Whether you are a jerk in what you say, or even if you do it accidentally, you’re gonna piss people off. That’s just life. Whether it’s out in the rl, or online. You cannot escape that fact. The more people who are aware of what you say, the more likely it is going to happen.

In the end I think it’s more important to stick by your guns and your opinions. If people want to misconstrue what you have to say then that is their problem when you get right down to it (unless perhaps if it’s a personal friend). I’ve gotten bad press before at my site, and all it ever did was increase my site count and my readers. I was never there for the people who did not like me. I was there for the people who wanted to hear what I had to say.

To point, due to linkbacks to my site, which I like to poke around in sometimes I found 3 sites involved in this discussion which prompted me to even post comments (which I rarely do). Hence, a bad situation generated a reader with no bad opinions about the bloggers. On top of that I am considering a post about this now as the situation kind of bugs me. Make of that what you will.
.-= Skeleton Jack´s last blog ..Dungeons & Dragons: Pathfinder d20 =-.

“I really stand by the idea that the source of most of drama comes down to people not being informed on a topic, and people rushing to attack rather than educate.”

Hopefully people will take away that concept when this post is read, since that is exactly what is meant.

I don’t think ignorance of a certain mechanic, or of social/cultural structures in question is a reason to attack someone. I think it provides a perfect forum for educating them. If one person is ignorant on something, you can guarantee that there are many others just as uninformed about it.

I hate thinking that people are afraid to ask questions or propose ideas for fear that they will be roasted for not being familiar with how the “system” works.

That having been said, sometimes when you try to educate someone on something, it can be misconstrued as using them as a poster child for ignorance, or as “making an example out of them”.

This is a very good post. I really stand by the idea that the source of most of drama comes down to people not being informed on a topic, and people rushing to attack rather than educate.

As for the potential flaming, well, I couldn’t find a specific reason myself, but give it time and I’m almost certain someone can. Either my commentary will be mistaken for specifically supporting or not supporting a side in an argument somewhere, or I’ll be called a hypocrite for making this public instead of sending emailed concerns to everyone, or some such nonsense I haven’t even dreamed of Either way, I felt this needed to be stated and seen so that the “community” can understand exactly what that term means to newer members. (I expect I’ll have the first trolling regarding the definition/concept of community, since that would be what I would attack were I trying to make a point and not concerned with the actual meaning, but we’ll see.)

@Soph
Those thoughts went through my mind as well, especially if I were a new-ish blogger still. Luckily I’m fairly thick-skinned anyway and could shrug it off, but, again, the downward spiral into hostility that ensued instead of taking the time to approach the mistake directly and educate others is exactly what being part of a community should prevent.

In the end it’s a pretty simple mistake, and probably even one I would make myself, that turned out to create a scenario where we need to really examine whether the community that claims to exist actually does, and if so it’s time to remind everyone why that concept was developed in the first place.

Knowing the original participant and being an avid reader of her blog, I know she would never have meant anything malicious by her post.
Having read the second, larger member of the communities response, I understand why person #1 deleted her blog.
I would have done the same.

This has seriously made me doubt both my own contributions to the blogging community and my own contribution to SAN.
.-= Soph´s last blog ..Friends. =-.

Thank you very much for this post. Recent experiences on the “community” have disturbed me, and I appreciate how you to chose to address and handle the topic.

I can’t see anything to “flame” but I’m probably biased ^^ I know I am not always the most tactful person in the community, but I don’t see the necessity for such a high level of hostility in dealing with differences of opinion.
.-= Windsoar´s last blog ..Welcome Back… Ha! =-.