why I'm glad I'm not on the "A" list
posted 2004.06.06
And believe me, I realize the irony of what I'm about to write - bitching about bitching, or meta-bitching, is even more useless than the original bitching. I get it. Fully aware of the irony. And yet I'm writing anyway.
There is an "A" list to the designer and/or webgeek and/or standards-lovin' and/or blogger and/or oldtimer sphere of the web. You know who a lot of them are - maybe you even know them all. You have, in all likelihood, read some of them from time to time or even faithfully over the years. Their names, and even the designs of their web sites, may be instantly recognizable to you. They get the traffic, they get the kudos, and they write about stuff that many of us care about.
But oh, my, I hate it when they bitch at each other. At one point or another every "A-lister" has done it. Ripping each other up for their opinions, for the content on their web site, for the standards they support or revile, for the design techniques they use or the corporations they contract with. And then a whole lot of "me-too-ers" jump into the fray on both sides, like picking teams in public school. Varying levels of firestorm and trackback glee ensue until everybody, blissfully, gets bored and life in the sphere resumes whatever levels of normalcy it usually enjoys.
And no, I'm not going to link to examples. Odds are if you've been around for a while, you've seen it or maybe even participated. Refer to your own examples, please. Alternatively, thank your lucky stars if you've missed these teenage girl bitch sessions.
Because they're stupid. They make everybody involved in them look stupid. They serve no usual purpose other than perhaps a bigger hit in Technorati or Blogdex that week, because just like reality TV, some people just seem drawn to this type of "controversy".
And this is why I'm glad I'm not an "A" lister, still a relative nobody in the whole scheme of things. It means that I, and a lot of the people I link to, still write about useful and interesting stuff. Stuff that makes me think and learn and evolve and enjoy this business of the web. And it's why I have no desire whatsoever to get more popular, to break into that vaunted space.
Because I hate reality TV for exactly the same reasons. Infighting is not only counter-productive, it's ludicrous. Of course we're all going to have our own opinions, and I'm not saying that some disagreement is a bad thing - it can be healthy, lead to new ideas or better ways to build the wheel. But devolving into slamming others simply for the exhilaration of bitch-slapping them in public makes you a weenie in my book.
Now, let's get back to work, shall we?
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But the good thing is the A-Listers read you so without jumping into the fracas, you've tempered the discussions.
Yay! Good to hear that I'm not the only one who thinks this carry-on is a useless attempt to pull readers, and who also doesn't understand reality TV.
I love you.
Piss and vinegar, that's all it is and, after all, it's mostly little boys doing the scraping, right?
Hooorah for the B- and C-listers! ^_^
In my regular reads, you're #3. (Following Dave Shea and Simon Willson.) Fortunately I haven't seen the kind of activity you describe in my favorite blogs (that's probably why they are my favorites). I'm glad people like you read the A- list and point the rest of us to the good stuff that they do post.
A-list...
i'd be lucky to be on any list!
i agree though - the inside-y feel of many of those leave a bad taste...
I am around a R - T lister and damn proud of it
Thank you. Hopefully this hasn't been archived yet, I hope you will read my posting anyway either way. I would share a little something with you. I am currently writing an article for an online magazine that relates to your ideas and observations (yes, and rants, god love um). I would rather not say which magazine until they have review the first draft, which I am frantically trying to finish by Monday.
In any case, this is a perfect example of what the piece is about. You call them "A-listers" and others call them "Web Gurus" or "The Bloggers." This is yet another example of a connection I have made to a set of principle used during my years working in Social Marketing, specifically social change media campaigns. This is the subject of the article.
In that field, they are referred to as “Opinion Leaders,” those who the majority look to form their opinions on important issues. In social change strategies, we targeted these individuals because they influence larger constituencies. Teachers, Religious Leaders, Editorial Staff of the NYTs, etc. Unfortunately, as you point out, in our industry their seems to be a very small number; about twenty-thirty people, almost all men as far as I can tell (and we all know who they are).
This is just one of a set of guiding principles we used to inform our strategies. They principles focus on how opinions are actually formed, changed, influenced, etc. and the relevance that has to your decision making process, how to win on issues. I been working as a Web Designer and developer for the greater part of a decade an it has been useful to look to these ideas again as they are relevant to all of us.
I am not going to write the article in this post as I have just realized I have begun to do, but if you are interested, I would like your feedback, even your permission to reference your post; positively by the way. This is particularly important because this industry's Opinion Leaders are all men, give me a break! But your point about them fighting amongst themselves is another the example I use these principles. Damn, I have to it away.
In these debates, arguments, rants, they are clearly trying to convince each other to share their opinions, beliefs, whatever. But they are totally wasting their time and speaking to exactly the people: those on opposing sides of an issue who feel just as passionately in their. We referred to them as "the unmovable". You can not change their minds, they have "decided"
I get a kick out watching them go back and forth, endlessly. The will never succeed, it is fruitless. But they are the minority and don't share the views of majority of people.
And if I give away anymore I will hate myself in the morning. I just have to finish the piece, but let me just close with a "teaser: You may be pleasantly surprised be how important those of us on the "B or C list" actually are.
Thanks again!
Michael
Funny, without the advent of blogs, I haven't heard of any of these so-called authors turned designers...
amen.