« Photo Friday (Vol. LIX) ['huh?' edition] | Main | Unsuspected Holiness »
Sunday, March 12, 2006
A great new blog concept
One of my blog fathers is fond of pointing out that any blog/journal entry that mentions him is vastly and immediately improved. In his case, he happens to be quite correct. In mine... I suppose it depends on the context.
For instance, this past week a pro-Palestinian anti-Israel anti-Semitic Joo-hating blog turned it's jaundiced eyes towards treppenwitz and gave me a bit more of a mention than I would have liked.
I'm a mostly non-political Israeli journaler (meaning less than 1% of my posts so far have dealt with politics), but I still live in fear of showing up on the radar of bloggers who firmly believe the air I am breathing belongs exclusively to the Palestinians... so would I please cease and desist from breathing any of it?! To defend oneself against attacks from people who hold such a horribly antagonistic worldview is just tiring and demoralizing.
Well, today I'm happy to report that treppenwitz has garnered a little attention of the positive kind.
My friend and fellow web-denizen Chaim (of Life of Rubin) has come up with a fantastic new concept for a blog. He is doing weekly interviews with J-bloggers and posting the results on his new site called - you guessed it - The J-Blogger Interviews.
This past week he launched the site featuring an inaugural interview with Mobius (known to many as a contributor to JewSchool as well as by his nom de blog Orthodox Anarchist). Mobius is one of the more prolific bloggers in the 'sphere, and is the creative hand behind some of the most cutting edge blog designs on the web.
Today Chaim is scheduled to post his second interview (it should be up at 9:00AM EST)... and as my blogfather would say, 'it has been vastly and immediately improved by the simple act of mentioning me'. :-)
I can't imagine there is much about me you don't already know... since I haven't exactly been shy about sharing details of my life. But in general, this new j-blogger interview concept is a fantastic way to learn a little bit more about the real live people behind your daily reads. And the Q & A interview format allows you to get information that was interesting to the interviewer instead of simply what the blogger felt like writing that day.
Anyway, go check it out... bookmark the site... and maybe even drop Chaim a note suggesting some J-bloggers you'd like to see interviewed in the weeks to come. I know that so far he has interviews lined up with 'sphere stars such as Renegade Rebbetzin, Aussie Dave (of Israellycool), Dov Bear and Blog in Dm.
Happy Sunday!
Posted by David Bogner on March 12, 2006 | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c581e53ef00e5503ea7048833
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference A great new blog concept:
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
How did the interview take place? Email? Phone? IM?
Posted by: Dave | Mar 12, 2006 2:58:48 PM
Dave... Phone... doesn't everyone speak in full, perfect paragraphs (complete with footnotes) like that? :-) No, it was an e-mail interview.
Posted by: treppenwitz | Mar 12, 2006 3:13:06 PM
Actually we took the Concorde to Paris and met at a cafe chatting and munching on croissants and latte's :-)
No? That's how I remember it. ;-0
Posted by: Chaim | Mar 12, 2006 4:43:58 PM
I'm certainly going to check it out but please continue breathing and lot's more of it.
Thanks
Posted by: Jewish Blogmeister | Mar 12, 2006 4:48:36 PM
Well, actually I asked after reading the first interview, but before reading yours. There the questions seemed more like they were following the answers given previously, which didn't seem to fit so well to email. In your interview, each question seemed more independent.
Posted by: Dave | Mar 12, 2006 4:54:26 PM
Chaim... I think I would have remembered drinking a latte that required 'munching'. :-)
Jewish Blogmiester... Thanks. Oh, and I'll try to keep on breathing this stolen air.
Dave... OK, fair enough. I'm just glad I didn't get any questions like "If you could be any kind of tree, which one would you be and why?". :-)
Posted by: treppenwitz | Mar 12, 2006 5:24:51 PM
David, you must be getting old. We SIPPED on Late's and MUNCHED on Croissants .. geez ... Oh and did that "what kind of tree" Q get deleted? I thought I had that one there :-)
Posted by: Chaim | Mar 12, 2006 5:34:05 PM
On an antisemitic blog it is stated that you ban pro=palestinian posters.
Is that true?
Posted by: Ibraham Av | Mar 12, 2006 11:38:31 PM
My sympathy re the hate blogger who attacked you. You're in the best of company (I've had at least three highly personal attacks from that source)... Definitely not worth any response other than pointing out to the blogger's host any of the resultant breaches of the terms of service, which
include this:
Member agrees not to transmit through the Service any unlawful, harassing, libelous, abusive, threatening, or harmful material of any kind or nature. Member further agrees not to transmit any material that encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law or regulation. Attempts to gain unauthorized access to other computer systems are prohibited.
Member shall not interfere with another Member's use and enjoyment of the Service or another entity's use and enjoyment of similar services.
http://www.blogger.com/terms.g
How many do you think your attacker scores on?
Posted by: Judy | Mar 12, 2006 11:52:53 PM
I don't know what Judy's particular problem is, but is it true you ban pro-palestinians?
Posted by: Ibraham Av | Mar 13, 2006 1:08:33 AM
Love interviews; sounds like a great concept. By the way, what kind of tree WOULD you be...? ; )
Posted by: Irina | Mar 13, 2006 2:15:55 AM
Loved the interview. What a great idea.
Posted by: Essie | Mar 13, 2006 2:44:51 AM
To defend oneself against attacks from people who hold such a horribly antagonistic worldview is just tiring and demoralizing.
We have got your back. Some people will say anything and hope that someone believes it.
Nice interview, I enjoyed it.
Posted by: Jack | Mar 13, 2006 6:08:29 AM
Hey, I tracked back to your female hate-fester and discovered TWO very interesting things: (1) she denigrates other "Zionist" bloggers and their requests to not engage in political fire-fights, BUT her own blog doesn't allow any posts at all! Coward. (2) She is "Palestinian" despite the fact that she lives in Germany...let's see, Jews can be exiled to Germany and when they come home to their ancestral homeland, they are horrible, racist, colonialist scum, but Arabs can go live in Europe (or even Tokyo) but they always remain "Palestinian." More Arab double-standards, huh?
Posted by: aliyah06 | Mar 13, 2006 6:22:23 AM
Really enjoyed reading your interview. Have a great Purim.
Posted by: Stacey | Mar 13, 2006 6:57:31 AM
Chaim... Thanks for clearing that up... I was thrown by your sentence construction. :-)
Ibraham Av... A fair question since one doesn't see many comments here from pro-Palestinian readers. The answer is 'No, I don't ban someone based on their political or religious views. However, I do ban people for being insulting, confrontational or offensive'. Obviously these things are fairly subjective so as the site owner I make and enforce these subtle distinctions. I have deleted comments from very far right wing Jewish commenters as well as very left wing Jewish commenters. The reason had nothing to do with their politics and everything to do with the fact that they were looking for a fight and not an honest exchange of ideas. Up until recently I have not had any Palestinian (or pro-Palestinian) comments, and the few I've gotten over the past week have been of the same rude, confrontational and offensive tone that prompted me to delete previous Jewish comments. If someone has already made up their mind about something and is spewing their message to either rub their views in everyone's faces or enlighten those who don't share such views... I delete the comment. Period. There are very few things in this world that are black and white... and very few people who have nothing left to learn about a subject. If someone shows up her honestly looking for a discussion they are welcome.... all others get deleted. I hope that was clear.
Judy... Like you, I have gone the route of complaining to Blogger and they have a very high burden of proof requirement before they will act. Basically someone has to threaten physical harm before they will take down a blog.
Ibraham Av... Judy's problem is very much the same as mine. She has been attacked for her views rather than engaged in an honest discussion of them.
Irina... Thanks. Hmmm, since you ask I think I'd be a sugar maple. that way when people stick me with sharp barbs I would naturally ooze sweet syrup.
Essie... Thanks, I enjoyed it too (who doesn't enjoy the opportunity to talk about themselves in public?!). :-)
Jack... I would rather not need to have anyone watch my back. What bothers me the most is that none of these people would engage in such destructive and antagonistic behavior in person... so why do they think it is appropriate while hiding behind a screen name? One of these days someone is going to push me too far and I'm going to yank them out from behind their screen name in such a public and legally painful way that they will regret the day they ever turned on a computer. Jobs will be lost (yes, even teaching jobs) and hearings will be convened to assess whether someone represents a security risk. But until that day I just delete the comments.
Aliyah06... I apologise for deleting the reference you made to the other blogger's identity. Since I made some very disparaging comments about her I would prefer not to also publicly identify her as I am not interested in giving her traffic or encouraging her to come defend herself. Just let her alone to stew in her hatred. It's ironic that her masthead states "From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country." The irony is that by excluding a statute of limitations on such a right of return, and by including 'everyone' in this noble sentiment, she must by definition include the Jew's right to return to their ancestral homeland.
Stacey... Thanks you too. I hope you'll post some pics of the kids in their costumes.
Posted by: treppenwitz | Mar 13, 2006 9:27:55 AM
I would rather not need to have anyone watch my back.
Of course not. It would be a better and nicer world. But the reality is that sometimes we all need a hand and where I come from we like to make sure that people know that it is available.
Posted by: Jack | Mar 13, 2006 10:25:32 AM
you lived in Troy??? The world is so very small! I got married at the Emma Willard School...
Posted by: nrg | Mar 13, 2006 11:07:23 AM
I enjoyed your interview very much - your advice to the newbies is appreciated.
Posted by: westbankmama | Mar 13, 2006 11:32:07 AM
Jack... Understood and appreciated.
nrg... My sister graduated from Emma Willard.
Westbankmama... I think you have progressed beyond the newbie stage. :-)
Posted by: treppenwitz | Mar 13, 2006 11:48:04 AM
My parents said private high school or private college, take your pick... I chose college! I am from a little town up the Northway...
Posted by: nrg | Mar 13, 2006 12:11:30 PM
Thank you for the reply. Just checking if she was lying or just having a go at you.
Posted by: Ibraham Av | Mar 13, 2006 8:23:49 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
