I just read this article on Tor.com over at SFDiplomat. For those of you not “in the know”, Tor has launched a kind of social networking site for fandom, which features articles and short fiction written by their authors.
I think it’s a wonderful idea. A sci-fi publisher has taken their website from a boring, static webpage and turned it into something dynamic that might draw people to the site. This is something along the lines of what Baen’s been doing for quite some time with their magazine Baen’s Universe and their free fiction archive. It’s Web 2.0, and I think it’ll help to boost Tor’s profile.
Jonathan McCalmont disagrees, and while I won’t rehash his arguments here, basically he comments on “over-exposed” authors like John Scalzi blogging on the site. First off, is John Scalzi under any obligation whatsoever to not try and promote himself like any other author simply because his blog is immensly popular? I mean, seriously, is McCalmont arguing that Scalzi should just say, “hey, look, I’m popular enough, I don’t need to self-promote?” Really, Jonathan? Really?
In any case, read the comments section where Scalzi responds. The man is a bulldog, and a very well spoken bulldog at that. It’s worth the read.
4 Comments(+Add)
1) you’re mischaracterising my position.
2) You’re calling me out over something that I wrote MONTHS ago on a blog that I have since shut down.
3) If you’re going to take issue with what I say then have something to say about it, don’t just stand there being outraged.
Other than that, merry Xmas
– J.
It seems from your comment like I must explain to you a couple of things about how teh internets work.
1) When you post something to the internet, it’s there for good. It doesn’t get magically shuffled into a closet after a set amount of time. If you say something silly and publish it, it’s fair game for good. There’s no time limit on the internet, there’s no crying in baseball, and whining in the comments of someone else’s blog generally makes you look foolish.
2) My position was that you were saying something very uninformed. My readers are generally subtle enough to pick up on what I leave unsaid. I’m not going to spell out every triviality for thpse who can’t be bothered to read between the lines.
3) This is my corner of the blogosphere, where I rule with an iron fist. I can say whatever the heck I want here. In fact, I can go into the database and make YOU say whatever I want by altering your comment. Obviously common courtesy keeps me from abusing my omnipotence, but if you want to pick some petty chest-beating fight with me on my own blog, I’ll squash you like a bug.
HUGS AND KISSES ALL AROUND!
Lol. Good call, Andy.
I’ve been a little stressed with work, and was perhaps a little caught off guard by Jonathan’s response to what I thought was a fairly inoffensive little blog post. No excuse, but there it is.