Saturday, September 01, 2012

Twitter, trolls and the hardly normal - 2

This post continues the round-up that began with Twitter, trolls and the hardly normal - 1.

In a comment on the last post, Rod Holland wrote:

Regarding the Trolling that goes on on:

Get off your high horse Jim and get a real job. Your regular drivel complaining about trolls makes me sick. And you smell funny.

That was a bit too easy!

Yours Anonymously,
Rod Holland.

Mmm. Actually, Rod's comment does capture one element of trolling, emotional engagement. Perhaps I should get a job and stop the drivel.

Winton Bates wrote:

Hi Jim
I wonder how Gerry can complain about low internet sales at the same time as he complains that internet sales by foreign competitors are hurting his business. Perhaps he needs an internet spin doctor!

Re the Express, if you can get the content free on line, there isn't much incentive to buy the paper. Perhaps the strategy is to charge for content after customers get hooked on the online version. Meanwhile, the price of Fairfax shares continues to decline.

Before responding, Winton is onto the last chapter of his book (smile, but also sigh because he is so far in front of me), but is suspending blogging until he finishes. I thought that kvd's comments on Winton's last post, What fantasies are associated with the modern pursuit of happiness? were incisive. kvd, you do get around! I know that our little group of bloggers would be much poorer without your presence.

Because this is a round-up, I don't want to comment in detail at this point on Winton's comment. My concern is that in their desire to defend what they have, both Harvey Norman and Fairfax have lost sight of one most basis thing, the customer or reader.

The Shire - and a Farmer Gets a Wife

Back in July (What did you think of The Shire?, Are critics of The Shire just showing their age?) I responded to Channel Ten's new reality show set in Sutherland Shire in the south of Sydney. I finished my second post With these words: "I think it time to return to a more fulfilling topic, the economy".

I was interested in The Shire because reality TV is one way in which I track changes to popular culture in Australia and sometimes beyond. Yes, I accept that this is part excuse for watching things that I shouldn't watch, but I am prepared to defend my position! Well, the show has now been canned after a ratings collapse. In the meantime, the Australian version of The Farmer Wants a

The hit Channel 9 television show Farmer Wants a Wife.

Wife has gone from strength to strength.

This links to a post I wrote a little earlier, Musings and directions, where I referred to the rise of Romance.

In a piece in the Brisbane Times, Are romance novels as bad for relationships as porn?, CityKat writes in part:

Forget 50 Shades, it’s Farmer Wants a Wife that is the real warm, fuzzy, dreamy, creamy, M-rated, well-produced, internationally successful “pornography” for women.

I won't say more. I leave it to you to read Katherine's piece. Like me, she is a professional people watcher. I really liked it.

Well, on this Saturday morning I have a list of to do things as long as my arm. This includes getting the garden bed set up for another photo of kvd's and now Legal Eagle's chairs (kvd's chair). Have a good one. I suspect that I will be talking to you during the day.

Postscript

The first post in this series, Twitter, trolls and the hardly normal - 1, has got a useful comment thread running that will generate a purely professional post in due course. Feel free to comment there or here.

Over on skepticslawyer, sckepitclawyer's Credit where it’s due reports on a flame case with a happy ending. Well done Perth Now.

I am not going to post tomorrow to see if either of the Twitter etc posts attract further comments.

4 comments:

Legal Eagle said...

If I had been Charlotte Dawson, I think I just would have turned off the computer. Of course, I've only come to this wisdom after six years(!) of blogging and online interaction. Most of my online interaction has been productive, but every now and again I've copped flak for something I've said including personal comments which are designed to hurt. The best thing to do is not to respond, but to refuse to engage. I think i'ts like bullies at school, really - the more you get upset they more they'll bully you.

Jim Belshaw said...

Good points, LE. Sorry for the slow response here. I actually missed this comment!

Anonymous said...

Classic Sydney Daily Telegraph front page today.

At the top as a colour banner:

Kyle & Jackie O So Naughty
... And You Love Them


Then the main story about the DT's newest Campaign:

Today, we take a stand against faceless Twitter bullies.
Sign our petition


Makes you wonder sometimes how ever do the editors sleep at night.

kvd

Jim Belshaw said...

Oh, dear, kvd. I could see the irony. I do take your point!