Danny Brown - Latest Comments in Community Spirit and Blog Comments Redux

Re: Community Spirit and Blog Comments Redux

Swapnil Kale — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:15:17 -0000

Woah! Really interesting post, thanks a lot for sharing this! Thought me a few new things today. :)
.-= Swapnil´s most recent blog post ...OpenPeak’s Open Tablet 7. =-.

Re: Community Spirit and Blog Comments Redux

Marty Thornley — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:30:24 -0000

Hey Danny,

I missed all the commotion on the original article but found this one and went back to read it all over. I have to commend you for outing the people behind that site. The world would be a better place if more people stood up for something they think is wrong, rather than just turning away and leaving it for the next guy.

As far as the comments go, all you can do is laugh it off and greet it with a smile, just like you did. It really can't be taken personally when all the negativity is left by anonymous people with fake names that don't link to their own sites. The same people who wanted to use a fake site like that hid behind fake names rather than standing up for something like you did in the article.

Well done. Keep it coming!

Marty

Re: Community Spirit and Blog Comments Redux

PurplePeopleEater — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:43:44 -0000

The tone and content of their comments aside, let's look at who that group of people is comprised of: fans of a website used to post fake updates about any person they want. And I'm sure that the posts these people left were not exactly polite and kind-hearted. I'm sure they likened the time my brothers updated my facebook status to say that I was waxing my back - meant in good fun? Yes, but nonetheless potentially damaging.

Clearly these people are not the type to consider the greater impact their actions may have on others. Or perhaps they are, and that's why they took it upon themselves to inform you and your readers to lighten up. In either case, taking into account what they were so steadfastly defending speaks volumes of their character in my opinion, which was only further established by the immaturity of many of their comments. Obviously this does not apply to all of them, as there were some who put more thought into their words.

You handled the situation very well, despite how easy it could have been to respond to the less thought-out comments. The fact that you are finding a positive in their community spirit from all of this speaks volumes of your character.

Re: Community Spirit and Blog Comments Redux

Global Patriot — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:13:21 -0000

The beauty and power of social media (twitter, facebook, blogs) is in its ability to give voice to the masses. No longer held hostage by traditional media - if you weren't on television and didn't have your own newspaper or magazine column you were rarely heard - it's now everyone's turn to speak.

While some topics lend themselves to passionate prose, most people would be better served by carrying on an intelligent conversation instead of an endless diatribe of ranting. And when that ranting becomes abusive, the beauty of running your own blog is that such nonsense can be tamed.

Re: Community Spirit and Blog Comments Redux

Danny — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:27:39 -0000

Cheers Simon,

Funnily enough, Brave New World was one of my favourite books during my English degree - Huxley is an extremely underrated author.

Have a good one! :)

Re: Community Spirit and Blog Comments Redux

Danny — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:25:58 -0000

Hey there Tim (and Drew),

Cheers. I don't think it would have furthered any discussion had I responded (except to the comments that needed one). Better left to let emotions and responses have an open forum and move on.

Cheers again guys - and yes, the community aspect was nice to see.

Re: Community Spirit and Blog Comments Redux

Simon Mason — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:21:12 -0000

Woahh that's a lot of vitriol for one man to deal with, hats off to you for finding a positive in all of it.

It is a shame that people are so fast to criticize and so slow to praise. And all the people out there who are so angered by your appearance, well we don't know what they look like as not one of them left an avatar. (Wouldn't it be great if we all dressed by rank and file like something out of Brave New World!)

Keep up the good work Danny, lets hope this community of pranksters develops a sense of proportion to go with its sense of humour(?) someday soon.

Re: Community Spirit and Blog Comments Redux

Tim Jahn — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:12:49 -0000

Danny, you are truly amazing. Through the craziness that was the 50+ heated comments of that post, you saw the light. You saw the good that came out of all this.

As Andrew said, this showed throughout the entire time as you engaged those attacking in a non-offensive and understanding way.

No, I didn't agree with the way the supporters were attacking you nor did I agree with their overall opinions. But was there a sense of community there? Definitely.

Thanks for again opening my eyes :)

Re: Community Spirit and Blog Comments Redux

Andrew Weaver — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:47:36 -0000

Your attitude during all of the personal attacks and juvenile behavior is to be commended. Lesser men would have engaged them and caused things to get worse. It says a lot about your character.

Re: Community Spirit and Blog Comments Redux

Danny — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:33:11 -0000

Hi Abraham,

That was the key point reason for the post in the first place. Instead of being a bit of fun, there were very real issues that could have arisen from misuse. And once that happens, it can spread very quickly - as you point out with both Amazon and Domino's.

The information I offered was freely available - if I had gotten hold of private information and posted it, then I agree, I would have crossed several ethical and legal boundaries.

Perhaps there's a market for something like Fake-Twitter, but with the way information and misinformation spreads so quickly, how would you control the reach of it? Perhaps if it was in a closed space? Who knows? And how would you guarantee it was enclosed?

Branding is an expensive matter - sometimes parody isn't the right approach.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your view, appreciate it.

Re: Community Spirit and Blog Comments Redux

Abraham Lloyd — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:13:36 -0000

When I read your first post, the thing that stuck out at me was that you had basically "outed" the site, its creators, and posted their personal information on the web. I was originally a little offended by this, as I think were a few of your readers.

When I thought about it, though -- I don't think you did anything wrong. While the information was personal, it certainly wasn't private. We live in an age where the term "Google stalk" has an entry in the urban dictionary. If anything, I think people should expect to see more of this pro-active from users / customers on the behalf of companies or brands they believe in. If the information is free available, then its fair game. Is that necessarily fair? Not sure; but that's just how it is today. If you don't like that, then go out of your way to protect your data.

Your point about the brand damage that a site like this can generate should be taken very seriously considering what we've seen with #amazonfail and Domino's Pizza over the course of the past week. Just like you outed the fake twitter owner, YouTube users help Domino's Pizza identify the franchise where the offending videos were shot. In the end, isn't this a good thing?

Re: Community Spirit and Blog Comments Redux

Stuart Foster — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:58:57 -0000

Good for you Danny. I too support the "any comment goes" policy on my blog and have thus far been able to live with that. I guess being on Digg for a few years just thickened my skin to the point of which I never even notice criticism that much anymore.