Wednesday, August 26, 2009

you do you and i'll do me

In Maureen Dowd's opinion column today in the New York Times...
"As Hugo Black wrote in 1960, “It is plain that anonymity has sometimes been assumed for the most constructive purposes.”

But on the Internet, it’s often less about being constructive and more about being cowardly."
In lieu of all the cyberbullying that's been going on (especially when it comes to the more trafficked blogs like Fashiontoast and Luluandyourmom), I think it's time we bloggers and readers have a serious discussion on the definition of constructive criticism.

It's not to say that I'm not opposed to hearing someone else's difference in opinion; I just believe that since it's ourselves that we [the bloggers] are putting up for critique, we have a right to comments that reflect intelligent suggestion rather than "your a ho" [sic].

7 comments:

  1. I am all for anonymous comments, provided they are not rude and abusive. Although I am getting tired of having to delete rude anonymous comments! Hope you're having a beautiful day dear :)

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  2. Yikes! Cath and I must not get enough blog traffic for the rudeness yet- have you encountered it too, Miss A?

    I totally agree though- those anonymous commenters are a sad, sad lot.

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  3. That's why I don't allow anon comments. I think if you're going to say something, you might as well put some conviction behind those words and show who you are. Maybe it's also because I'm a journalist and I'm not allowed to give so much power to anonymous sourcing. I just think people's words are the most powerful weapon they have, and if a person's too afraid to admit to saying something, then they should keep their comments to themselves in the first place!

    Some of the comments on the other blogs are really vindictive. It makes me wonder why Rumi (or Karla or Jane, etc.) doesn't turn off anon commenting. It makes me think they'd rather have comments than nothing.

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  4. I'm definitely a fan of BoO advertising wise, I think it has that intimacy that the bigger labels lack. And totally know what you mean, everybody always praises Audrey (and rightly so), but the men onscreen also had some fantastic costume design. Haha and I'm still on the hunt for one of the two or three finger rings from S2A, I will have one before the year ends. Hope you're having an utterly wonderful weekend dear :)

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  5. i luv yr blog...

    It is plain that anonymity has sometimes been assumed for the most constructive purposes...

    great quote

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  6. the whole anonymity element of the internet is really interesting, because it does bring a lot of cowards out of the woodwork. i can understand why Karla and Rumi don't block anon. comments. the comments usually speak volumes about the posters (har har har), and no retorts are really necessary. that being said, it takes a lot of patience with people to not get immensely irritated and stoop to their level. that's patience i don't exactly have mastered yet.

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