Self Important Bloggers
There is nothing I hate more than bloggers with an inflated sense of self importance. Ok, that’s not entirely true. I do loathe the term “web 2.0″, and I really dislike the words “blogger” and “blogosphere”…but my hatred of the self important blogger is pretty intense, and certainly places right up there with my disdain for the aforementioned terms. If it wasn’t such a pain in the ass, I would have changed the directory that this very site sits in, from “blog” to “anythingelse” a long time ago. ANYWAYS, since I am a glutton for punishment, I subscribe to BlogHerald, whose tag line is the vomit inducing “More Blog News More Often”. This is where I get my fill of super gay blog news and at least few dry heaves every morning. So it was no surprise that our friends over at the BlogHerald posted the heartbreaking news that Dave Winer is going to stop blogging. I know, I know…I will give you a moment to collect your thoughts and get your heart rate back down, this is a giant blow to the Internet and to mankind. Here is the link to Dave’s post on his upcoming “retirement” from bogging, and here is an actual excerpt. So there’s the first part of my reason. Blogging doesn’t need me anymore…Blogging not only takes a lot of time (which I don’t begrudge it, I love writing) but it also limits what I can do, because it’s made me a public figure. I want some privacy, I want to matter less, so I can retool, and matter more, in different ways. Ok Dave? Hate to burst your bubble, but I for one, have never even heard of you (I know, I can hear the collective gasp of blog nerds reading that line), and therefore will not miss you even a little bit. Now I know, I don’t matter at all in the big picture and you could likely care less if I miss you or not…but that’s kind of my point. I don’t matter, and I know I don’t matter. If I closed up shop tomorrow, the biggest effect would be that 3 or 4 people might need to hit the “trash” button in their Bloglines subscription manager so that the blank andrewteman.org feed doesn’t annoy them by sitting awkwardly wedged between the Fleshbot and Onion links. Here is a tip to Dave and to all other bloggers that think anyone cares about the crap that they write. If you are going to leave, just leave. Don’t post some lame-o farewell post about how “blogging doesn’t need you anymore” or how you can’t handle being a “public figure”. Seriously, Paris Hilton is a public figure, you and I are geeks with computers, domains, and too much free time.
