While away on a business trip this weekend. it seems I missed a bit of turmoil in the blogger world. I’m not going to rehash what took place; there are certainly enough posts doing that already. I’m not condoning or excusing the behavior that incited this…attack. You know what, though? The issue that caused this turmoil isn’t what has upset me the most: it’s the way certain individuals in the blogging world feel they can rip to shreds another individual online. When did the once close and tight-knit blogging world devolve into a world of chaos and bullying? We used to stand up for one another, support one another. Now we are tearing each other down in a crazy bit of survival of the fittest. Instead of being friendly, individuals are forgetting that there are human beings, people with emotions, behind that blog. Someone with a heart, a soul, and feelings are typing each and every one of those words on that page. How did the blogging world come to be such a state?
Additionally, the empty threats and the culture of a handful of individuals spurning a group attack? Shameful. We’re adults. I found myself giving the same advice to bloggers that I give to my children when they are being bullied: bullies have their own insecurities. They feed off the pain and misery of others.
The sad thing is, this incident is only the most recent rash of bad blogger behavior. This devolution of the blogging world has taken the enjoyment out of blogging to such an extreme that several quality, long-time bloggers are quitting. I do understand their decisions to do so. All that said, however:
This blog is staying. I’m not going to let the actions of a bunch of bullies to take me down. I’ve worked too long, too hard, over the past 8 years to build this blog to what it is today. The strong will survive. I’m not the only one with these sentiments. There is still a framework of bloggers who still respect and love what we do. We have integrity. We work for our followers rather than paying a company to inflate our follower numbers and stats. We work long and hard to develop relationships with others in the publishing world. We’re genuine. We are real. We are unrelenting in our desire to share the love of books.
Edited: 2/24/15 1:43 PM Eastern Time
Apparently this post has been perceived as its own form of bullying. That is not the intent. Nor was it the intent to be a response solely to this most recent incident. It’s about a behavior as a whole: the need to openly tear someone to shreds online.
This is the challenge with writing something online, versus having a verbal discussion. This post was not intended to threaten or provoke. Instead, it is a statement that I, among many other bloggers do have respect and integrity for this passion of ours. So, I have removed the context that seemed to be most offensive.
I’ve never been one to shy away from stating my opinion. That’s certainly not going to change. Clarify or edit, perhaps, but never revoke or suppress.
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