A Kinder, Gentler Blogosphere

Wow. I have been traveling back and forth across the US the past two days, and completely missed this piece. Apparently Mena Trott gave a sort of odd (to be kind) talk at Les Blogs (again, I am glad I didn’t go), where she called for a “nicer” blogosphere. Then some casually minded guy, Ben Metcalfe, disagrees with the thrust of the talk in the IRC backchannel, which was being projected behind Mena, and then…

[from :Ben Metcalfe Blog — Blog Archive — Les Blogs: Me Mena]

Whilst all of this was going on, we were making our thoughts known on the conference backchannel (like we did for every session, good or bad). From what others were saying it was clear her speech was getting a lot of other people’s backs up too, not just mine. I wrote several times that I found elements of the speech patronising – especially when the idea was floated about a suggested “terms and conditions” for commenting.

During the backchannel conversation I did finally lose my cool and describe what she was saying as “bullshit” – which I concede is a strong word to have used. However, this was a backchannel environment and as such I feel it went up to, but didn’t cross the line, of what you can reasonably expect from “backchannel discourse”. I also want to reemphasise that that the tone and content of Mena’s speech was so unbelievably way off what was appropriate given the nature of the audience. This sentiment has been backed up by others someone even described it as “startlingly na�ve” during a post-session chat about it.

However, my “bullshit” comment hadn’t gone unnoticed, as the backchannel was also being projected onto the screens at the front of the auditorium. Clearly this was the straw the broke the camel’s back, and Mena highlighted my comment. Shel Israel came to her defense and demanded for “dotBen to stand up and show yourself” [clairification: Mena asked me to stand up, Shel voiced his support]

And being the no-shit kinda guy I am, I did. In front of 400 influential bloggers and opinion formers I stood up

What followed was a brief but frank discourse between Mena at the lectern and me, with a radio mic, at the back of the hall.

Which is characterized at the Blog Herald as “Mena Trott implodes on stage at Les Blogs: calls participant an Asshole after lecturing audience about the importance of civility”, which seems to sum it up, sadly enough.

[Note: The comments at Ben’s post are fascinating, like Dave Winer’s: “I never thought comments were an integral part of blogging. You can go back and read my archive to see that I’ve been pretty consistent about that.” Huh? Conversational medium, but comments aren’t integral? And Don Park lends true wisdom: “To sum it up, my advice is to:

1. be civil mostly.
   
   
2. be direct when civility intereferes more than helps.
   
   
3. be tolerant always.