First of all I'd like to thank Anagach for recommending the blog - greatly appreciated. A big thank you as well to those of you who have dropped in or are regular readers. As fate would have it one of my fellow bloggers read the post and mentioned it on the blog - so I dropped in to see what it was about. Great to see that people enjoy the contribution made by bloggers to the hill walking community.
Regrettably "Where the Fatdog Walks" is, out of necessity, having to move away from that particular outdoor pursuit. I've been battling a sciatic related niggle for a few years now and it has reached the point where ascents are becoming difficult. To complicate matters further The Fatdog has been limping along and was recently diagnosed as having Arthritis so no more big hillwalks for her, I'm afraid.
My apologies but this comment will ramble on a bit and is a bit off thread but I thought the points might be of interest.
When reading the post what caught my eye was Kinley's comment regarding bloggers.
The use of the phrase "solitary individual" intrigued me. I had visions of me hunched over a computer, cut off from the world pumping out diatribe after diatribe about what ticks me off most in life, steadfastly avoiding human contact.
Maybe if it had been phrased e.g. as "the sole view of an individual" that would have been closer to reality - but still not the whole picture.
It was an interesting interpretation (if somewhat negative) view of what bloggers are. I have to hold my hands up and say my experience of bloggers is restricted to, in the main, a particular group of what I'll call "outdoor bloggers" so Kinley's interpretation may prove a reality for other spheres of blogging.
It can't be argued that the posts are generally written by one person although it's not unusual for guest authors to write posts or for that matter bloggers to meet up and different takes on a day out appearing on different blogs. There is constant cross banter, much like a mobile forum, with the usual modicum of good natured insults you would expect on a normal forum. I've discovered there's not a lot of difference between writing a trip report or a post for a blog or forum. With a blog there is much greater scope for writing additional material that wouldn't necessarily fit in a multi-user site and which allows access eg to family, friends, and people who would not necessarily want to visit a specialised forum. I'm fortunate to have visitors from all around the world reading the blog...and not all bloggers or hillwalkers. There are people who stumbled upon the blog by accident, people with whom I went to school (some 40 years ago), ex-workmates, friends of my wife....and so on.
I wrote on "the other channel" for years, in fact there are only a couple of trip reports that I've written that are only on the blog. I commented on other posters trip reports for a long time too...but eventually ran out of things to say. Odd for a blogger, but something I've never been good at is writing comments on other peoples reports. I so admire people who can keep writing detailed and constructive responses...just wish I had that particular skill.
I'm aware of the more extremely held view that bloggers are self-promoting attention seekers who want to be famous by starting a blog. I can see how that could come about but the reality is a different animal altogether. Bloggers blog because they like writing and sharing...otherwise there would be no reason to do it.
In the main, bloggers tend to be good writers. Most are probably not aware that they are but it tends to come with the territory. If people visit your blog...and visit regularly - then they like either your writing style or they like the subject matter. If you ain't good the readers won't come back and you might find yourself a "solitary individual" as Kinley envisions. In my experience when bloggers put forward their own views they do so in a more careful way than you might experience from others on a forum. There is definitely less "cut-and-thrust" on blogs, which forum dwellers might not appreciate, as there is an unwritten code of behaviour and a healthy respect for other people's efforts. Very seldom will a blogger need to delete an inappropriate comment from another blogger or visitor. Personally I've never had to summarily execute a troll. Spammers, yes.
An interesting trend has arisen since I put up Kinley's quotation re the "solitary individual" on the blog. While bloggers are happy with both types of platform it appears they now use forums less than they used to, the main reason being down to over-exuberant "debating" on forum posts. I find that unfortunate since, in my opinion, most flame wars are down to what can be a simple misunderstanding. If the post or comment author is not entirely clear in his writing with what he means to say...and the reader takes an entirely different spin on the words from what was intended by the writer...then all hell breaks loose. No harm or insult was probably intended but it's now too late. I think I can give you an example from this thread to demonstrate my point. Take the following pair of quotations...
Dundreich wrote:kinley wrote: 
That poster started out on "the other channel" - nice to see he's still posting
Fame (of a sort) at last kinley
If we assume I've had a bad day in the hermitage penning diatribes about forum dwellers and someone sends a message saying "Go and look at that comment on Walkhighlands, someone's got it in for you." I grunt, click on the forum and what do I see? Hmm.
Remember this is all down to interpretation by the reader so to demonstrate my point I'll take the worst case scenario where the reader sees nothing but personal insult.
"A laughing face followed by a statement about me?"
"Is he laughing at me?" (starts to get angry).
"Nice to see he's still posting!" Now I ask myself
"Is he taking the whatsit?" "He's put a wee cool smiley after that sentence - is that supposed to mean - c'mon folks agree with me 'cause I'm clever wee so-and-so?" In itself that comment line by Kinley can be read totally differently and have a warm, friendly, meaning - but it's what happens next that potentially sets the ground for a bit of a wrangle.
Dundreich makes the following comment: "Fame (of a sort) at last Kinley"
The worst interpretation of that line is that Dundreich has seen Kinley's comment as an insult and wants to be seen to be joining in...hence copying the laughing face smiley while making what could be construed as being a derogatory comment.
Meanwhile I, in my by now enraged state, see this line that confirms that someone is "having a go" and thus retaliate immediately. Flame war...all over a wee bit of misinterpretation of what people actually meant to say. Or as my good friend SimonP puts it (albeit a trifle harshly in my opinion) - "Never put down to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
Again, my apologies for the length of comment...and yes it was a bit of a blog post wasn't it
All the best.
Ken
