I’m going to be vague just to keep from linking jerks who deserve no further traffic, also so I don’t accidentally skip one of the countless cases that have been popping up as of late.
Look the blog community is just that, a community, if there was just one or two of us out there we’d generally suck. Who’s the first blog you read in the morning? If you’re like most people you get up and see what Chance over at Say Uncle and see what he’s put up. Of course most of Chance’s posts are links with a short riff to other blogs. Now nobody (including this blogger) complains because Chance isn’t stealing your thunder, he’s pointing more eyes at your hard work and paying you quite a good compliment as prefacing the linked post is worth a read.
Everybody wins. Chance gets solid traffic because people can come for solid content, the people linked get a big bump in traffic, and maybe some new readers. The same goes down the road. I’ve linked various people who have dropped some good content, and gotten thanks for the bump in traffic. Furthermore I’ll grab content from other bloggers and add my own riff on it, some times they’ll riff back, or a 3rd party will add, and a big chain of interesting content will show up. I’ve found myself reading dozens of pages just by following cited links when researching a past topic.
Again everybody wins. When everybody wins it not only makes happy faces all over the world, but it furthers the cause we’re all working for. If you’re reading this blog, I bet you like guns, and are for civil rights, and probably don’t like nosy busy-bodies getting up in your grill. If I link to a post by another blogger, chances are they’re standing for the same business, and they have some neat stuff to share.
Then there are other people. These people evidently think the internet is their drunk sorority sister to rape. Its all about them, so who cares what other people think.
They steal whole posts…but add a hyperlink as if that dodges copyright.
They grab images and use them however they so feel, even if the owner of said image expresses clear disapproval
They make posts supporting the opposition just to troll for hits and comments, rather than doing anything constructive
Seriously people? Try to help the cause rather than wrecking it…and if you want to be an asshole be an asshole on your own dime!
When I started “Blogging” it was on Livejournal (hence the quote marks), which meant I was boxed into the Livejournal sphere, so I wasn’t stepping on anybody’s toes. When I moved into this blog I thought about what place I’d hold in the internet.
Jay’s a Close friend, and the Godfather of the Northeast Gun Blogs. He’s also a fellow Masshole. When I do local news I check over at Jay’s first to make sure I’m not going “Me Too” on one of his stories, sometimes I contact him, often I find our voices are different enough that we’re always delivering new content.
On the other side I’m totally flattered when somebody covers a local story at their own blog on a murder done without a gun, and they drop a hat tip to the “Gun Death?” files. You’re not stepping on my toes, I only do one “Gun Death?” story a day, so I can’t get them all, there are plenty to go around, but its a very nice move to send a link my way to acknowledge that its a big pet project of mine. Also thanks to all who have dropped links to the files as a rebuttal to overzealous antis who somehow think “Gun Death” is a metric we should really put any credence into.
So in short, share the road and don’t be a dick. Being an upstanding blogger will not only make you friends, but it makes things better for everybody. I do this as a hobby, but also because I believe that spreading information will do some good in the world. If you also believe in the cause don’t dam up the flow!
**UPDATE** Jennifer adds a really nice feminine angle that me and my hair-covered masculinity missed:
If you want to talk about what might drive women away from the shooting sports and 2nd amendment activism, it’s this. It’s the risk of being lowered to nothing more than a sexualized object with no other value than gaining attention. When Breda posts a picture of herself as a confident and empowered woman carrying a gun, it gives some balance against the scores of YouTube videos where some drooling dolt has handed his hot girlfriend a firearm for the express purpose of making her hurt herself or jiggle for the camera. Reposting said image with a salacious title undoes some of that good.
Well Said Jennifer! go read the whole thing! (Also note that the flap mentioned there is hardly the ONLY example I’m talking about)
