Unethical blogging in Virginia? A possible campaign-planted blog?
There is a new blog out there on the right that appears to be a plant by a campaign. I have read it and it has the distinct tone and tenor of one trying to get noticed for notice’s sake.
Conservativa has the details and makes this solid point:
Blogging is writing [or podcasting!]. If you launch a blog, it will be read by other bloggers. We are writers. We love the written word. But if you start your blog by hiding who you are, and then try to inflict ersatz rant-lets upon us, especially in what looks like a transparent attempt to get set up for influencing reporters during an upcoming election, don’t be surprised if we go after you like Simon Cowell savaging some feckless wannabe warbling “Feelings” on American Idol.
This has nothing to do with Republican or Democrat, but everything to do with credibility.
Category: Catch-All
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[...] Bearing Drift has posted as well. [...]
[...] may actually be a plant meant to serve a candidate somewhere down the line. Also taking note are Bearing Drift and Scott’s Morning Brew. I do have to admit that they may be on to something after having [...]
[...] it may actually be a plant meant to serve a candidate somewhere down the line. Also taking note are Bearing Drift and Scott’s Morning Brew. I do have to admit that they may be on to something after having [...]
[...] Jim Hoeft and Jim Riley all have brief takes as [...]
Without providing a link to the blog how and the heck are we supposed to identify it?
By the way, I post under a “handle”. It is the same handle I use in my occupation on the CB radio. However I do not try to hide my identity. Anyone interested in who I really am only needs to click on my handle on you will be directed to my little read blog, the URL of which reveals my identity.
Not saying I am the one being accused. My blog certainly could not be described as being right wing.
LD – I know it’s not you, but I can also say that this conversation can be had without knowing the blog because the facts of the matter go beyond just one site. It comes down to pseudonymous blogging and whether the blogosphere is going to let itself get duped whether by the blog being discussed or by some other blog that comes up with something that happens to be juicy.
Jason,
Good point.
But how will we know who the offending party is if the offending party is not identified?
I understand the desire to not provide a link, doing so provides authority in the twisted blogosphere.
But criticizing a ghost? OK, I’ll invent a ghost (or strawman) and then criticize him without identifying him. It will be a case of “I know a secret I can’t tell. If you knew the secret, you’d think like me.”
Maybe I just don’t read as widely as I used to, Jim, but it would be extremely helpful if this supposedly offending blog was named — this is not only fair, it is right.
Otherwise, you’re dealing in innuendo.
I think it would be best to name the blog, otherwise a game may begin of guessing which blog or candidate is behind it. Not to mention it could have a chilling effect on “pseudonymous” bloggers who are innocent bystanders and are just using handles because they don’t want their name floating around.
From the response to my post, I’ve found that not naming the blog actually helps the conversation.
Many people have come back to me asking if it is this blog or that blog because the point is making people have to truly evaluate the source behind those sites. THAT is what is at issue here, folks, transparency in blogging and what it means to the blogosphere as a whole. Again, it’s not about one blog specifically but a type of blogging generally. One blog just happened to get the ball rolling on this.
Many of us who have been blogging a while know this type of blog. The anonymous blog that pops up, spewing fire, seeking glory, but never willing to reveal the man behind the curtain. Now sometimes that curtain exists for a good reason: protection of employment and more. But most of the time it’s merely to shield the anon blogger from any blowback from their “splash and trash” blogging. These blogs exist not to add to the quality of the blogosphere but to hope and pray for that one hit that will be the next Macaca. And if we’re not willing to watch for it ourselves we’re going to allow the blogosphere to become defined by sites like this and degrade the medium as a whole.