The Canaries Are Dying

we lose another blogger -- something is wrong

Published on July 4, 2004 By Gene Nash In Blogging

Well, we lost another blogger. WrecklessEric has deleted all his articles and dropped out.

In the old days, miners would carry canaries into the mines with them as a gas meter. The poor little feather balls were more sensitive and more quickly subject to the effects of poison gas than their much larger human companions. If the canary died it meant there was poison in the air and time to beat a hasty retreat.

We've recently seen a flux of articles about how nasty things are getting around here, how certain individuals pollute the experience and make others feel worthless. While there is a certain ebb and flow to this sort of thing, I think this may be far more serious than the norm. Bloggers are dropping like canaries. And not the toxic bloggers either.

Others have criticized the criticizers. It's the old blame the messenger routine. "As long as I keep my head buried in the sand, as long as you don't rock my delusional little boat then nothing is wrong. You are the problem! You are the problem!" Well, you know the old saying -- "If you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem" -- and you my ostrich feathered friends are part of the problem. If only you were a little smaller you wouldn't find it so easy to dismiss and dis. You'd already be laying legs up on the bottom of your cage.

There's something wrong here. The canaries are trying to tell us that. This is more than just the normal comings and goings. This is death whispering in our ears. These aren't people leaving because they lose interest or find other things more pressing. These are people leaving because of the nastiness. If the good people continue to leave while the "evil doers" flourish things will only get nastier and nastier till only the hateful survive.

Comments (Page 4)

bakerstreet

on Jul 06, 2004

When you say "close the thread" is there a way to lock it without losing all the comment? Last time I used 'edit' to do it, it hid all the comments previous.

mignuna

on Jul 06, 2004

Well, Mig, I didn't blacklist you. (I''m not saying I didn't have the impulse to, I just didn't.)

gene, i have enjoyed my communications on here with you a great deal. i would even go so far to say that you were the main reason i kept at my blog when i became rather disillusioned some time ago.

i admire you. as soon as i encountered you, i can remember thinking that it was almost a miracle to find such an open mind in such a closed world. and i don't care how dumb this makes me sound, but i am actually inspired by you, and this has really distressed me.

now, i can apologise til i'm blue in the face again here, but to be honest i think everybody is tired of seeing that. so, let me tell you something else. i can't just be "tolerated". it's not me. i have no desire to insist on being welcome where i'm not wanted. i'd like nothing more than to continue exchanging comments with you, but sometimes doors just close on me, and i'm no fighter these days. and it was just a mistake.

so, i'll end this rant with again expressing my thanks for all of your much-needed support to date. please feel free to come back to my blog at any time in the future, you're always going to be very welcome

sad vanessa XX

Gideon MacLeish

on Jul 06, 2004

As a newby to the site, I have to say: I enjoy debate as long as it stays debate, but when it gets personal, it crosses the line.

Gene Nash

on Jul 06, 2004

When you say "close the thread" is there a way to lock it without losing all the comment? Last time I used 'edit' to do it, it hid all the comments previous.

I've clicked "edit" and changed the "who can respond" to "no-one" without losing the comments. Is that what you did? Little Whip and her husband have locked some of their threads in the past and the comments are still visible. You can ask her if that is how they did it. Maybe they've changed the coding since you last tried it?

Let my clarify that... The "X comments" changes to the commenting is disabled message, but clicking on the title, or reading it in the forums still brings up the previously left comments. Is that what you meant?

Gene Nash

on Jul 07, 2004

now, i can apologise til i'm blue in the face again here, but to be honest i think everybody is tired of seeing that. so, let me tell you something else. i can't just be "tolerated". it's not me. i have no desire to insist on being welcome where i'm not wanted. i'd like nothing more than to continue exchanging comments with you, but sometimes doors just close on me, and i'm no fighter these days. and it was just a mistake.
. . .
sad vanessa XX

Now, you see, I just don't get this.

The point was that had I wanted to stop you from posting I could easily have blacklisted you. I didn't. At about the same time as your comment, MasonM made one calling journalists scum. Him I instantly blacklisted.

No-one has asked or expected you to appologize ad nuaseum. I erased my responses to that thread and said I wouldn't be responding to those "either/or" Friday Five's anymore. End of story. I also told you on my private thread that I wouldn't be talking for a while. What part of that was not clear? Say your appologies and wait for me to feel like talking. You are the one making this great big drama.

As much as it pains me to do I now find it necessary to blacklist you. I had no intention or desire to do this, but frankly the only one who is getting in my face and making accusations against me right now are you and Muggaz. WTF? I haven't done anything to either of you and I am tired of this. As I also told you on my private thread I do not come here to be insulted and accused of things but that is exactly what you are doing.

In case you haven't noticed, I rarely respond immediately to my comment threads -- sometimes never. I had responses to your recent posts and just hadn't made them yet.

But again, I did make the effort to tell you I wouldn't be talking for a while, that I would be returning to your blog eventually, and that I had purposefully not blacklisted you so you could continue to post if you pleased. You continue to take everything I do negatively and ascribe vile motives to me. I don't get it. I felt my comments weren't welcome and withdrew them and that could have been the end of the story. You are the one following me around like a wounded puppy, not vice versa. Cut it out!

I never asked for an appology before because I didn't think one was necessary. I was going to write a private article just to you and explain things. It wasn't you I was mainly angry with anyway. But I can only do things as I can do them. My health can't take this and if you insist on following me around on my threads and essentially harrasing me (at this point) then goodbye.

I don't want it to be that way, but my health can't take this kind of conflict. There is a reason I go out of my way to avoid conflict.

I'd like to appologize to everyone else for the outburst, but enough is enough!

dharmagrl

on Jul 07, 2004

My health can't take this

I hear you there. I think I have gained more grey hairs and lost more sleep in the past few days...! That's why I said it's not fun anymore.

If you ever want to vent away from here, my email address is on my page under 'contact me'. I'd love to hear from you.

bakerstreet

on Jul 07, 2004

Smartaz: you're a grownup. It is your responsibility to see to it that your stay here is tolerable and that you enjoy it. There's no reason to ever apologize for deleting or blacklisting someone. You do what you need to do, because you know damn well none of the rest of these people are going to ensure you enjoyment, especially when they disagree with you.

Let them go and make their own blogs and not piggy back yours to make you miserable. You're under no obligation to read the abuse anywhere else.

P.S. Dunno about the locking thing, I'll try it out on a thread with no messages and see.

bakerstreet

on Jul 07, 2004

You were right. The comments when you choose "no one" stay in the forum, you just don't see them on the regular article view.

Gene Nash

on Jul 07, 2004

Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, I suppose I will close this thread. It seems to no longer be serving any useful purpose. I'd like to stop it before it works its way into my top 5 articles.

Dharma: I'll write you. If I don't get to it tonight, I'll do so tomorrow.

BakerStreet: Thank you. This is exactly the sort of online tumult I never wanted to be a part of again. I'm not even sure how it happened because I didn't mean to cause any harm.

To the two I felt compelled to blacklist:

Look, it was meant to be temporary. I had hoped you would step back and reevaluate what was going on. You got worked up beforehand and based on that started ascribing motivations to me that just weren't there. I pulled from the forums the article which offended you so much, though it is still on my blog. The only intent of that article was to introduce my philosophy of how I wanted to run my own feature. There was no hidden meaning. There were no slights or jabs at anyone, no matter how much you wanted to read that into it. I'd have thought you'd know better.

I had hoped you would step back and see that. As I said, I didn't want to blacklist either of you, but I can't come in here and have that on my blog. It is too upsetting, especially when I didn't intend any of what you accused me of.

i have seen nothing but spite in your post's lately, and it's not really what I expected from you...

Maybe that should have told you something. Like -- I don't know -- you're misinterpreting them? Once you decide I'm being spiteful it's all too easy to start ascribing that to everything I subsequently write. I would have thought with all the superlatives y'all have used to describe me in the past you would have known better.

I said,

If that's how little you both think of me, please do not return to my blog. Ever.

If your response is not to return I can only assume you did indeed think that little of me.

It was meant to be temporary till y'all calmed down and could reconsider. I did not want -- in fact could not take -- a bruising back and forth with the entire Aussie contingent ganging up on me because one member imagined I was dising her over an imagined slight. I had no choice but to end it right there.

It was meant to be temporary, but ultimately that is up to you.

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