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Are we confused about what BLOGGING actually is?

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In Blogging Ethics

The IndiBlogger forum is now a read-only archive. Every public discussion is still here to read, but new topics and replies are closed.

Arvind Passey
from Delhi |

I have been on indiblogger long enough to notice how people crib, whine, protest, and even ***** about others... this, and I think everyone should agree, is unacceptable. No, I don't mean to sideline the benefits of DISSENT nor am I asking anyone to take things lying down. All I mean is that people must display a high degree of sportsmanship, adopt a learning attitude, accept the wisdom of judges, and move ahead in harmony.

This is not happening here because people have rather shallow concepts about contests and confuse 'blogging' with a very narrowed down definition.

Blogging abilities, as I understand the term, has everything to do with:

1. Ability to search, collate and present information giving credit to sources wherever necessary

2. Ability to express in a language and style that makes a reader not just read but also understand well, respond... and maybe share the value that is imparted

3. Ability to connect diverse and spread out opinions and ideas and bring a cohesiveness in the presentation

and

4. If possible, incubate an upload with a new or radical or unexpressed or dormant thought that creates a new dimension to prevalent opinion.

Hope this helps all.

I would love to debate and discuss this at length.

Replies 1 to 6 of 6

umesh derebail
from Mumbai |

@ Arvind, i believe there is bound to be difference or dissent whenever a competition is judged from a particular angle.  Basically the problem arises whenever a company official sits in judgement.  They would definitely go for an entry which sings praise on the product or service.  A neutral panel of judge would be appropriate.  I am happy Tata Grande did not come out with any contest but chose to give test ride and other activities around the vehicle.

I have avoided participating in contests whenever it is focussed on promoting a product.

Animesh
from Mumbai |

@Umesh, I don't see a reason why there should be neutral panel of judges when a contest is sponsored by a company. If they invest, they have to get something back in return.

umesh derebail
from Mumbai |

Animesh it is a general practise in corporate world that employees and relatives of a company sponsoring a contest should not participate, the same logic is carried forward.  The companies should employ neutral panel preferably to stay away from judging.Smile

Animesh
from Mumbai |

These are two different things: panel of judges and participants.

Panel of judges need to be from the company to protect their interets. At most it can be a mixed panel with some insiders and outsiders

Hemal Shah
from Mumbai |

Umesh, any promotion activity is with a motive and the motive either is to get an brands exposure or to get an insight into the brand by what we blog about.

It is not right that companies be baised to this but its how it happens and its just human. If I am paying the money, let me decide who deserves to win.

tys
from Sharjah |

i find this trend of companies coming into the blogging sphere to market their products a lil discomforting...it seems to take away a certain amount of genuinity ...it was bound to happen...it also shows that its becoming a powerful medium...but somehow , for a blogger like me, it seems , well...weird.

i dont think there shud be rules to blogging...hell, thats what made me start to blog...i think there shud be spaces for people to be whatever they want to be...it can be annoying to some but i feel the very fact that you decide wht u read or not read, gives it the necessary control...

Hemal Shah
from Mumbai |

you gem of a writer Smile

Sairam Rajamani
from Bangalore |

Corporates coming to blogosphere is not a bad thing per se. What is bad is if the blogger does not have room for creativity. In the Indie contests, HP and Dell gave lot of room for creativity to the bloggers. They just gave their tag line as the contest theme. Fiat is one step below as they wanted to write about diesel car being better as a vehicle. But the theme still had a human angle and there was space for creativity.  Samsung and Intel wanted to talk about their product. So it is a lot tougher to be creative. But with Qvendo contest, I am beginnig to get little worried like tys.  

Amit Ahuja
from Sagar |

Blogging has turned into business now with many professional blogs out there including quality content to help people. The crowd is vast now and therefore we see diversification of thoughts.

TF Carthick
from Bangalore |

I agree with Sairam. Some of the companies don't seem to have got what blogging is all about. A decent blog with regular readers can not give their readers a post on clothes they want to buy and hair maintenance tips unless it is a fashion blog or a beauty tops blog. As a blogger, if I regularly start writing such stuff that is not related to my blog's soul, I will loose crediility with my readers. So if companies try to give topics strictly about their products with little scope for bloggers to use their creativity to align to their blog's niche, obviously they should not expect large participation and if the participation is there due to number of prizes, it will not be from the niche ones with large reader base. Hope Inidblogger eudcates companies' marketing department about this.