my thoughts on the award backlash.

There seems to be a lot of hubbub (ooh, fun word!) regarding the Bootlegger Award nominees over at 20sb. I was actually thinking a lot about my own place in the blogging community recently, and the two thoughts (strangely) kind of go together.

Complaints are coming in from those who feel like the nominees are not diverse enough, that it's the same group of people up for all of them. Although I can understand the frustration to a point, the nominations were submitted by the 20sb members. Obviously no system is perfect, but there should really be no reason to complain. The nominees were picked because their blogs are fantastic and they are active in the community. I read somewhere earlier, on Twitter, that only about 100 people nominated others. There are definitely not 100 people in this accused "clique" that I keep hearing about. No way. So it's foolish to go around saying that they were all nominated by each other and that's the only way they're getting recognition. These are the people who are good at blogging and the ones that are active in the community, active enough to take the time and nominate other bloggers.

I'm tired of people throwing around the terms "popularity contest" and "clique." These terms have become derogatory in certain ways that hurt the people at whom they're directed. If you want to get to know these seemingly unreachable people, then you need to take the effort to do so. They're not monsters; they won't bite. Simply creating a blog, joining 20sb, and adding people on Twitter isn't going to make you best friends with everyone instantly. Yes, the majority of people will be welcoming, but it's not all up to the established members of the group to get to know new people without the new people trying at all. It takes two people to develop a friendship.

This is where I've recently been pondering my own participation in the blogosphere. I've been blogging publicly for two years, and am usually shocked when I hear that some of my favorite, more established bloggers have been around as long as I have or only a few months more. I think, well wow, shouldn't I have tons of followers and a bunch of online besties? But then I realize the reasons why I don't.

I tend to not be as active as I think I am in the blogging community. While I make the effort to post, I rarely comment or reply to anything on Twitter (mostly because I'm paranoid and try too hard to think of the perfect thing to say, and if I can't, I just avoid commenting or replying. BUT THAT'S A WHOLE SEPARATE STORY. Seriously). What I've noticed is by posting my own updates to both my blog and Twitter, and by reading (but not responding to) others' blogs and tweets, I trick myself into thinking I'm active. Blogging and tweeting are so personal, so just by reading them every day I feel as though I know the people who are posting. And in my mind, if I know them, then obviously they must know me, right? Wrong.

That's something I'm hoping to work on this upcoming year. It's my blogging resolution, something I never thought I'd make a resolution about. And I feel this is where many newcomers to online communities, like 20sb, get a little lost. They feel that by reading and following people, they're getting to know them so well, and that those people must also be getting to know them. Then when they realize that there are existing friendships outside of the blogging and tweeting realm, it hurts because it's sometimes difficult to remember that there's more to it that just blogs and tweets. And when people get hurt, some people get defensive or angry, and in turn decide to say things to hurt other people as well. And then there's drama and disagreement and confrontation and ohmygoshIamsonotokaywithallthisdrama. Ahem.

Like I said in response to Rachel's post, it's less of a situation of a popular crowd and more of a new-kid-at-school thing, if we want to keep using high school social structures as an example (which I hate). When you're new to a school, you can't necessarily make close friends instantly because people don't know you yet. It's the same with an online community - you can't expect instant friendship from people who have yet to get to know you.

So basically, it's about taking your time and putting yourself out there. E-mail one of your favorite bloggers about a post you liked, or that you related to on a really close level. Respond to that tweet about a movie or television show that you absolutely love. Promote your blog in a non-spammy way and try to find more people who'll relate to you and read your blog because of it. I've done some of this, and although I've been blogging publicly for two years, even I've still got a ways to go.

I just hate seeing drama. We have enough real-life shit to deal with, so why create all this angst over some silly online awards? Seriously people, go take all that energy you're putting into getting mad or jealous at someone and make it positive and send it to Brandy.

20sb vlog day!

It's 20sb Vlog Day! Yesss. I'm really excited, and you should be to.

Never heard of 20sb? Well that's sad. Go here! ASAP! And check out more vlogs here.

Before I post my vlog, I want to share my harrowing tale of recording this thing. I decided at 4:30am that I was going to record a video, and I did, and it was great. But I used my digital camera (because sometimes my webcam is spazzy), so Youtube and Vimeo didn't want to upload it. So I went to bed, frustrated.

But! I'm convinced this one is just as good, although I look a lot more tired here. Also, I lucked out and my webcam decided to behave. Yay!

Anyway, here we go.

Please pardon the following:
- my inability to look at the camera for more than like, 5 seconds at a time
- the constant hair touching and adjusting
- excessive use of the word "ummm"
- the fact that the video goes over the requested 2-minute limit... oops.



And yes, I did in fact quote Anchorman at the end, because it's the best movie ever. And because I'm kind of a big deal.

A B+ ain't gonna kill ya.

This post is a part of 20SB’s Looking Back Blog Carnival, and Ben & Jerry’s is awarding free ice cream to lucky bloggers and readers!

This is my first time participating in a blog carnival, and I must say, I was very excited to look back on old blog entries. After debating which blog to go with, I decided a blast from the past would be really interesting and fun. So without further delay, I present to you one of my very first blog entries, ever.

[Note: Content has been edited only grammatically and for spelling, because oh boy, was I a big fan of using chat-speak in my entries! To view the masterpiece in it's original form, you can head over here.]

~

November 7, 2002

Report cards ... my worst fears come true. Actually, not really. But you were worried, weren't you? Turns out that my worst grade was that B in English. What does that mean, you say!? That means that in everything else, I did great!!! RELIGION - A+ (only because I did the bulletin board for extra credit, hehe) ALGEBRA II, GEOMETRY, SPANISH - A DRIVER'S ED (which will change), CHEMISTRY - B+ ENGLISH - B (which is due to lack of trying) I think I did better than I thought I would. I only got a B in english because a couple of times, when we had an essay, we got a change to rewrite it and raise our grade, but I never did that so ... yeah. I hope everyone else did okay. There actually were top honors people, so I guess some people did alright in English. You know, I don't find high school that stressing. But some of my friends are making me feel really bad that I'm not stressed. You know what I mean? Although I think some people are just to get attention. Everyone is like, "omigosh I have so much work and stuff and I'm totally stressed," and so my natural reaction is "aww poor you, you must be really stressed." But then I think about it, and some of these people do the same things I do, except they try too hard and then stress out too much. That's what really bugs me. But that is probably just me, and there aren't too many people like that. I hope everyone did really great on their report cards, or at least appreciate and congratulate themselves on the grades they got. Just remember: a B+ ain't gonna kill ya.

~

All I can say is, I was such a critical little person, wasn't I? Yikes.