on the rise of trollblogs

I don't know Robert Scoble at all, other than meeting him and drooling over his tablet PC at Gnomedex a couple of years ago, but I read his blog pretty faithfully, even though he works for the Borg. He's a smart, insightful guy, and I read him for the same reason I read Seth Godin and Bruce Schneier: when I'm done with their blogs, I always feel smarter and more enlightened. These guys make me want to have a deeper understanding of the issues that affect all of us who make our livings on the Internets.

Over the weekend, Robert wrote a post about unsubscribing from memeorandum that really resonated with me. In his words:

Reading Dave Winer this morning made me realize I’m just falling down a dark hole. It’s the same hole I was in in the 1990s when I posted about 100,000 items on various newsgroups: in a group the writer is in control, not the reader.

I miss my RSS reading. Reading RSS makes me smarter, not snarkier. Why? Cause I choose who I’m going to read. Pick smart people to read and you’ll get smarter.

Hint, the smartest people in my RSS are usually the least snarky. Why? Cause they could give a f**k about all the traffic.

Why is all the snark going on? Cause everyone wants traffic. Why did I call this the John Dvorakification? Cause he figured out in the 1980s (yes, he’s been at this so long) that if you attack a community (particularly the Apple one) that everyone will get all up in arms and will start talking about the attack. That translates into traffic. Traffic = advertising dollars.

Trolling online is nothing new, but trolling to drive traffic to your blog and make money is definitely on the rise. I first noticed this new trend a few months ago when this guy obsessively attacked blogging.la for weeks, with copious links back to his own blog, where he did little more than bitch about what other people were doing. I'm sure it was a coincidence that the people he was complaining about all happened to be high-traffic blogs, right? I've also noticed a disturbing increase in blogs which try very hard to be sarcastic and acerbic, but just end up being cruel and mean . . . and of course draw a lot of links from the widely-read bloggers they target.

So why do these people do this? In a comment on Scoble's blog, reader billg said:

Ah, Grasshopper, you have learned the secret of Talk Radio. If you make half your audience Mad As Hell while the other half wear a self-congratulatory Ego-Boosting Smirk, then they’ll all tune in tomorrow.

An awful lot of blogs — especially political blogs — draw traffic this way. Their comment sections have all the attributes of a bar fight. Maybe we ought to christen them “Talks Blogs”.

Bloggers should never censor their opinions because they may be controversial; the whole point of this medium is that we all have the ability to express ourselves on a relatively equal footing, and we can learn a lot from each other when we disagree about things. But bloggers who stir up controversy where there is none, or intentionally attack other bloggers for the sake of generating traffic to their blog are just like UseNet trolls and should be plonked accordingly.

Scoble includes a few examples of people who make him feel smarter when he's done with thier blogs. I just cleaned out my bloglines subs, and I'd like to add a few new blogs. If you'd like to share a blogger who makes you feel smarter (not just someone you always agree with, or who you find entertaining, or who you want everyone to read just because. Try to be honest, please - they challenge you and make you feel smarter) when you're done reading, please leave it in the comments.

Comments

[Tony Miller]

www.paperfrog.com

He hasn't updated lately due to a lot of commitments he's needed to meet. I like that when he does update it's not just filler.

Sometimes his posts are about local things, other times national or international. Either way they are all thought provoking and I come away with knowledge I didn't have before.

[domnivore]

An interesting blogger with a different take on marketing and the future of business, who also refers to Scoble and other big names, is Hugh MacLeod:

http://www.gapingvoid.com

Big proponent of something called the Cluetrain Manifesto; does his own business-card sized cartoons; sometimes can snark with the best of them.

[sunburntkamel]

Melissa Gira
although more so her del.icio.us links and podcasts than the blog itself.

[Jonathan Dobres]

Read anything by Malcolm Gladwell. He's arguably one of the most brilliant writers on God's green and verdant earth. Spend a few hours reading the archives of the New Yorker articles he's written at gladwell.com or check out his new blog at http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/

[hunahpu]

Granted, I read a pretty niche group of blogs: beer and brewing blogs, as I am a beer blogger myself. Here they are:

http://brianbeer.blogspot.com/
http://badbensnanobrewery.blogspot.com/
http://sudspundit.blogspot.com/
http://marcobrau.blogspot.com/
http://prantran.blogspot.com/
http://fishmuse.blogspot.com/

If you are interested, this is my beer blog:

http://hunahpu.blogspot.com/

What excites me about them is that it is a small community. Rather than compete for readers, we all read each other and post in each other's comments.

For me, when a blog is about real person, that is when it is good. It does not have to be necessarily well written. It just needs to be real.

[Jenna]

Matt Good, a fairly well known Canadian rock musician, is also well known (in Canada, anyways) for his blogs on foreign policy. I don't always agree with him but I always respect his viewpoint.

http://www.matthewgood.org/mblog/index.php

[Liz]

Can I be a blog geek now and say how wonderful it is how even this small sampling of blog readers has such a diverse set of interests and ways of reading blogs and what they value in a blog? LOVE IT.

[Tiltmom]

Okay, rather than just name my fave blogs, I'll link to a handful of posts, and will tease by noting that these are not even the best posts of these particular blogs:

http://www.faultline.org/place/pinolecreek/archives/001996.html
http://iayork.livejournal.com/74858.html
http://x-h00ine.livejournal.com/120457.html
http://slit.livejournal.com/297723.html
http://tsenft.livejournal.com/266406.html

Unfortunately, I don't always feels smarter after reading their blogs -- in fact, I often feel more ignorant. But it's the most pleasant, humbling sort of ignorance.

[karmyk]

I've always liked:

Baghdad Burning - http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

A very thought-provoking and sincere blog written by an eloquent female Iraqi blogger about the current situation in Iraq. It's nice seeing it from a totally different perspective every once in awhile. =)

I also read this blog regularly:

Twilight Invasion - http://www.twilightinvasion.com/

Because Matt's uber-cool... And he'll probably beat me up for posting a link to his blog here. Muhahaha.

I troll WWDN every once in awhile (ever since the days it had a webforum.. whatever happened to that?).. but for lighthearted entertainment when my brain is numb from studying or working too much, I like to read Rickey.org, a.k.a. "Pinoy Rickey".

[pylonian]

Great post, Wil. A blog in a very different vein than yours - not always perfectly coherent, but always thought provoking - check out The Defeatists

Eric
Portland, OR

[Mik]

David Bowles Urban Semiotic is a good one: http://urbansemiotic.com/

Mik

[Tyson]

great post wil,
i suppose i'm late to the game here, in that i don't actually read that many blogs, only a handful, and so i hadn't noticed the 'talk blog' syndrome....but like talk radio, i suppose it's just another one of those crappy things people do to get attention......
on a better note tho, if i could share a few of the blogs i do actually read that make me feel smarter, i would definitely say any folks here that share wils political views (that pretty much are the same i have) should do themselves a favour and read these two blogs...very political, but without the 'snark'...just plain intelligence, thank you very much....excellent reading...please enjoy:

Justin Podur: the killing train
http://www.killingtrain.com/

and

Noam Chomsky
http://blog.zmag.org/bloggers/?blogger=chomsky

[Ingrid]

This is the best blog I've found to make a person think( also, the commentators on this blog are just as insightful as the posts) David W. Boles at http://urbansemiotic.com/

The blog most likely to make me spew my drink out of my nose: Danny at http://www.dadgonemad.com/

The person I consider the Queen of the Blogs: Heather B. Armstrong at http://www.dooce.com/

The blog that reminds me of Wil's writing the most, The Magazine Man at http://www.masthead.blogspot.com/
This is also the blog that makes it worthwhile to go thru the entire archive, start at the beginning and read everything this man has ever posted. Well worth it.

And don't forget to check out the adorable blog he started for his boy Thomas at http://artlad.blogspot.com/ It contains some pretty fantastic drawings for a seven year old. Up now is the valentine he drew for his dad. It is absolutely priceless.

[Tyson]

damn hunahpu...excellent suggestion about the Matthew Good blog..i was going to link that myself (being a big big fan of Mat Good's music) but when i went to check the link, his blog was down...hope it comes back soon....for those in the 'know' and everyone else, matthew good is a well known canadian musician who used to front the Matthew Good band, but has now gone solo...absolutely amazing lyricist and musician...check out some of his stuff, like 'apparitions' or '21st century living'...you'll be amazed....and just as amazing is his insightful and completely bullshit free blogging on foreign policy (canada and the US)...excellent writing...

[MamaSlyth]

Web Cartoonist Howard Tayler, creator of Schlock Mercenary.

You might not agree with him all the time, but he's smart and he does try to keep up on things and he's funny too. You can read his blog ( http://www.schlockmercenary.com/blog/ ) or his Live Journal ( http://howardtayler.livejournal.com/ ) - I do both. He enjoys his family just as much as you do yours. In fact, he gave up a very well paying job to be a full time cartoonist, so he could do more with his family.

[kblue]

Lawrence Lessig's blog: http://www.lessig.org/blog/

Although I admit I don't read it as often as I should, he's definitely one of the sources I go to to keep up to date on copyright law and related issues.

[nekodojo]

I think there are a lot of blogs that deliberately try to wind people up, and give them something emotive without something rational to go with it.

I think there are also a lot of blogs that are intellectual without feeling strongly about anything, and that makes them feel dry and sterile.

One of the things that I like about YOUR writing is that you're able to talk about feelings in a pretty open and frank way. You somehow understand that humans are animals, and have feelings, but humans are also self-aware and able to self-examine.

I personally am drawn to bloggers who SAY how they feel, honestly, but don't try to wind me up or persuade me. I don't want to be manipulated into feeling something, but I do enjoy sharing a feeling with someone else who is having it.

I wonder if your acting experience allows you to express a certain emotion without letting it carry you away?

Thanks as always for sharing your writing with us.

[Loveandlight]

Deconsumption.

[Cool Hand]

This guy is always good for a reaction. Schadenfreuder is very much the order of the day, for those of us with literary aspirations. Often witty and well worth the look.

http://honestcritiques.blogspot.com/2005/08/what-this-blog-is-all-about.html

His stock is doing quite well:-
http://blogshares.com/blogs.php?blog=http://honestcritiques.blogspot.com%2F

[stephanie]

The political blogs don't make me smart. They just make me depressed, really. But Art is Fun! The best and smartest blog I read is by Nick Currie, who sort of was a musician called Momus, but writes a lot about culture, design, art, technology and Japan... he even has a column in Wired, how's that for a recommendation. He's a very good writer, and posts long, thoughtful, well-researched things almost every day. But the best part of reading his blog is that he helps me open my eyes more, to see that the people and things around me in daily life are actually really interesting and great. He writes at http://www.livejournal.com/users/imomus/
and though as he will be the first to admit can be really pretentious at times (and his comments are so pretentious, I can't bear them!) he always makes me very smart.

Second best is Neil Gaiman, but we all love him already of course.

cheers
Stephanie

[namedpipe]

At Pimco Bill Gross's commentary is sort of evolving into a blog. You can't RSS it, but it has a podcast. His newest one is quite good.

http://www.pimco.com/LeftNav/Late+Breaking+Commentary/IO/2006/IO+March+2006.htm

[Sukotto]

Other blogs (and news posts) I read that you might like:

Steve Pavlina, Personal development for smart people:  http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/feed

Kevin Kelly, Cool Tools: http://www.kk.org/cooltools/index.xml 

LifeHacker, Productivity blog: http://www.lifehacker.com/index.xml 

Penny-Arcade Gaming (and game industry) News:  http://www.penny-arcade.com/rss.xml

Ali Davis, Aspiring Hollywood Phony: http://www.livejournal.com/users/alidavis/data/rss    She doesn't post very often anymore though :-(

Cooking for Engineers (and Geeks):  http://www.cookingforengineers.com/atom.xml

Also, here are two defunct blogs that I think were great. Well worth reading through their archives.
Ali Davis, True Porn Clerk Stories: www.improvisation.ws/mb/tpcs.html
Cheeseburger Brown's Diary of a Dark Lord (Darth Vader's Blog): www.darthside.blogspot.com

[Sukotto]

On a related note, since you love D&D you might enjoy Rich Burlew's comic "Order of the Stick" which is both the story of a serious campaign and a lighthearted-poking-fun-at-D&D-sillyness.

First one here: http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=1

Most recent one here:  http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript

[stockingup99]

Random Access is my blog inspired by Wil's blog.

http://stockingup99.blogspot.com/2006/03/thanks-will.html

I love Hathor. A great example for parents to follow.

www.thecowgoddess.com

[Antigone]

If you like a certain kind of social commentary:
http://outpostnine.com/editorials/teacher.html