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Writing 101: The Water Writer versus The Glass Writer
What is an objective comment? The concept seems pretty subjective to me... Fact: the glass is half empty. Fact: the glass is half full. Fact: the glass is full of air and water... Hmm... Are we all right based upon our view of what we observe and how we describe it? Is one more right than another? Facts are always relative to what we are presenting or comparing them to. Facts change as more information is known... Whether a fact is objective or subjective remains to be seen. The facts of the matter have to be discovered and facts change with each new piece of information revealed.
If the glass is the subject, it is full of air and water. If the liquid is the subject, it can either be half full or half empty. If one writer focuses on the glass and another focuses on the water, third parties visiting writers who write upon the same subject should not take it upon themselves to hastily call either the water writer or the glass writer a liar, incompetent, unobservant, negligent or any emotionally charged thing simply because he or she (the writer) is the sole person who gets to decide the point of view or angle of relativity to narrate their blog post story from.
Sharing a view or voicing a complaint should always start from a point of honesty. Be honest about what you like and dislike and people will be able to connect to you simply because they can relate emotionally and intellectually to what you are saying. Blogging is a social sport of bantering words because it is the blog posts that start the conversations.
Without dialog your blog is worthless. Original content is king so write with the idea that people will be Googling what interests them. If something is a common term to your profession, religion, community, hobby then use that term and don't worry about the grammar issue if the phrase is the key to finding your blog post subject. Stop trolling the net for a list of hot key words. They don't exist. Your readers exist. Your readers are looking for interesting writers to opine upon stuff they like. If you don't write about what is important to you then that's a waste of time and you wont develop your talent. Create works of literature based upon what you are trying to convey from your heart, mind and imagination. The rest will follow as you share more of your thoughts regarding what you like and dislike.
The person who focused on the glass did not give a more precise description of events than the water writer, he or she just described a different aspect of the same scene from their point of view relative to the known facts at hand. You need to understand this because if you are not privy to all of the facts, did not observe first hand the event, then you only know what people choose to reveal to you. They only know what you describe in your attempt to make them understand what you are seeing and feeling.
It is up to the reader to decide to accept or reject the information at hand. They will make judgments about you based upon what is read so you might want to start by stop calling yourself number one in anything. We can't all have that slot so why bothers screaming you are THE expert when you are not? Being AN expert in a class of many is not the same as being THE expert. There is always something you don't know, so it is best for a reader to decide you are one on their own by experiencing you than discovering your claim to fame is bogus.
As a reader you should always feel free to verify the veracity of a statement you feel is important, however, you may not be in a position to receive the information you seek. If you are going to be a blogger you first have to be a reader. Put yourself in the shoes of the people who will be reading you because as a writer your job is to paint a picture for your readers so that they can experience a sense of what it is you are trying to convey. Your love or your outrage - it doesn't make a difference. What ever you write about I expect you to take someone you don't know on a journey. If your writing doesn't do that then why are you here?
You need to know why you are here and you need for your reader to discover what makes being here with you special. If they like what you write they will return for more. If they don't like what you write they may still return for more simply because you pushed a button and people have a way of foaming at the virtual mouth when they gear up to argue their points (LOL). They will lurk and monitor a conversation, waiting to dive into the fray when the right comment triggers a need to write a pithy response (LMAO).
We all argue our points, marketing our ideas and beliefs in the process. Objective comment? Subjective comment? Rant? Rave? Kudos? Cease and Desist Warnings? Don't for one minute think that bloggers are not marketing themselves or what they want to advocate and advance. Don't for one moment fail to believe that people for or against your post(s) champion and debate ideas for no reason(s). We write because we seek to engage in dialog regarding the things that interest us and people read for the same reason. We write because we want to share our business and personal beliefs and people comment for the same reason.
Commenting is the same as writing. Think of your comments as a micro-blog. They reveal a lot about you. More than you may ever realize if someone were to cut and paste them all into a book about you. Imagine the havoc it would cause if I did a cut and paste biography of every opinion you, the writer, have placed in cyberspace. Would you be proud of your cyber-biography? Would you stand by every idle word that flowed from your fingertips? In my case my Mom would have to smack me at least twice (LOL). Possibly a third time (ROTFLMAO). Bet you didn't see that one coming did ya? But I caught your attention and made you wonder what the heck I was talking about... that's my point... ;-)
Your personal bias will begin the theoretical arguments to state your case when you have something to say regarding your position or opinions concerning a blog post. Contrary to popular (or minor) beliefs all comments have the predisposition of a judge, arbitrator, prospective juror, friend, foe, etc. We are talking personal opinion people.
Defamation is the act of making untrue statements about another which damage them so watch your dictum (n. Latin for "remark"). Evidence may be necessary if you cross the line and have to answer for something that you wrote so keep track of your source notes. Fair comments are allowed so don't think you can not make a statement of opinion (no matter how ludicrous) based on fact about another person (so long as you don't damage them). Free speech is not free, it comes with a price and bloggers are not the press so don't think posting to a website has protections. You blog, you publish, you deal with the ramifications behind what you say about businesses and people.
Innuendo (n. from Latin innuere, "to nod toward.") can be fun but be careful. I'm always joking around with people about taking things different ways. The fact of the matter is it is very true. You can "take that two ways" simply by having two people in a room (or chat room or blog post) with two opinions. What you intend to say may not be what you intend to convey. If you have to leave it in draft for a day or two, then sleep on it and don't rush a post for points. It wont be worth it if you get sued because you were not careful to remove all personal identifiers while illustrating a point. Some people don't mind you chatting about them. Some people do. Make sure you know who you can and can not talk about.
Stay tuned for lesson two and Wiki your defs if you need clarification. :-)
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