blogger interrupted

This is just priceless.  Scott Piepho, one of the most pompous and self-absorbed bloggers in the Ohio leftysphere, decides to (a) take all us Ohio bloggers to task, (b) whine about wanting to stop blogging, and (c) announce continued blogging.  

Let’s start with the indictment Phrom Phormer prosecutor Pho.

Fact is, blogging has been far less fun lately than in the past. Back in the day (“the day” in this case being c. 2006) the Ohio political leftysphere had a much different vibe. We were a community, interested in politics and hoping our people won, but also interested in building up as a whole this thing called blog. The Meet the Bloggers project provided some of the glue holding that community together, but even those who didn’t participate in MTB were part of the conversation.

That community – my community – doesn’t really exist anymore.

I’m so over my MTB nightmare, but if Pho wants to cite something I created as evidence of “the day”, and of “his community”, Pho needs to be corrected.  Pho might like to pay a little more attention to how MTB imploded at the hands of the people still involved in it.  If he did, he might have less Phond views of “the day” he so misses.  But Pho actually does know the MTB meltdown chapter and verse, because he reads my blog, so this little verse revision needs to be called out for what it is.  Bullshit.

But it gets better.  Now, we’re all “a club”, and we all ignore Pho.

Those who remain and those who have taken their place treat this thing differently. Nowadays blogging is more competitive – explicit discussions of who has better traffic or links or “influence” pop up with discomforting frequency. And the focus is not on having an ongoing conversation about how to make the world better, but on winning – both in the blogosphere and in November.

As a result, the community is gone, replaced by a club. No one ever said it was a club (at least not publicly) and no one ever said who was in and out, but without doubt the winners have chosen those who are part of the club and ignore those who are not.

Ignore?  Is this some kind of joke?  As I’ve said to Pho and others, numerous times, in writing, Pho and his Phans, Phriends, and the rest of whatever club he is in - let’s call it the NEVER LINK TO RUSSO OR YOU’LL CATCH LEPRESY Club - the no-linky policies of numerous bloggers are pretty damn obvious, and go in the opposite direction Pho implies.  Those no-linky blogs are precisely the ones who remain in Pho’s little circle of Phriends.  Not the “winners” who Pho seems to think have won.  I sure don’t Pheel like a winner.   And I read Pho all the time, if only to count the Phootnotes.  It’s Phun!

And then, it’s off to visit the WistPhul Pho.

And I’m feeling wistful about the community has passed. The whole community thing gets overused, but upon attending a blogger meetup last week (my first in over a year), it all came back to me how it was and how much more fun it was back then. Not that the change should be a surprise.

Let’s look at  the blogger meetup Pho attended last week, and see just who’s still hanging out at these utter wastes of time and space.  Hmmm…..the remaining Phony MTB jokers, John Ettorre, admitted racist, and a couple hangers on.  And Pho.  Who I’m sure was all weepy.  But most of all, Pho and his other Phriends had the Russo-Phree environment they’ve always Phelt was Phor the best.

You see, when people hound other people out of a “community”, the other people who didn’t get hounded start to Phigure out that certain shit ain’t cool.  And then they leave said “community” to the hounders.  And then the “community” shrinks.  And the only ones left are the hounders.  And their…ahem….Phans.

And the Phinest Pho Phantastitude?

After all this, the rest of Pho’s overwrought navel-gazing pomposity is his announcement that his traffic has grown, blah blah blah, so he’s back.  Irony knows no bounds in Pho country.  

Welcome back to the ’sphere, Pho.  Your particular brand of Pheces has been missed.

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