Neurotic Blogger Syndromes

It's taken some time for me to realize that there are a fair number of web news aficionados, and other surfers who don't appreciate blogs or bloggers. For bloggers who are brave enough to sign up for a service like Digg.com where you can submit links to your "best" posts you better have a thick skin, and apply a good dose of flame repellent. Digg started out as a site for technology news submitted by members. Those same stories are then voted on or "Dugg" by other members for their relevance and quality etc. Although the Digg site itself will accept non-technical stories, and others submitted by blogs, there is a vocal minority of Digg members who have little tolerance for such stories, and they will leave nasty comments such as "you worthless, shameless, spammer stop posting your lame stories, or Don't post blogs", or other comments that I won't repeat here etc. Part of this may relate to the fact that the minimum age to become a Digg member is thirteen, and of course the technology news purists may resent the infiltration of other links, but then they should take that up with Digg. Nevertheless, I continued to submit articles to Digg because even flaming feedback can sometimes get your writing juices flowing in a positive way. It's hard to believe that anyone could really believe that a blogger posting legitimate stories, and making a few cents from Google ads is a spammer. In that case I must rank as the most inept, ineffectual spammer on the Internet. That isn't a knock against Google, but a criticism of my own advertising power.

Anyway, all of that negative rhetoric made me start to question and doubt the blogging life, or god forbid the "blogosphere". Maybe bloggers are all just a bunch of self centered, indulgent, narcissistic and neurotic word crunchers who should get a life. Perhaps we actually have some kind of psychological disorder? Another fellow blogger MichaelM at Smoke and Mirrors started the ball rolling with his description of Blogger Compulsive Disorder. For you blog haters out there, and for others who have a sense of humor here is a further list of Blogger disorders:

If you post to your Blog too frequently, use expletives, and shoot from the hip on various topics you may be suffering from Blogger Impulsive Disorder.

If you are frequently appalled by the design, and content of other Blogs, and leave nasty comments on them here, and there you may have Blogger Repulsive Disorder. Of course you don't have to be a blogger to have this since many Digg members are also prone to this malady.

If you are constantly thinking about what to write, or post next on your Blog, and surf the web incessantly for topic ideas, or that neat piece of JavaScript to put in your template you may be afflicted with Blogger Compulsive Disorder.
(This affliction is characterized in much greater detail by MichaelM at Smoke and Mirrors with his hilarious description of "Blogger Compulsive Disorder". )

If you are a complete slave to maintaining your blog while it destroys your social life, and your hygiene is starting to suffer then you may have Blogger Addictive Disorder or BAD as described in detail by David Thompson at ShrinkWrapped.

Looks like some of us are BAD to the bone. Now I'll put my flame suit on as this story is going to Digg.

Tags:
Blogger Syndromes, AdSense, Neuroses, Digg, Blogging