Games

So. Imagine my surprise when I got this little comment, by someone calling themselves “guest”, on my wordpress blog:

About your latest onelongminute post, Jemimah was kicked from the blog and her posts deleted by Adminguy. Some bloggers who have disappeared were simply blocked by Adminguy and their posts deleted. Ask him about it, we'll see how honest he really is.

What is this? Some kind of class room game? A little divide and conquer maneuver? Backhand gossip? What would you like me to do with this information? Confront Adminguy in a huge huff and then stalk off to start my own subsect blog down the road?

Listen sunshine. Here are a couple of facts:

Fact one:

Admin guy owns this site. It’s his. He doesn’t make any money off us. He doesn’t aggregate our stats or sell our information. He doesn’t monetize our content. He doesn’t track what we talk about and use it to drive corporate news (read: tabloid) strategy. He does it because he believes what we have is special.

So, while I might not agree with him on occasion. He can delete whomever the fuck he likes. I might have something to say about it. Both here, in public, and off line. I might rant and rail and tell him he’s being a Knight in Shining Dick Head. But at the end of the day, it’s his site. We’re here on his sufferance. So it’s his choice. That’s the way it works. If you don’t like it, there are loads of other places.

Fact two:

Some of us have been blogging together for almost 2 years. Some of us for longer. Now imagine that we all meet at admin guy’s house every day for a bit of a natter and a cuppa tea. Now take that a bit further. Imagine if I wondered into your group of friends in real life, in one of their homes, acted like a fake toss, insulted a few of them and then had a little temper tantrum because you and your friends reacted? Um. Would you really be surprised if who ever owned the house kicked me out? See fact one. If you don’t like it, there are loads of other places.

Fact three:

Leaf and some others have muttered that only a handful of people “attack” newbies. Bollocks. Only a handful of people have the balls to tell people when their writing is kak or when they are being fekkin’ eejits. The rest of us sit on the sidelines and nod in agreement. Only problem, is that you can’t see a nod in cyberspace. And LOADS of newbies survive. Quite frankly, if Arb and Chasoo and Tarnished Lily and TiN and even you, Leaf etc etc can run the gauntlet and survive, then that’s the entry fee, people. What did they do differently? Almost all of us have had the piss taken out of us, been ridiculed or teased or stick-poked by people, present and past, on this site (and its incarnations). And for years…years… new bloggers have either survived or fallen by the way side. And let’s face it; if you don’t like it, there are loads of other places.

Fact four:

Franks introduced me to these people. She was my backstage pass. You fuck with her, you fuck with me. She’s only here, playing with us plebeians, because she’s too fukken lazy to get off her ass and write her Great South African Novel. She has huge integrity. And an enormous range of characters and voices and thoughts and themes that she shares with us. She pretty much never gets caught out if she takes on a new persona, and that, my fluffy friend, is the true mark of an incredible writer. If she tells you you’re kak, it’s for good reason. And she’s usually around to help if you genuinely want to improve your craft. And she’s just as swift and open with her praise. Think of her as one of those amazing, but scary teachers you had at school. One part mentor, one part guru, one part pure bitch. If you don’t like it, you are adult enough to ignore it.

Fact five:

I like this place. I don’t always agree with everyone. Sometimes I get seriously pissed off. Sometimes I’ve also disappeared for a time, unwilling to deal with what’s going down at that particular time. But for all its flaws and foibles, its home. My home.

So don’t try and lure me into your wounded ego games. I couldn’t give a fuck.