Question: What is the one common interest that all bloggers share?
Answer: They like to blog.
Sounds like common sense doesn’t it? Yet it is a concept that some people just can’t seem to wrap their heads around. I, like many others around here, am susceptible to occasional fits of meta-blogging (blogging about blogging). I have opinions about things in the blogosphere and sometimes feel the need to share them. No big deal right?
I find that usually when I write about these things I am met with a certain amount of disdain just because I am metablogging. Doesn’t make a difference how valid or invalid the point that I am trying to make may be, doesn’t matter how if the post was written well or not, all that matters is that I am blogging about blogging. How dare I blog about blogging!
I’ve heard more than a few people ask why people respond so much to metablogs. I’ve heard one person liken metablogging to writing about the actual physical act of writing. Something along the lines of the following:
“Today I took out some paper, grabbed a pen, and moved that pen in a pattern that produced words. Those words combined to form sentences, and those sentences combined to form paragraphs.”
This is how they characterize metablogging. Of all the blogs I’ve ever read, none of them has ever vaguely resembled anything like that. What a blatant misrepresentation.
Most metablogs I’ve read on xanga are about the xanga community. How is this a bad thing? To me it shows that people are paying attention and that they care. If there were problems in the community where you live wouldn’t you want people to speak up about them? How else are things supposed to change? Eventually. Hopefully.
Moving on.
The whole notion of looking down on metablogging just seems a bit snobbish to me. It just seems like someone arbitrarily decided one day that “real” bloggers never do such things, and from that time on it has been sneered upon with disfavor. Someone needs to tell me what the big deal is.
Social Injustice ftw!!!
I am aware that there are certain problems that can arise when people talk about blogging too much. People start to repeat the same things over and over again, sometimes it seems to be all certain people talk about, it can lead to drama within the community. However, these problems are not unique to metablogs. How is this any different than blogs about religion, abortion, politics, or anything else?
So here is my plea to all you blog snobs. Please, whatever stick you have up your ass for metablogs, kindly remove it and proceed as normal.
Thanks in advance,
-Dave
Against the Grain 