I blogged a bit about my aggravation with some of the attitudes I have seen regarding the JIBs. Let me be clear, they have my full support and I think that there is an awful lot of good associated with them.
But that doesn't mean that I cannot complain nor criticize the behavior of some bloggers who seem to have taken their nominations to mean that they should solely focus on trying to win an award within their category.
Before this goes any farther let me also be clear that if you think I am referring to you I am not. I haven't any problem naming names, but I also don't see a reason to do it indiscriminately. Although, a good flame war is often a way to gain readers. This is a sad but true fact.
This brings me to the next point/question of Why do you blog? Are you blogging because you hope to win an award. Are you writing in the hopes of public acclaim and or personal validation?
If your goal is to try and leverage the blog into a springboard into some type of job then maybe jockeying for an award is not such a bad thing. I daresay that I even understand why you might want to do that.
But I am also fairly confident that most bloggers are not writers who are secretly hoping to be discovered.
I can't speak for anyone else but I enjoy reading blogs for a few basic reasons. I like learning about different places/people. I like interacting with people I might not ever speak with or encounter in the real world. I like the real aspect of it.
Sure there is a lot of fiction and hyperbole but there is also a lot of raw emotion and life. That is usually the stuff that grabs me. It is reading about real life that keeps me interested.
The campaigning just gets old. Anyway, do what you want, it is your blog.
18 comments:
Great post, Jack. This makes me want to write that 'Why I blog' post that I keep not writing.
One contrasting point, however... for a lot of people, competing to win an award is just plain fun.
(Quick note: I'm still not sure what types of campaigning you are bothered by, but since I don't think it would be right to ask for you to give an example, I guess I'll remain somewhat confused.)
Ezzie,
Ask The Dear Old Shmata Queen for her answer.
Don't worry about being confused, it is part of being in your early 20s. ;)
PS. on a serious note, write the 'Why I blog post.'
I would be interested in reading it.
Funny, I've spent the last 20 minutes debating if I should start it now. It's late here... and it might get me going for a while.
But iyH I will write it in the near future.
LOL - Confused when I shouldn't be, not confused when I should be. That's the way to go! I won't bother the Shmata Queen - she'll get jealous that I'm going to Cleveland in a few weeks.
I'm just trying to be funny.
(but, if people want to give me awards for that- I have no problem with that...)
Quit deleting my comments, Jack.
Ezzie, I am DEFINITELY jealous that I won't be in Cleveland when you are there. But I will be there in April during Pesach. If you will be there, perhaps we could meet over sponge cake!
I blog because it gives me a public forum to write out thoughts and ideas (some original, some not), and maybe get a few interested people to discuss them. Without blogging, I wouldn't have that forum.
I tend to blog things that are less about daily life and more about abstract ideas.
I am pretty confident that JIB-madness will never affect me. For starters, even if I did write an award-worthy piece (which I haven't; I don't put that much effort into it), my readership is way too low for recognition. I'm more or less happy when someone actually reads what I write.
You've got a point about people who want to use their blogs as career springboards, and ezzie has a good point about human nature. The latter can happen even for bloggers (like me) who prefer to remain pseudonymous.
While awards are always nice, since, uh, I'm not nominated, I don't have to worry about it, now, do I?
And so my blog remains uncorrupted and my mind innocent! : D (For now, at least!) I blog, because I can.
Jack, I'm just fascinated by how many comments this one post has drawn. I wrote about the awards, as you know, in my blog (shameless plug)...I'm still waiting for someone to tell me where and when this crazy little event is happening...Joan Rivers and the red carpet...here I come.
Bloggers that blog for self-validation are usually the most pretentious and therefore the shallowest.
zeruel: can you clarify? Do you mean so they can validate themselves or do you mean get validation from others?
Ezzie,
Just blog it.
Mirty,
We shall see soon, so the stars have told me.
Robbie,
You are funny, but looks aren't everything. Sorry, old joke, so old the Shmata Queen remembers when it first made the rounds. ;)
Shmata Queen,
When you repeat yourself a thousand times I am forced to edit.
Elf's DH,
You never know, all it takes is one person to present your nomination and we're off to the horse races.
Irina,
Run free and stay true. Don't know if that sounds inspirational, but in my head it sounds cool to me. ;)
Randi,
People like to talk about people. Isn't that what Streisand said, Shmata Queen. ;)
"zeruel: can you clarify? Do you mean so they can validate themselves or do you mean get validation from others?"
People that are full of themselves and love to demonstrate that in their blog. That is what i mean.
Stacey - I was about to say that sounds like a great idea!! - but then realized that we're not going this year. :( Sorry! (But we make great Pesach choc chip cookies...)
Bloggers that blog only for self-validation usually don't get read very much (joke about DovBear? Nah... :) ) - people see through that and just are not interested.
Hmmmm....how do you know if you are one of them self-validatin' bloggers?
(or is this one of those "if you have to ask, you probably are!"
The "why do I blog" question is something I am asked a fair bit, and sometimes I find myself wondering the same. It started to save myself from group-emailing friends in the UK when I moved, but I love what it has developed into and could never have imagined it.
We blog for the groupies. Any minute now we will be up to our necks in hot Jew blog groupies. I am sure of it. So please vote for Jewlcious. Don't do it for us. Do it for the children.
On a serious note, I know exactly where you're coming from. Last year we actually tried to sabotage our standing in the JIBs by telling our visitors NOT to vote for us. We claimed we were Mormons with Jew envy and were therefor ineligible. Well, it didn't work and we won a whole bunch of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishes.
This year, after having met Dave of Israellycool, we decided to at least be supportive of the whole enterprise. I've gone through the blogs and have been impressed by the depth and skill of many of the J Bloggers. It's been quite fun so far and we're all looking forward to how this all progresses.
We all have daytime gigs and so we don't need or want "jobs" - thus we don't care who wins, but we are thrilled at the opportunity to be introduced to a whole mess of new blogs and the chance to visit older blogs we haven't checked out in a while.
So... fun fun fun! Do it for the children!
IFWI,
It was a similar experience for me. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
CK,
Groupies, if I would have known about groupies I would have started blogging years ago or at least gotten a flu shot.
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