Don't Fear the Blogger - the actual post

Abstract
There is a stigma to blogging, and that stigma is stupid.

Introduction
Everyone with access to the internet could have a blog. Blogger and Wordpress are two of myriad websites that host blogs free of charge. It has been shown far too often that neither wit, nor discretion, nor even a strong command of the English language are necessary for blogging.

Yet not everyone has a blog. That's okay, not everyone needs to blog in order to keep me entertained. However, the mention of this gap between potential and actuality, this blog deficit, leads to surprising reactions.

Herein we explore these reactions. Specifically, the stigma associated with blogging is explored, and the utter stupidity of this stigma is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. By me (ooh, writing in the passive voice is so infuriating).

Methods
The first part of this study asks, somewhat philosophically, what might cause someone to want not to blog? That is, why would the noble art of blogging earn a bum rap?

Secondfully, we look at specific examples from my recent experience that not only exemplify this stigma, but also serve as evidence that it is baseless.

Also I will list real blogs that may have contributed to this stigma, or at least shouldn't exist. No I won't. That would be mean.

Results and Discussion
In conversation, a jerk is recognizable as he who speaks only of himself. If the internet is the world's largest conversation, does not the blogger - who inevitably speaks only of himself - become the wold's biggest jerk? Of course we know that the answer is a resounding "No!", because many bloggers have figured out how to write less about themselves, and more about their worlds... it's an important distinction, of which many non-bloggers aren't aware or don't think themselves capable.

Who blogs? Not in real life, mind you, but in the perception of the people who disdain blogging. I think this question is best answered by thinking about modern sitcoms. When the cool hero stymies his nerdy foil with some cavalier witticism, the response is often something like "I'm going to blog about this!", and the resultant canned laughter correlates blogging to defeat, to nerdiness and slowness and laughability. Jim from the Office doesn't have a blog... Dwight does.

Angry Mark, for team-related reasons, has been asking (nay, demanding) that our frequent racers write up their results. Kids who will brag endlessly about the good results, or lament [read: bitch] endlessly about the bad, just will not take the 5 minutes to write up their races. Lord knows they're not too busy to make the effort, either. Unless Mark twists their arms, they won't even email the team with a brief report, let alone craft a post for the team blog.

A friend of mine - let's call him El Capitan - does not have a blog. He writes eloquently, albeit infrequently. He is one of the few people I know who is indeed too busy to blog, so that's not my beef with him. However, he also claims he "wouldn't know how to write one without sounding overly self-important". This relates back to the heuristic framework of the "bloggers are selfish jerks" misconception, and it is bullshit. See, when you are informed outright that people want to hear what you have to say, it becomes a tall order to sound overly self-important. This doesn't apply to all potential bloggers, but it applies to many and is worth mentioning.

One day, I mentioned to a somewhat new friend that I have a blog. The reaction was, in quick succession, the following: a wrinkled brow, the focused frown of suppression, and finally an "oh". This isolated incident is typical of non-bloggers' reactions... always from people who have never even read TheNinjaDon! This probably stems from any one of the above reasons, but man oh man, it stings.

Conclusion
The negative connotation associated with blogging is as real as it is undeserved.