It seems Robert Scoble is REALLY angry about some of the comments he is attracting in his, and other people’s blogs. Eric Schonfeld of techcrunch posted a video of Robert this morning, where he went into a bit of a rant regarding what he calls “the trolls” who are screwing up the comments section of blogs.
“Go away – go back to Digg!”
Robert Scoble’s message to those who are ruining blogs
So, The Scobleizer wants us to go back to the way things were in 2003; when there were only intelligent, decent people commenting in blogs and when blogs were filled with intelligent debate…
HANG ON!
I have only been writing thetechnewsblog for a few months, but I have been a blog contributor for many years and I have no recollection of the ‘perfect past’ Robert is referring to. I have a massive amount of respect for Robert Scoble and I LOVE his work – but in my opinion, he’s wrong on that one!
For as long as there have been online forums and before that, news groups, there have been ‘comment trolls’. The flame wars of the 1990′s in various usenet groups were HUGE – we just used to call the comment trolls ‘Flamers’. Same people, same shit – different name.
LEAVE SCOBLE ALONE!
The fact that Robert is so successful, means people will always want to ‘have a go’ at him. He is a big target – and one of those rare ‘tech celebrities’ – who ALWAYS always takes the time to reply to people who contact him. Whilst some tech cebebrities (like Natali Del Conte), will do anything to avoid speaking to their listeners / readers – Scoble is totally approachable – and he draws a lot of flack as a result.
SCOBLE WAS RIGHT
Robert made some very good points in his interview. He is right that only the most motivated people ever comment in a blog – and that these are often the people with the biggest axe to grind! He was also right that the use of anonymous posting to blogs does give cowards a screen, behind which they can insult people / companies.
Robert also makes a good point – that topics are not covered in any depth any more. A subject can be a MASSIVE story one day and dropped like a stone the next! We used to chew over stuff for weeks / months a decade ago!
Finally, I am watching with interest as Robert; “removes the assholes” from his blog. As such, you may not see me posting there any more (just kidding!)
The Scobleizer – http://scobleizer.com
Dude, everything Scoble does is done for traffic. This latest trash was just another way to gain more traffic for his sites and blogs. Mystery solved
- Scooby Doo and Shaggy and go home now!
The Scooby Doo comment was excellent!
Yeah, Scoble is a very smart cookie and it’s more than possible that he was just trying to generate a little controversy.
He’s actually a nice guy and he genuinely does get some really sick stuff targeted at him.
I was speaking with a very well-known female video podcaster and she said that most of the top people suffer from either stalkers or other form of sickos.
It’s possible Scoble believed what he was saying. It was certainly nice to see someone point a camera at HIM for a change and get a comment!
Thanks Gerry,
JC