May 23, 2008

Feed the beast

It's a little annoying that the cover story of this week's Sunday New York Times Magazine is this 7,900-word first-person account of a blogger's highly-self-analytical (or, as Loree likes to call it, navel-gazing) and not-that-interesting life while she was blogging on her own and as an editor at Gawker.

Annoying because -- although I admit I read the whole thing -- it is, as I've already mentioned, not that interesting. It's just a really self-indulgent story about how and why this woman blogged so much about her personal life in the midst of breaking up with two boyfriends. BFD.

But what's even more aggravating than the article itself is the righteous indignation with which readers are responding. As of this morning, there were already 837 comments ... now 840 ... now 843 ... on the Times site (and who knows how many others about the story on Gawker and other independent blogs). By comparison, a cover story two weeks ago on opportunities for girls in competitive sports had prompted 289 reader responses.

I didn't read each of the comments about the blogger article, but from a quick scan, about 98.5 percent of them were highly critical of the writer (for being so caught up in her relatively unimportant existence), the Times (for having the audacity to give major treatment to something so insignificant), or both. Many of the complaints included some thread about how much time and thought was being wasted on this.

Apparently none of them really picked up on the irony (and not the fake Alanis Morissette fly-in-chardonnay kind) that this story that they deemed absolutely irrelevant had prompted them to take the time to write long -- and sometimes eloquent -- posts of their own, sharing their own self-important thoughts. All of their ranting and raving sure sure seems to give more credence -- not less -- to the Times' decision to put the dumb thing on the cover.

Oh, and the comment count is now up to 854.

Nice going, blowhards.

15 comments:

Loree said...

Yep, I definitely read this one, although I can't say I contributed to one of the 800-plus comments.

I don't know... I did find it somewhat interesting, just in the (navel-gazing) sense that I wonder if I could be this person if I just totally lost the nature I have to edit myself. And to not throw people I know and care about under the bus.

I enjoyed her at Gawker, which I still read daily, and I think--while it's not probably the most highbrow NYT Magazine material--they've probably gotten exactly what they wanted out of publishing it.

JBhumitra said...

love the alanis reference. the irony, which you pointed out, is indeed interesting. but i do also agree with loree that the NYT probably got what they wanted. clever newspaper!

JBhumitra said...

i should say got what IT wanted. apparently i dont edit myself!

Your escalator operator said...

Yeah, I think they/it had that pretty well figured out. Clever bastards.

Anonymous said...

i have nothing so thoughtful to add to above comments, but i thought your blog post was very well written and thought out. it took me a minute to catch on to what BFD was, but i got it! (i didn't read the nyt article, nor do i intend to, nor would anyone else's blog interest me...only yours!)xoxoxo

Anonymous said...

I think this is one of the most important information for me.

And i'm glad reading your article. But should remark on few general things, The web site style is wonderful, the articles is really great : D. Good job, cheers

Also visit my homepage: Bukkit 1.5.1

Anonymous said...

It's an amazing piece of writing in support of all the web visitors; they will take advantage from it I am sure.

Stop by my webpage ... Bukkit 1.5.2

Anonymous said...

I have been exploring for a bit for any high-quality articles or weblog posts on this
sort of house . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this website.
Reading this info So i am happy to exhibit that I
have an incredibly just right uncanny feeling I
found out just what I needed. I such a lot for sure will make sure to don?
t overlook this web site and give it a look regularly.

My homepage - FTB Collab

Anonymous said...

Hey very nice blog!! Guy .. Beautiful ..

Superb .. I'll bookmark your site and take the feeds also? I am happy to find so many useful information here within the submit, we'd like
develop extra strategies in this regard, thank you for sharing.
. . . . .

Here is my blog PoE

Anonymous said...

I know this site provides quality depending content and extra stuff, is there any other site which
offers these kinds of information in quality?


my homepage :: Marvel Comics

Anonymous said...

Have you ever thought about adding a little bit more than
just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and everything.
But think of if you added some great visuals or video clips to
give your posts more, "pop"! Your content is excellent but with
pics and videos, this website could definitely be one of the most beneficial in its field.
Awesome blog!

Take a look at my site; Game Developer Tycoon

Anonymous said...

Fascinating blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
A design like yours with a few simple tweeks would
really make my blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your
design. With thanks

my web-site: Ironman

Anonymous said...

Asking questions are really fastidious thing if you
are not understanding something entirely, but this post offers nice understanding
even.

Also visit my web site; adwords tutorial

Anonymous said...

I know this web site gives quality depending articles or reviews and other data, is there any other web site
which gives such stuff in quality?

Feel free to visit my weblog :: Minecraft Gameplay

Anonymous said...

e cigarette, e cigarette, e cig, electronic cigarettes, smokeless cigarettes, electronic cigarette