As a reminder, I write from the point of view of a consumer/RE enthusiast (I’m a Realtor Wife). That being said, I’m noticing a little movement in the blogosphere that will be short-lived if I can help it.
Backstory: The Tomato addressed the fact that there are a vast number of terrible RE.net sites and blogs online and they ask “Where’s Simon Cowell When You Need Him?” My primary response was “yeah, where is Simon? These sites are terrible!”
Shaun McLane and I began an offline conversation about hosting a “Blogger Idol” site with a panel judging and commenting on the junky blogs in the RE.net sphere. Shaun started Posh’d and seemed like a good fit for two reasons (1) he and I were thinking in the same direction about a startup site and (2) he’d done a great job putting together the good blogs/sites online. At the time, Shaun was busy with his real job and said he wanted to involve me but wasn’t ready to launch. Then last week, in an effort to contact Shaun, I found the Idol site he’d launched- oh well, I wasn’t persistent enough, I suppose.
The great news is that I actually found his new site because I wanted to let him know that I thought it was a bad idea and I didn’t want to be involved. My belief that it’s a bad idea is confirmed today by the harsh RSS Pieces article that tears a blog a new one.
I think it’s fine that others are out there trolling for the worst of the worst, but here’s why I’m steering clear:
- I would be infuriated if someone called my site out and used the word “sucks” and “crappy.”
- Am I the Ultimate Blogger? So much that I find the need to go out and presume that I have the authority to denigrate others’ blogs? No, I’m not, so I’ll stay quiet.
- Bad press isn’t always good press. Sure, I’ll visit the site once to see how bad it is, but I will have the impression that it’s bad (since it was dubbed as such) and I’ll never visit again.
- There’s room for sass (see my site, I’m full of it), but when addressing someone else’s blog, it just doesn’t seem necessary.
- I don’t take criticism well, and I would hate to open myself up to the can of worms that comes from being a know-it-all critic. Criticize my site and I promise, I’ll prove why no one should ever read yours. I’m stubborn.
- The blogosphere has a list of unspoken rules including common courtesy. “Blogger Idol” having a function to strictly dump on other sites seems to lack courtesy (even if you list positives to a site). Oh, and karma’s a jerk.
My solution: go ahead and laugh at bad sites, but maybe constructive criticism would be best left in email directly to the user instead of posted in a potentially business-busting, embarassing article.
Lastly, aren’t we all here to practice (or butt in in my case) Real Estate or market to Realtors? No buyer/seller of marketing or Real Estate wants to read about what you think about OTHER blogs (regardless of how funny other Realtors may find the topic). So, I’ll let the sassy ones stick to their blogs; I’ll still read them and participate in comments, and I’ll stay out of it because it seems pointless and doesn’t further my cause by any stretch of the imagination.
Greg Swann says:
I’m not nearly as nice as you, but I’ll go along with you to this extent: The weblog being eviscerated is a “cat blog” — a diary produced to be of interest solely to the author, his family and friends. American Idol is okay if you like that stuff. But pulling a Simon Cowell at a Karaoke party is churlish.
June 15, 2007 — 12:12 pm
B.R. says:
Amen! & Amen!
June 15, 2007 — 12:27 pm
Jonathan Dalton says:
There seems to be a subset of bloggers obsessed with the notion that there is only one way to write a blog. Stray from their narrow strictures and you’re doomed. Some, such as the host here, tend to offer general suggestions in a more or less constructive manner. (More or less depends on the day.)
Others, including the blog you referenced and a rather ripe fruit, are more inclined to lecture and explain why you as a blogger are doomed to fail. Perhaps they are loading material to use for their own books. Or maybe they just have little else to do. Whatever.
June 15, 2007 — 12:59 pm
Jeff Kempe says:
Terrific, Lani, and sooo right.
Villifying other blogs – as opposed to the arguments they present – is simply another version of the Idol syndrome: the false assumption that bringing down others is another way to elevate ourselves.
Doesn’t work.
June 15, 2007 — 3:37 pm
Brian Brady says:
Lani,
I would agree with your title, however, I understand why Jimmy Tomatoes and Blog Girl are judging, albeit harshly, some of the real estate weblogs out there. They are selling weblog platforms and weblog coaching.
I do see a need for it. I wish someone criticized my crappy website back in 1999.
The blog industry is getting crowded; criticism will be the next sales pitch.
June 15, 2007 — 3:40 pm
Austin Realtor's Wife says:
Point of clarification- criticism is fine. I believe it is best left in private. It seems unprofessional to cuss at blogs and act as Reigning God(des) of Blogging (even if you’re a “coach”).
Greg Swann, Jeff Brown, Kris Berg (it’s a coincidence that they’re all BHB contributors) and Realtor Genius (by default) have been my personal coaches- they’ve all come just a hair short of calling me a moron (in a nice way with encouraging words) at one point or another- encouragement we all need… in private!
I’m quite positive that I can find things on ANY blog to criticize…
June 15, 2007 — 4:11 pm
Brian Brady says:
“It seems unprofessional to cuss at blogs and act as Reigning God(des) of Blogging (even if you’re a “coach”)”
It is distasteful.
Jim Rome and Howard Stern changed the rules in radio, maybe not for the better but they changed them. I suspect those two are following that “smack-down” model.
More importantly, sometimes the best critic is the reader/consumer. As a self-described consumer, your opinion is far superior to ours.
Great post, today. I’m psyched to hear more from la petite bulldog
June 15, 2007 — 5:12 pm
Jim Cronin says:
Lani-
You wrote that your backstory is:
“…[Tomato] addressed the fact that there are a vast number of terrible RE.net sites and blogs online and they ask “Where’s Simon Cowell When You Need Him?”
Well, the article that you reference has nothing to do with ‘terrible RE.net sites’. The article was a call for more constructive judging of the Project Blogger contest. It was the judges that I was calling out as lacking, not the contestants nor their blogs.
Being tied to the search for ‘junky’ RE.net blogs is not something I feel my blogging efforts merit.
—
Jonathan,
I have always appreciated your thoughtful input over on our ripe fruit blog. Hang in there.
June 15, 2007 — 5:37 pm
Austin Realtor's Wife says:
You’re aboslutely right, Jim- the Tomato article is NOT AT ALL about criticizing bad blogs… it simply inspired a “Blogger Idol” project as a result of asking “Where’s Simon Cowell?”
That may have been unclear- thanks for pointing that out, Jim. I actually loved the original article (which had nothing to do with cussing out blogs)- that’s why I linked to it (people, you have to read it). Rock on juicy salad topping… rock on!
June 15, 2007 — 7:37 pm
Phil Hoover says:
Opinions are like noses (subsititute your body part of choice here) ~ everyone has one.
So what?
June 15, 2007 — 9:28 pm
Shailesh Ghimire says:
I think trying to criticize people for their blogging efforts is really not good. That’s the nice way of saying it. I think I go along with Brian Brady’s point earlier, in order to sell something you need to make people aware of the fact that they need it. So, what do you do. You create the perception that there is a ONE single way of blogging and you sell the perception.
For people in our profession a blog really needs to be part of an overall marketing strategy. It needs to fit in with the type of business you’re trying to run. I work with a lot of successful realtors who don’t even have A/R accounts let alone manage a blog. I don’t really see them losing out on business because they don’t have the best blog out there. They understand Real Estate, have a good system and they’re running with it. Who cares about blogs.
Blogs will eventually go the way of websites. Everyone thinks they need one right now and is jumping on board. Eventually, a certain equilibrium will be reached. There will be many different ways of doing it and creative individuals in different markets will dictate how to best use them. No central authority can dictate that.
So, to me sitting on a platform judging RE blogs is an exercise in intellectual snobbery of the highest order, akin to someone saying they don’t like the color of your shirt. Unless of course you’re in the business of making money off of the criticism. In which case you can see it for what it is — a crafty strategy to drum up business.
In short I’m glad you didn’t move ahead with the project Lani.
Thanks,
Shailesh
June 15, 2007 — 9:43 pm
Greg Tracy says:
One of the ways that blogging can be different than main stream media is the different viewpoints coming in from different angles.
Sometimes “attacking” is simply disagreeing with something and sharing your reasons. Sometimes it’s someone being obnoxious or rude, but sometimes it has merit.
Being a jerk is a waste of time, but good, honest debate brings about change and that’s more noble than simply being polite.
June 17, 2007 — 4:49 pm
Shaun McLane says:
Lani, I feel obligated to respond here. Your tune has changed a bit (well, a lot actually) from a few weeks ago when we had our brief discussions on Weblog Idol (concept). One of the reasons I didn’t move forward as quickly as you were hoping for is because you and I weren’t seeing eye-to-eye. I looked at the idea as merely a way to find the cream of the crop blog, not necessarily bash the bad ones. You said you tried to contact me and saw my idol blog? I don’t have an “Idol” blog. I’m assuming you mean my Posh’d site, but Posh’d is just a means to showcase the nicer real estate (not just blogs) sites on the web – ones contributing to the betterment of the web. If you’re talking about my “50 Worst” list, notice that the sites are not blogs…they are mostly Realtor sites. The list is to show how NOT to run a site, and is based solely on their appearance. Am I an expert? Hell no – but I can see a site that hasn’t been updated in 6 months, and looks like something that’s been sitting around since 1999.
I haven’t read the RSS Pieces post yet, but I saw my name, and my site mentioned, so I thought I should defend myself.
So does this mean you’re not going to be my Paula? lol
June 17, 2007 — 9:27 pm
Austin Realtor's Wife says:
Hey Shaun- recently, my husband told me that your 50 Worst was like totally old news- like my bad (I’m sitting next to my teen- it’s rubbing off on me)!
My article above isn’t aimed at you, it’s more toward harsh articles like the one on RSSPieces. The problem I see all over the place is people that think that their blog is so superior that they should denigrate other blogs. Regardless of if this is a marketing tactic for their “coaching services” or if it just makes people feel good, no one should be so excruciatingly harsh to the point that an individual or business could be irreversibly hurt- there’s no professionalism in that tactic!
I do maintain that (1) your Posh’d site is a good platform for a Blogger Idol blog because you don’t offer evaluations on sites that are featured, rather they are just linked to, (2) harsh criticism is best left to private emails, and (3) I know well that karma’s a jerk. My tune has changed by watching people “dog” on other blogs. Glad you chimed in (I was starting to worry about you)! Paula’s meds are way to cool for me- I’m out! 🙂
June 17, 2007 — 9:58 pm
Todd Carpenter says:
I think this excersice from RSS Pieces was good intentioned, but this is an example of how negative posting can cloud the message. I made this exchange the topic of my latest blog building post on lenderama.
June 18, 2007 — 10:15 am
Erin Fogarty says:
Lani,
I don’t feel the need to defend myself here, since I stand by my posts, but I do want to point out what several of your other comment-ers essentially already said for me. The post I wrote was my opinion. No one has to agree with me, though I have to tell you, many people did. I don’t feel that I am the “Ultimate Blogger”, as you said. I do know for a fact that many people contact me on a regular basis asking for my advice and help in their own blogs, and this WTF series has not had a negative impact on the amount of daily requests that I receive. In fact, it seems that all this controversy has made me (and RSS Pieces) quite a hot topic lately. The purpose of this series was to alert my own clients and readers to these blog issues so that one day, they don’t find themselves on someone else’s list of crappy blogs.
If your blog was awful, you wouldn’t have much of a reason to be infuriated for being called out on that fact. I’m not saying your blog is anything but great–I actually enjoy reading it myself. But the thing is, you, along with every other blogger on the planet, already have opened yourselves up to criticism simply by posting blogs. If you put yourself out there for the world to see, you’ll have to expect criticism sometimes, and you may not always like hearing it. I certainly don’t like getting negative comments, but as a blogger and a “Coach”, I have to deal with it and handle it to the best of my ability. Since I am able to do that, I see no reason why others can’t follow suit. All bloggers have to expect a certain degree of criticism, and as I’ve said before, if someone can’t handle the criticism, they shouldn’t be publishing a blog.
I am not the first person to do a series of this nature, and though people may be offended by it, I doubt that this approach will be going anywhere any time soon. Like it or not, it’s effective.
June 19, 2007 — 9:00 am
Austin Realtor's Wife says:
If that particular blog was submitted to you directly for public criticism, I see no problem for the foul language and the harsh nature of the article. You’ve noted you’re not the first (or the last) to commit this error of judgment. Although blogs are put into the public arena (and they could use coaching from you or others), many are business blogs and such coarse evaluations could do more damage to their business than you intended (well, unless you delete the article after they correct the mistakes you asked them to so there is no visible footprint making them look inept).
Making blogs better is great- RSSP usually does just that, but the negativity swirling around the blogosphere is unprofessional. I too have people ask ME (of all people) for help on their new blogs and I have had many gracious emails of thanks in return. I have never felt that it gives me license to publicly verbally whip others for their inability to embrace blogging’s fullest potential. I run on freakin’ blogspot… not because I’m stupid but because I’m short on time to learn Word Press (but I will). In the meantime, I would hate to be called out because of my tools, you know?
I bet you would get impressive traffic with your WTF series if you asked people to submit their own blogs to be evaluated in a professional manner (minus “sucks” and “crap”)…
June 19, 2007 — 10:03 am
4MySales says:
Blogs are a form of art and their those that criticize the form, function, layout or prose may be missing the point. A lot of us blog because we enjoy it, and hope that it may garner a little attention to our websites. However, I don’t think it has ever been a requirement that our art fit into the confines of somebody else’s opinion.
Blog free, and if the critics don’t like it, let them keep their opinions to themselves.
-4MySales
July 10, 2007 — 3:56 pm