Alllllrighty then...
Though I may be somewhat of a "newbie" to Active Rain, I ain't no spring chicken when it comes to "blogging."
After getting "scolded" now for the 2nd time for posting a relevant and informative link on someone's comment section (that had nothing to do with me or my company so there can't be a charge for "blatant self-promotion") - I felt it necessary to go over what BLOGS are generally about out there in the rest of the world.
Let's start out with a little snippet from Wikipedia on the "definition" of BLOG
And I quote: "A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs."
Care to read it for yourself? Here is the LINK - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
Which brings me to my next point...
Apparently in Blog Land here in the confines of Active Rain, some of you don't want links in your posts because you want to "keep the attention on your blog and not lead people away..."
Well guess what? If it's interesting, entertaining, informative, and there might be other useful snippets they can glean from it - THEY WILL PROBABLY COME BACK!!! And if they DON'T come back, so what? How would you know anyway? Does it really matter???
So let's delve in a little deeper...
Why are you here? Why do you have a blog? What is your goal, your mission, your purpose? Is it entirely "about you"?
We live in a crazy technological era. A time when we can tell the world exactly how we feel. We can learn about 50 things at one time by having a virtual library at our fingertips, chat in real-time with friends on the other side of the world, and many folks have even met their significant other online!
This too has led to what I will refer to as - Small Town Superstar Syndrome.
Small Town Superstar Syndrome is a widespread and growing syndrome (an epidemic, if you will) where one thinks they are the most important person in the world. They don't want to share the spotlight. They don't want to acknowledge the knowledge of another. They don't want anyone to challenge their thoughts or steal their thunder.
And that ,my friend, goes AGAINST everything that true BLOGGING is really supposed to be about - SHARING!
You know, it's that thing that you do when you tell me what you think and then I tell you what I think, then you tell me what you know and I tell you what I know - and by the time it's said and done, we BOTH are thinking MORE and we BOTH know more too!
What a concept eh?!
I'll give you an example... My buddy Max (who is an awesome guy involved with Building Green TV - http://buildinggreentv.com/) posted a link on my business weblog today in response to my Green Primer Series for a slideshow for understanding LEED. In fact, here it is: http://www.slideshare.net/jetsongreen/about-usgbc-leed/
Did I throw my tiara at him and say "this is MY party Max..."???
Of course I didn't! And why? Because he helped me get my point across even better. He added to the subject matter.
I wasn't worried about someone running away from my site and abandoning me. I wasn't worried that people would think that Max is smarter than me or that they'd like him more...
Because even if those people decided that they were going to invite Max to their Pretty Princess Birthday Party and not me - WOULD I REALLY WANT TO GO ANYWAY???!!!
Yes, this is very childish - which is exactly my point.
So here's my final thought.
If you are SO concerned with making sure you have 100% control and all of the applause, here's a thought - why don't you go ahead and get yourself a nice website???
There's no interaction - it's all you all the time, you don't have to worry about deleting anyone's comments that don't fit into your tidy little box, and those of us who consider ourselves free thinkers and big proponents of FREE SPEECH won't be so irked that they feel the need to write a long-winded BLOG on the meaning of a BLOG.
So, there you have it. One person's opinionated opinion.
Comment your hearts out with the understanding that love me or hate me, your comments will remain pure and unaltered. And - if you don't like me, that's okay, because I probably wouldn't want to come to your Pretty Princess Birthday Party anyway...
Oh, and speaking of worms, if you want to read a really cool article that was written in Oct. 2006 on composting with worms in your office, you can check it out here - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15224793/
Maybe YOU will want to try it to help make OUR world a GREENER place!
Y'all come back now ya hear!
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Bravo! I don't have the slightest objection to anyone putting a link in a comment to one of my blogs, and I've never been able to figure out what the big deal is. I don't even care if they do link back to themselves or their company - heck, someone can get there anyway by clicking on the link at the bottom of the comment. I read a blog or two about how we should differentiate ourselves with a logo or photo or script signature in our comments, and then I read a few more about how impolite this is. lol. Oh well, the pluses outweigh the negatives! P.S. I like your photos!