political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Monday, January 14, 2008
Ben Brogan Fisks Himself
Whenever I give talks on blogging, I always warn of the dangers of the "I think, therefore I blog" syndrome. Ben Brogan has today achieved a blogging first. He has fisked his own blog. Is this the first example of 'masturblogging'?
Tim, only in your mind. I do not portray myself as an expert on blogging. If others think I know a lot about it and invite me to speak to them, it's hardly a crime is it.
Perhaps I should refer my invites to you in future, as you clearly know much more about it than me. After all, you have actually managed to write two posts on your blog this year, yet found time to post at least two dozen times on here. My you are a busy boy!
No need to get into a snit, Iain. I'm merely pointing out an inconsistency and asking for clarification. Thanks for the answer. I'll keep your policy on expertise-status in mind the next time someone assumes I'm a mechanic or a brain surgeon. After all, what harm can it do to let them keep on thinking that?
I am thankfully unfamiliar with the word 'snit'. Is it the sort of thing that you got into when you phoned me just before Christmas when you were ranting down the phone at me? I suspect so.
rant: to speak or write in an angry or violent manner.
nihilis*...
No... wait... you must know that last one by now.
Well, you've got me on angry. I was angry with you because you had published a completely baseless claim that I was guilty of sock-puppeting on your site (from a sock-puppet, no less) that was in direct violation of your comment policy, failed to moderate it (for *days*), and deleted my attempts at a reply.
You are such a hypocite (cue angry response). You were annoyed because I let a comment through accusing you of sock puppetry, yet all you ever do on this site is make baseless claims that I do the same thing. I have repeatedly told you till I am blue in the face that I have never done it yet you proceed to continue to make the claim on this site and on others.
Why should a claim that you constantly make about me make you so angry when someone says it about you?
I shall leave others to speculate. Perhaps, like the tortoise on your avatar, you need to grow a thicker skin. Mate. Oh sorry, that was something you said I needed to do, wasn't it. Glass houses and all that.
Ben..Ben..are you there? All I can hear is someone called Tim the Tortoise saying that Iain the Magnificent gave him a Chinese burn and he didn't like it. What's going on? Are we round the back of the bike sheds, Ben, and you are going to do that fisking thing to me again? Ben......
I get abuse and baseless accusations from you and your ilk all the time, Iain.
I was angered about this one in particular because you must have known that it wasn't true and, regardless, as a whole it classified as "anonymous abuse", clearly in violation of your stated comment policy, and yet you left it unmolested.
And the one not listening here is you.
Repeatedly, Iain, I have pointed out:
a) You have a track record of reliance on and tolerance of sock-puppet use on your site (when they're used by those on your side).
b) You have taken advantage of the presence/input of sock-puppets and obvious trolls so often in the past that you've only got yourself to blame when others assume that you're behind some/most/all of the sock-puppets on this website.
Far from being baseless, all of the above is well documented. What a happy accident for you, then, that another part of your (often selectively-applied) comment policy is 'no links to Bloggerheads'...
And here we come to one* major difference between you and me when to comes to claims of sock-puppeting. I have proof of my claims, yet you won't allow me to link to that proof from your website.
Instead, you leave others to speculate.
Nice one.
Nighty-night.
[*Another major difference is that I only get accused of sock-puppetry by those who I have caught using/abusing sock-puppets (like your mate Dizzy) and/or on sites where sock-puppeting losers are made welcome - like yours.)
I think the rather irritating and obsessive Mr. Ireland (is there anyone more persistent?) has got you bang to rights on the "blogging expert" statement.
You clearly DO portray yourself as an expert on blogging, otherwise you would not be giving so many talks on blogging and when people call you you would say "No, sorry, I am not a blogging expert, I cannot do a talk for you".
There are other posts where you display this same tendency, such as this proclamation on 'video blogging' http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2007/10/imminent-take-off-of-video-blogging.html
I'm afraid you have a tendency to become a little self-important.
Guido's blog seems somewhat more entertaining lately, and he is congratulated for being non-pompous in this respect as it makes things much easier for a British audience that has an instinct to be self-deprecating.
18 comments:
Does it make you blind? Hello...Iain... are you there?
Iain Dale: "Whenever I give talks on blogging..."
Iain Dale: "Just for the record, I never portray myself as an expert on blogging."
Would you care to clarify either statement, Iain? They appear to be at odds.
Iain asks: "Is this the first example of 'masturblogging'?"
I think you'll find that you came first Iain, ooh err... :-)
Tim, only in your mind. I do not portray myself as an expert on blogging. If others think I know a lot about it and invite me to speak to them, it's hardly a crime is it.
Perhaps I should refer my invites to you in future, as you clearly know much more about it than me. After all, you have actually managed to write two posts on your blog this year, yet found time to post at least two dozen times on here. My you are a busy boy!
No need to get into a snit, Iain. I'm merely pointing out an inconsistency and asking for clarification. Thanks for the answer. I'll keep your policy on expertise-status in mind the next time someone assumes I'm a mechanic or a brain surgeon. After all, what harm can it do to let them keep on thinking that?
(PS - There would have been far fewer comments from me in the single thread you mention in your rather misleading comment count had you simply answered my question instead of playing the man and not the ball. As you've done here.)
I am thankfully unfamiliar with the word 'snit'. Is it the sort of thing that you got into when you phoned me just before Christmas when you were ranting down the phone at me? I suspect so.
snit: a state of agitation or irritation.
rant: to speak or write in an angry or violent manner.
nihilis*...
No... wait... you must know that last one by now.
Well, you've got me on angry. I was angry with you because you had published a completely baseless claim that I was guilty of sock-puppeting on your site (from a sock-puppet, no less) that was in direct violation of your comment policy, failed to moderate it (for *days*), and deleted my attempts at a reply.
Just so we're clear.
Again, thanks for the answer.
You are such a hypocite (cue angry response). You were annoyed because I let a comment through accusing you of sock puppetry, yet all you ever do on this site is make baseless claims that I do the same thing. I have repeatedly told you till I am blue in the face that I have never done it yet you proceed to continue to make the claim on this site and on others.
Why should a claim that you constantly make about me make you so angry when someone says it about you?
I shall leave others to speculate.
Perhaps, like the tortoise on your avatar, you need to grow a thicker skin. Mate. Oh sorry, that was something you said I needed to do, wasn't it. Glass houses and all that.
Goodnight.
Ben Brogan's a wonker.
That's another word for your next Blog dictionary.
Ben..Ben..are you there? All I can hear is someone called Tim the Tortoise saying that Iain the Magnificent gave him a Chinese burn and he didn't like it. What's going on? Are we round the back of the bike sheds, Ben, and you are going to do that fisking thing to me again? Ben......
I get abuse and baseless accusations from you and your ilk all the time, Iain.
I was angered about this one in particular because you must have known that it wasn't true and, regardless, as a whole it classified as "anonymous abuse", clearly in violation of your stated comment policy, and yet you left it unmolested.
And the one not listening here is you.
Repeatedly, Iain, I have pointed out:
a) You have a track record of reliance on and tolerance of sock-puppet use on your site (when they're used by those on your side).
b) You have taken advantage of the presence/input of sock-puppets and obvious trolls so often in the past that you've only got yourself to blame when others assume that you're behind some/most/all of the sock-puppets on this website.
c) And, finally, you have also insisted that Grants Shapps' password was '1234'. What's your word on sock-puppetry worth and why should I be expected to take it?
Far from being baseless, all of the above is well documented. What a happy accident for you, then, that another part of your (often selectively-applied) comment policy is 'no links to Bloggerheads'...
And here we come to one* major difference between you and me when to comes to claims of sock-puppeting. I have proof of my claims, yet you won't allow me to link to that proof from your website.
Instead, you leave others to speculate.
Nice one.
Nighty-night.
[*Another major difference is that I only get accused of sock-puppetry by those who I have caught using/abusing sock-puppets (like your mate Dizzy) and/or on sites where sock-puppeting losers are made welcome - like yours.)
I think the rather irritating and obsessive Mr. Ireland (is there anyone more persistent?) has got you bang to rights on the "blogging expert" statement.
You clearly DO portray yourself as an expert on blogging, otherwise you would not be giving so many talks on blogging and when people call you you would say "No, sorry, I am not a blogging expert, I cannot do a talk for you".
There are other posts where you display this same tendency, such as this proclamation on 'video blogging'
http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2007/10/imminent-take-off-of-video-blogging.html
I'm afraid you have a tendency to become a little self-important.
Guido's blog seems somewhat more entertaining lately, and he is congratulated for being non-pompous in this respect as it makes things much easier for a British audience that has an instinct to be self-deprecating.
Oooh! Oooh! Fight! Fight!
boys, boys, it's not big and it's not clever
I'm sorry Jane, but it was Iain who took us off-topic and went flaming into the night.
The second paragraph in his very first response is clearly a personal attack that is not in keeping with his often-stated (but rarely followed) comment policy, or his New Year's resolution.
I've done nothing but calmly refute the false and misleading claims he has made during such personal attacks.
(PS - Iain's comments prompt two questions that I'd love to raise, but they risk taking us even further off-topic.)
Iain isn't self important-he's British.
I love the fighting though..better than the fat girls all fighting over the bald men.
I AM an expert on blogging - would anyone like to have a big row with me? Also I am very cheap as an after dinner speaker...
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