Blog Fight! Blog Fight!

First, I want to make it clear that Journals Product Manager Stephanie is strangling me for purely illustrative purposes only.

Wired News had a feature on Tuesday entitled "Best Blogfights of 2006" that looks at some of the rollicking punch-ups that occured last year among some of the "A-List bloggers" out there.

If you follow the Internet and social media industry, you'll see that:

• There are a lot of strong personalities involved -- you don't really see very many shy, wilting entrepeneurs
• The names of a lot of these folks are pretty much interchangeable with the companies that they create, run, spin-off, sell, etc. Consequently, there's a lot of mixing of people's personal business with their business business
• The overall community of these online movers and shakers is relatively small, fairly mobile and extremely incestuous

Combined with the immediate, uncensored and public nature of blogging, it can make for some interesting conflicts. Remember, "blogging is conversation," and gossip and screaming matches are conversation (although potentially much louder and more annoying).

It can be tedious, yet at the same time, it can be fascinating.

Anyway, see the Wired article for some of the more notable A-List blogfights of last year. You'll note that former Weblogs, Inc and Netscape honcho Jason Calacanis made the list for his clash with Digg co-creator Kevin Rose.

I would actually characterize that one as more of a product competition than a blog fight. (Not to say that Jason hasn't had his share of blog feuds -- I'd get into the details, except I'm no gossip [*cough*] and most regular folks don't give a hoot, anyway.)

Update: The Blog Herald has a nice take on this issue. For the A-listers, big loud blogfights can also serve to draw attention to what a company is doing -- and they say any publicity is good publicity.

The mixing of business and pleasure is only one reason why blogfights can get so nasty. The 37signals blog did an entry rounding up some thoughts on the topic: "Why do blog comments seem to bring out the worst in people so often?"

A lot of it has to do with anonymity and depersonalization -- people get bolder when they're dealing with someone from behind a screen (the phrase "Internet Tough Guy" comes to mind).

Of course, online flamewars are nothing new, and it may be that the ease of publishing and open nature of blog conversations just make it easier for other people to look in on flame-fests that were previously squirreled away in message boards, mailing lists, and chats.

Human nature is the overriding principle -- there's no greater impulse than a feeling of righteous indignation, and a lot of times, pride, the desire to get in the last word, or the need to "win" leads people to do things they wouldn't ordinarily.

And let us not forget the usual trolls and drama kings/queens -- people who thrive on stirring up trouble -- or the immature-behaving folks who just want to shout anonymous profanity in front of a wide audience.

Then again, you can't rule out mental illness -- blogger Jason Kottke posits that the unrepentant disruptor on the other end of the screen might actually be a sociopath or psychopath (link via Metafilter).

I try to avoid controversy in my own blogging, except when it's thrust upon me or I use less-than-stellar judgment. Maybe that makes me wishy-washy, I don't know.

Over at Netscape, Managing Editor and Lead Anchor C.K. Sample used his personal blog this week (there's that intersection of personal and business again) to respond to some of the more common flames and anti-social behaviors seen at social news and links sharing sites.

Is he shouting against the storm? Probably, but we all have to try. Remember, in the immortal words of the great philosopher and peacemaker, Jerry Springer:

"Take care of yourselves. And each other."

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: blogfight, social media, a-list bloggers, jerry springer, flamewars, unrepentant disruptor