It seems to me lately that a trend that I am sure started a long time ago has been growing as of late, with many high level blogs using their sites as a way to bring to light issues that should be handled privately.
The latest example is on TechCrunch, a blog that some people loath, and other laud with a post about plagarism, entitled “DEMO v. TechCrunch50 Takes A Nasty Turn With Charges Of Plagiarism” where Michael Arrington airs his dirty laundry in hopes of making DEMO look bad.
I find such posts uncalled for and I hope they become extremely unpopular as such issues should be held in private, rather than becoming a contest of “who has the biggest audience”.
Are we, as a blog reading audience so interested in controversy and gossip that these types of posts bring in a high level of traffic, provoking site owners to continue to publish such information?
I really wish people would stop using their blogs as a way to blow private issues out of proportion. Sensationalism can be a great tool, but it can also taint the overall brand of a site, and I know quite a few people that would consider TechCrunch to be a tainted brand.
Respect is a two way street, and by publishing such articles, you are only displaying a lack of respect that is all too common in the blogosphere currently.
Am I wrong? Let me know in the comments below.
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John Leschinski
August 11th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
People love drama, and for sites that rely on advertising it is a numbers game.
David Peralty
August 11th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
True, but it doesn’t make it right. If blogs ever want to be taken seriously as a business, they need to make sure they have editorial guidelines, rather than airing their dirty laundry as they see fit.
Kevin Muldoon
August 11th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Michael Arrington does frequently discuss things which perhaps should be discussed privately. I’m a hypocrite in some respects with this kind of thing…I do agree they should be dealt with privately but it does occasionally turn out to be an interesting debate.
I guess there’s a fine line. I’ve wrote some posts in the past which I should have probably have sorted out privately.