I know people from Bluff. They're good people, friendly people, interesting people.
I don't know Brent Proctor. I've been reading about him though and I'm unable to slot him into any of the three categories above. I don't find him amusing the way I do most people who comment on the southern blogs, people who take time to join the (often lighthearted and insubstantial) discussions on-line and add their own particular brand of whimsicality to whatever topic might be up for scrutiny.
Mr Proctor doesn't. Add, that is. He subtracts, significantly. As is his right, of course, but he's given the process a bad name,a bad taste and a bad rap but that's not what I've found irksome. I dismiss his 'contributions' in an instant but what's upset me today, is this headline in The Southland Times:
Board unable to censure blogger
Come on, you good folks at the Times! The cursing, spitting Mr Proctor isn't a blogger! Kylie Fowler's 'the blogger'. Paddy Lewis is 'the blogger. Dave Kennedy's 'the blogger'. I'm 'the blogger'.
The board may be unable to 'censure blogger', but the blogger's not the potty-mouthed problem.
Mr Proctor is a commenter.
You'd hardly call one of your letters-to-the-editor correspondents, "newspaper editor", would you?
Board unable to censure newspaper editor
See what I mean?
Friday, July 20, 2012
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26 comments:
Perhaps I should not be so whimsical on this insubstantial blog?
I realise that the above blog missed your point. That was the whimsical nature of it.
To be frank I think it is widely regarded by the public that if you are commenting on a blog you are blogging and hence a blogger. I have never heard a contributor to a blog considered as a commentor in public before. And I think if you changed the title to 'commentor' it would simply create confusion. I think even though the definition is not correct the title is understandable by the public. And although it doesnt fit your strict definition it is the general publics defintion.
Anonymous @ 11.30
Don't agree with you on public perception - everyone I've spoken to has mentioned the incorrect phrase. Most often I see the references as 'made a comment on a blog' or even a 'commenter'.
Anonymous @10.58
What are you inferring? I don't agree with your 'inference'. Residents that endorse transparency will not find blogging ruins a reputation more often than not they appreciate honesty and frankness.
@Robert
I too was irked - pity though, that would have been a interesting battle - censure me (the irksome blogger;-)and not the elected member...lol
BTW You seem to have a lot of anonymity on your blog....do you attract non transparent 'commenters'....isn't that interesting?.....
While I agree that there is little understanding about the difference between someone who maintains a blog and someone who comments, I do not really believe that as a blogger I have greater status than someone who just comments. This discussion is just avoiding the real issue.
It is really about how appropriate it is that someone in a public role should use the most socially unacceptable adjectives to make a personal attacks on anyone who holds an opposing view.
While Kylie doesn't alway show restraint in how she expresses herself, there is a useful place for members of the public who are prepared to question elected officials to make them accountable. It is reasonable to expect those in public roles to be able to manage robust criticisms and respond in a factual, considered and respectful fashion. If they are unable to do this consistently then they shouldn't be in the role.
For most people the original issue has been totally forgotten and all that is remembered are Mr Proctor's unbecoming and unnecessary expletives.
Anonymous@11:30
You may believe that someone who comments on a blog is 'a blogger', but you'd be wrong.
You may believe that your commenting here makes you 'a blogger', but you'd be wrong about that too.
Definition for blogger:
Web definitions:
a person who keeps and updates a blog.
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
That you have never heard such in such, doesn't mean, Anonymous, that it ain't so. It probably means that you need to read a litle more widely than you do. Or ask someone who knows. Like me. I know :-)
Kylie - your observation re anonymous commenters here is a valid one. I too puzzle over why those anonymii fear using their real names, even when politely asked. I do try to respect anonymous commenters, but sometimes it's difficult, especially when they use their anomymity to cast aspercions, make sly digs and so on. It lacks honour, in my opinion. I have some people who comment here under a nom de plume who have emailed me to explain why they must us a ersatz name. I repect that, naturally.
Those anonymii who do take the 'free hits' that come with hiding behind anonymity, fail, I'm sure, to impress anyone at all :-)
'respect', I meant.
People call me a God botherer, I prefer to see myself as a Blogger Botherer
Anonymous@2:42
The Southland Times didn't define 'blogger'. What they did was misuse the word. They even captioned Proctor's photo using the word.
I'm hoping there will be enough interest shown in the mistake, for them to rectify it. It won't matter to anyone other than Kylie and me, perhaps, but as bloggers, it seems we don't want to be tarred with the same brush as the commenter, Mr Proctor.
I know it's a trifling detail, but hey! A word's a word!
For example, Anonymous, it's 'you're', not your, in the phrase, 'you're out of order'. Anyway, being out-voted doesn't make you 'out of order', it just means you've lost the vote. Mind you, before a vote is taken, it's required that the voters-to-be be asked if they have comment they'd like to make about the issue, so I guess that means that you, as the adjudicator and initiator of the vote, were out of order.
Your on the wrong track mr anon. You could be blocked however often people visit a blog and make a quick quirky, or queer remark and carry on never coming back, they are the 'anon' commenters - and add life to blogs. You however are more persistant which is fine, so if you made up a name, just like me, it helps to seperate your quick quirky comments from the flotsom.
Whilst our names are not too honest, it does add an honesty to your remarks.
Anonymous@2:51
You find it bizzare because you are making incorrect assumptions and they don't tally with reality. I don't 'have every reason to block anons', as you've claimed. I don't 'criticise their presence on my blogs', if by 'criticise' you mean 'criticise negatively'. I question their use of the form. I don't witsh them gone, as you repeatedly claim, dspite assurances to the contrary. If you are the same anon that has brought this up before (who would know), then I have to say I find you a slow learner and not very astute when it comes to this question.
In short, I don't complain about it, and I am doing something about it.
Sheesh!
Nicely put, Towack. I hope Anonymous can calm himself long enough to absorb your wise suggestion.
Do people call you a God botherer?
Why (on earth)?
'witsh'is better.
"bizzare" is even better.
"Dont bloggers enable if they don't block or delete such behavior? A very small amount of blame has to be attributed to the blogger if they don't take steps to limit it and if they attempt to aggrivate the situation."
That comment concerns me as I find most bloggers are proponents of transparency, communication, networking and/or exchanging information or ideas. Wouldn't that be against some bloggers principles?
I consider it a form of abuse of power if you don't allow opposing views a place within the debate or discussion.
" A very small amount of blame"
Ok.
Robert, did Towack compare you to God? (before 3pm I think).
I've said before that I would find following comments on your blog easier if the anonymous option was disabled. Then people would need to choose a nickname, and it would make it easier to understand who is who. This conversation today is no exception.
Anonymous, wildcrafty, thinks it is amusing to make communication difficult by 'being anonymous'. He can pretend that the anonymous who just said 'A', wasn't him, but was in fact another anonymous. It makes him snigger. He's a very clever chap, I'm sure you'll agree. When pressed about this intellectual dishonesty, he'll say something terribly clever, like, "But Rob loves us all as equals."
I'm sure this kind of evasive behaviour gives you the same impression of Anonymous as it does me.
Neil - soup! It's a lovely thing to do for people who are ill. I've been cooking soup every day for 3 weeks now to sustain my wife and daughter through the middle of the day. I've been avoiding grains and using only organic vegetables, especially carrots, pumpkin and shallots. They've been very well received. On only one day did I cheat and buy canned pumpkin soup. It was not appreciated by my tow 'girls' who could immediately tell the difference. Today's soup had potatoes as well, for a change. Soup, it brings communities together. We have a 'soup evening' every second Friday night, all welcome, at the Environment Centre.
Just can't leave, eh?
We'll bear with you.
Soup ah, I might have to turn up some time, is the conversation free and easy and peppered with good alcohol to make it sound intelligent, and are we there as real people or can I be mr anon and sneak in to disrupt the proceedings
Anonymous definitely works for the Southland Times. Lack of punctuation, spelling mistakes, and a desire to justify the unjustifiable.
BTW - I see on thestandard.org.nz they are referred to as 'posters'
Really?
I'm surprised. 've always thought a 'poster' posted posts. The only person who can do that, is the blogger.
I suppose you can post a comment, and that's where The Standard'll be coming from.
There needs to be some clarification, Kylie! If I wasn't so busy fighting for the environment I'd take up the battle for better semantics!
Towack - we keep the lighting subdued for the sake of those who might wish to lurk. The conversation too, is generally well modulated but there have been outbursts, usually from me, and heat greater than that coming from the roaring fire and sufficient to hatch plots.
plots ah.....the soup thickens
Under each of those 14 ducks, a plot.
Hatching.
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