIA in Clonmel after an evening's reflection. First, there's a troubling lack of Irish eBay vendors and a boatload of merchants posing as Irish. The eBay presentation given throughout Ireland addresses neither of these issues. Second, anyone who limits their perspective of blogging to self-promotion without conversation does not understand the true value of blogging.
I have super-critical thoughts concerning both of these main points but won't write them down since they sound snarky when landing in the 249 feed readers that pull every word written on this blog. However, I will podcast them since that reach is more miniscule than those who read the text here.
Here's a fact: people use blogs as a conversation medium. They offer short snippets that serve me well as early advisories of events, products and snags. They tell me more than my mailbox because I opt to read what my aggie finds and I trim back stuff that doesn't fit my needs. My email is bloated with attachments, whingers and spammers who normally shunt to "bulk" but need reviewing before flushing.
Here's another fact: bloggers monitor blogs for the back-channel jabbering about themselves, their company, their brand and their competition. My students use blogs to search out trends in tech, gadgets, fashion and music. Journos read blogs to get easy research and to fact-check on the fly.
And now, the point of the title of this post: this blog does not need to serve people who want to comment on it. I have blocked more than 400 IPs from using the comment and trackback features of IrishEyes if something does not contribute to the conversation. I delete text and sometimes block the repeat offender. This is my space; those are my rules. Unlike Russ Beattie, I will keep comments because Six Apart keeps the miscreants at bay through a well-oiled community blocklist. Those who get through the blocking filters risk my editor's prerogative. Regular readers know that because they sometimes see comments about porn, slots, and Nigerian scams. I put up with some of that rubbish because I know there are work-at-home moms paid to deface blocks with links back to porn, ringtones and casinos. I won't use my mobile phone to delete the comments (although I could) because it costs time and arounf five cents a deletion.
I maintain this site through my Nokia 9500 and have made more than half of the 3000 posts here from a tiny keyboard. I am happy to run my blog from my pocket. As I do, I believe I can decide what goes here and what stays after a cursory review. This philosophy has sustained me since I started blogging a month after 9/11. Thanks for visiting. Feel free to comment.
Russ Beattie -- "No comments pushback"
