A Month of Blog Scandals and Wars
August, I think, is fast becoming the month of “blog scandals and wars”, with the ongoing commotion in the blogosphere superseding the waves made by the Philippine Blog Awards and the issue of invocation during secular gatherings.
So, what are the issues?
(For those who’re already familiar with the sizzling hot issues in the blogosphere nowadays, please skip the boring paragraphs that will follow. I’m recounting the issues for the sake of those who are M.I.A. or missing in action and for my friends who’re not really following the blogosphere that closely.)
1) Fobcast Episode 1 and the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs
In Mike and Marco’s FOBcast Episode 1, they said they think not all the winners of the recently concluded Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs Project of Ms. Toral are really that influential. Then, they went on “ridiculing” some of the blogs in the final list (or rather the week 11 list), which offended some folks. Personally, I don’t find anything offending about it at all. Like in any situations, there is a protagonist and an antagonist. They just chose to be the antagonist here.
But there were also those who expressed disappointment in the said event:
Everything said and done, I believe that the project is a failure due to the nuances of defining ‘influential’ both from Ms Toral and the participants. If the project was called The Top Ten Most Popular Filipino Blogs of 2007, then this failure might have been avoided since what is popular is easier to define than what is influential. - Lizette, in her post, “Bastardization: When Influential Meant Popular“
I believe that the focal point of the discussion was the use of the words “emerging” and “influential” in the title of the blog project.
Admittedly, the terms “emerging” and “influential” would rarely appear in the same sentence. Influence only comes with a degree of reputation and time-tested consistency and credibility- clearly, something that an emerging greenhorn would not have. - Benj, in his post, “Emerging and Influential: Irreconcilable?“
In this light, I also shared some of my thoughts about it:
Perhaps Benj is right for saying it’s hard to reconcile “emerging” with “influential”, being that to be able to exert much influence meant authority and that authority does come only after a bit more experience. But to analyze it with regards to the community of bloggers which participated in the said project, I think it’s enough to say that the winners did exert a kind of influence over those who voted. Most bloggers did vote for those they think exerted influence on them. And I think influence will always mean a measure of popularity. So, yes, it is a popularity contest relative to the group which participated in the writing project. That’s enough reason to believe that the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs project did serve its purpose.
I would also like to add that it seems difficult, at this young age of the Philippine blogosphere, to adequately sample the entire community to be able to properly say that the result of the said project will correspond to the real “top 10 Emerging and Influential blogs” of the whole. Possible maybe if we could engage the whole Philippine blogosphere to vote for the most influential blogs or randomly pick bloggers to participate in the voting, so as to eliminate bias. But, right now, it’s not that possible, really.
2) Carl Ocab and his blog’s ghostwriter?
While the FOBcast made quite a stir in the blogging community, the Carl Ocab Ghostwriting Issue came up and caused a rampage.
I think Carlo Ocab and his father made their first blogger event appearance in Ms. Toral’s Top 10 Emerging and Influential Blogs Dinner party last August 1. Of course, everybody’s suddenly gaga over the genius kid who gives money-earning tips that there are those who’d even take pictures with him, maybe to have proof that they, too, were able to shake hands with the kid blogger. And people couldn’t be faulted for being curious as to what stuff this kid is really made of. After several conversations, people may have already formed their own conclusions about the kid and his blog.
Ms. Noemi expressed her thoughts in her post, “Ethical Blogging“, which I think started all the furor in the blogosphere now:
…I don’t care if you are a man pretending to be woman or a prime time woman assuming a young woman’s persona. What infuriates me is when a parent uses their minor child to create a blog and misrepresent some facts…Do I continue to be a spectator of this modern day “The Emperor’s New Clothes”?
Andrew dela Serna also posted his insights on this matter:
I’ve been having my suspicions about this kid ever since he started blogging about “making money”. I mean, he’s only 13 right? How can he talk about moneymaking like it’s a piece of cake? Where are all his insights coming from?
Then suddenly, there are outbursts of heated comment exchanges and then blog post wars:
Which community? What is “acceptable”? The truth is, bloggers and other web site publishers willing to adhere to strict ethical standards constitute a minority. Surf the web. I do it everyday and guess what? The assholes far outnumber the good guys. Splogs, rip-offs, “manual aggregators” living off other bloggers’ content, parked domains and so-so blogs without substantial content put up for no other reason than to steal keywords and page ranks from legitimate sites, AND TO SERVE GOOGLE ADS, are all part of the norm.
So, which community, Noemi? Your personal circle of blogger-friends? Whose standards of “acceptability”? - Connie Veneracion in her post, “Disclosure policies, Carlocab, and Blogging Ethics“
(It’s a terribly lengthy exchange of comments. Better visit the blogs concerned if you want to read the entire exchange.)
In the midst of all these accusations, some people were clear-headed enough to do the rational thing: to talk to Carl Ocab and his dad.
Manuel Viloria, in his post, “Carl Ocab’s Ghostwriter“:
I got in touch with Carl and Alan and asked them who wrote those posts at CarlOcab.com, and they separately replied that the posts were written by Carl. No ghostwriting involved.
When I was 13, I hardly wrote. And while I’m still struggling with the thought that a teenager writes that well (and even better than a number of much older folks, myself included), I’m left with the fact that there is no evidence that suggests Carl did not write those posts.
Abe Olandres also made his own investigation on the matter and met the father and son bloggers for dinner, after which he said:
I believe the father and the son has a good relationship. I couldn’t remember talking with my dad about serious stuff around Carl’s age. I don’t think Carl is being forced to go into internet marketing/problogging by his father (well, he has access to his dad’s credit card, that’s for sure). The kid had other previous interests in sports, music and even girls. That being said, I don’t believe there was any issue of exploitation, whatsoever.
Though these endeavors may not be adequate to quell the issue, still I greatly admire those who took this step to making things somewhat clearer.
My take on this is (as part of the comment I left in Abe’s blog) we cannot really completely remove the possibility that people will speculate about the real identity of the blog’s writer (who doesn’t gossip, anyway?). Still, there are just some that could go overboard. At least now, there’s a balance of perspectives available. Actually, I’m kind of “expecting” that Carl would be posting his defense, though I shouldn’t really expect him to. But, at least now, he’s been given the chance to speak for himself. If he chose to remain quiet, then it is his right. Let’s not begrudge him for that.
Personally, I’ve already voiced out my doubts about the authorship of the blog. But that’s it. I don’t want to delve into the issues of the ethics related to it, though I cannot really prevent others from speculating some more nor do I have the right to prevent them from doing so. We could just leave the kid alone and stop reading the blog if it’s offending. Or we could continue on reading the blog if the information we derive from it is useful for us, and not focus anymore about what is deemed a doubtful authorship.
3) The Misrepresentation Issue
More tension was generated in the blogosphere when Jayvee, in his blog, claimed a blogger “misrepresented” the Philippine blogosphere, leaving this cryptic message:
If bloggers are invited to speak in front of a crowd of industry experts (yay!!!), bear in mind that you bring forward with you the hundreds of personalities of the local blogosphere.
Make sure you do not misrepresent us.
To be fair, he was, at first, hesitant to name the person.
Later on, he admitted that he was indeed referring to Ms. Janette Toral who has given a talk on Blog Marketing and Worldwide trends in Blogging. He also offered some suggestions for Ms. Toral’s and other bloggers’ future use, if they should be invited to talks like those in IMMAP.
The two posts, perhaps, may have hit some nerves. Gibbs Cadiz makes his opinion known and may have rattled a lot of people:
Where is it written, exactly, that if we do get to speak about local blogging before a crowd, we automatically become its representative, spokesperson, living embodiment, image model? Why should this be so? What canon of blogging am I violating if, say, I get invited to share my experience about blogging for theater and the arts, which is this site’s niche, and I fail to mention that, oh, there are other bloggers and “blog-initiated activities” out there? In what way, for that matter, was Ms. Toral wrong in using examples close to her heart, borne out of her efforts and hard work and that she had expertise on, when talking about this activity?
Some more thoughts about all the ongoing furor…
As one ordinary blogger in the Philippine Blogosphere, it’s a bit difficult digesting all of it, though it’s interesting to see how dynamic the blogosphere is getting.
I believe we shouldn’t worry about the existing cliques. These narrowly exclusive groups of people are expected to be formed anyway, especially in a an evolving community. After all, aren’t we all guilty of some form of cliquishness? As long as one group or one Blogging God (shout out to Jon! I hope you don’t mind I used the term) wannabe doesn’t try to have the monopoly of the blogging world, we’ll keep the blogosphere the way we want it for as long as we can.
After all, these different rants, raves, and blabs tell us one thing: we still have that freedom to say what we want in the blogosphere. Be it a compliment, an argument against what has been said, a ploy to trash the guy’s comments or attack his blog or a defense for someone who’s being bullied, nobody can tell you to just simply shut up and not say anything. You are entitled to your own space, your own voice, be it small or hardly heard, in the WWW.
These controversies tell us that the freedom in the blogosphere is both a blessing and a curse. We cannot have one without the other. Such is the duality of this sphere and we should just accept it.
Other interesting reads about this topic:
- Do I have to worry about a mafia in the Philippine blogosphere? by Jon Limjap
- Poignant by Benj
- Who’s Misrepresenting Who? by Abe Olandres
- If Your Son is Attacked, Defend Him Fast, If You Must by Dine Racoma
- Should 13-Year Olds Be Mediocre Writers? by Shari
- The Kid Blogger Affair
Filed under: The Philippine Blogosphere by Prudence
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Great summary on the whole issue, Tess.
I really just hope that all of this politicking in the blogosphere would just disappear. For our own sake.
the issues being raised lately are overwhelming. sometimes you just wanna hide in one corner of the blogosphere and disregard these wars going on than to be in the middle of it. but… no matter what we do, things like these are expected.
we wouldn’t be able to distinguish what is healthy and what’s not without the conflicts, so yeah. the normal means of growth and awareness.
i just hope these issues simmer down and be over with. that’s the problem with life in blogging. you deliver your voice through your writing and publicly display it for everyone to see forgetting the essence of personal communication.
oh well.. at least it boosts traffic…
I was also become “emo” a while ago and made this post:
http://noneed4ink.com/?p=165
Thanks for the post. It sure enlightened me with some things. I was getting confused with stitching the issues accross blogs
to Jon Limjap:
I’m not sure if we can remove the politics in the blogging world. Where there are people, there will always be politics. But, yeah, I’m hoping it would simmer down. Actually, I think it already is beginning to simmer down. I don’t think anybody could stand blog wars that long anyway. We are rational people here in the blogosphere.
to andianka: These heated exchanges just show that we’re a dynamic sphere
All we post online is fair game. But then, as rational people, both online and offline, we should know how to respect one another. The Philippine blogosphere is still young. But we’re learning.
to Maki: That’s why I wrote this post. Though some may still be overwhelmed with the number of quotes and links, I chose to do it like that so that they may read for themselves those parts that are essential to get a better grasp of the things happening in the blogosphere.
We shall see.
[...] 6. A Month of Blog Scandals and Wars http://tesstermulo.com/2007/08/15/a-month-of-blog-scandals-and-wars/ [...]
Nicely done, doc! Great summary for those unaware, and a great wrap-up for the people who were able to follow the events.
All the while, I was going, “Oh, right on!” I mean, wow. I think you were very…er…neutral about all three issues.
Your last paragraph drove the point home, methinks. I think that duality doesn’t only apply to the blogosphere, but to all things, instead. Everything has a good and bad side. All spheres, whether online or no, can cause conflicts, politics-looking issues and all that jazz.
But, yeah, I suppose in the blogosphere, it seems amplified because everyone gets to publish their insights (as opposed to verbal talk that can easily be forgotten).
Napagod ako sa lahat ng nangyaring ito. Hahahaha.
doc, palink love sa entry na’to…
The revolution is now taking everyone by surprise.
Reclaim the internet! haha
[...] would not delve any further, as Tess of Prudence and Madness has summarized the events in a neutral manner, followed by Andianka’s apt comment, “The [...]
sarah,
“But, yeah, I suppose in the blogosphere, it seems amplified because everyone gets to publish their insights (as opposed to verbal talk that can easily be forgotten).”
And THAT is the true power of the internet and blogging. However, Spiderman’s ramble rings true: “with great power lies great responsibility”.
[...] Do I have to worry about a mafia in the Philippine blogosphere? Poignant Criticism and criticism A Month of Blog Scandals and Wars SUN-TU-KAN! SUN-TU-KAN!! (Will update this list when I get to find new posts.) Hey, you may want [...]
So these were all the fuzzes about. Errr I really don’t spend the time much in what we call the blogosphere but oh well.
Speaking in general terms, I do believe that no one could ever shape or define what the words “Philippine Blogosphere” is all about, simply because this is composed of many, shall we say, groups and groups of “interconnected people” being apart from other groups. And with many different and almost countless typing voices out there, we could never really tell what the trends are and all those.
Being fairly new in this sphere, I never thought “politics” also exists here. Well oh well, I believe we all know that it exists almost everywhere. I’d like to believe that these kinds of fuzzes just makes blogosphere not boring.
On a pretty lighter note, since there’s a blogger meeting coming up, I wonder how these “clashing parties” will face each other. Take for example the FOBcasters, their supporters and those offended, the owners of blogs they dissed, and the writing project organizer herself.
Jake,
Haha, I think pakapalan lang yan ng mukha. I’ll be there on the event myself.
@ Jon Limjap
Siguro nga, sir. O kaya sana, hindi mahantong sa plastikan na lang ang lahat. Natuto na siguro tayong lahat sa mga isyu na ito. Kaya sa palagay ko, wala nang dapat pag-usapan pa.
Interesante lang makita ang mga hitsura nila kapag nagkita-kita sila. Kaya sana siyempre, maayos na ang dapat maayos.
@jake - Okay na, bati na sila hehehe. See you next week
Plastikan galore? hehe
to Sarah: Thanks! I am neutral in all three issues because, I think, there shouldn’t have been any issues at all, in the first place
to BA: Eh ako din napagod sa kakabasa ng mga updates
to andianka: Sure!
to benj: Hindi naman siguro plastikan. Civil lang.
[...] http://tesstermulo.com/2007/08/15/a-month-of-blog-scandals-and-wars/ [...]
[...] http://tesstermulo.com/2007/08/15/a-month-of-blog-scandals-and-wars/ [...]
@ Aileen Apolo
Holrayt! This calls for a selebreyshen.
Things like these actually strengthen bonds between people after everything has been settled. Differences known and set aside, we can now look forward to build our sphere for positive developments and changes. Tayo na at mag-rakenrol.
@jake - time to party!
What a comprehensive article
Great Power Comes grea Responsibility… when one become popular, he should be willing to face controversies and all…. kaya next ka na (LOL)
[...] for the email I got for a blog network email group, I wouldn’t have learned about the recent issues that rocked the Philippine blogging scene. I got curious about the sudden exit from the blogging [...]
[...] A month of blog scandals and wars [...]
Mike’s always been like that. He says whatever he wants to say regardless of whatever people may throw at him or whatever. He’s an asshole. But frankly speaking, I love that part of him.
It doesn’t really matter what other people say, you know yourself and your blog or whatever. Why do you need to prove yourself right?
This is also why I hate most people. They tend to be too emotional. And liit ng bagay, pinapalaki. Geez.
O, may ganito palang komosyon na nangyayari.
@Manila Freelancer: Hindi naman ako sikat na blogger so I don’t think I’ll be plagued by controversies in the same degree as the ongoing issues.
So far, I’ve only been called selfish and unpatriotic. Hehe.
to Euri: I’d say what other people think or say will matter only if you let it get to you. We just have to learn to fish out the constructive comments from the destructive ones, keep those in mind and discard the rest.
to Gean: Go click the links to other interesting posts and read. Mukhang medyo nahuhuli ka hehehe. And I think there’s another issue brewing, though it’s not related to blogging. More of an “irresponsible” journalist issue. Hehe.
Tess,
Ikaw, hindi sikat? That’s a lie! Lying is unethical! LOL
to Jon Limjap: Of course naman hindi ako sikat. People link to me because they’re my friends. Hehe. I don’t even have an adsense check yet.
HAHA. I must check the links, makikichismis. LOL. Nahuhuli na nga ako, hindi ko kasi yata kilala mostly yung mga kasali sa issue na ‘to kaya hindi ako updated. Busy rin sa school kaya hindi gano nakapagbloghop. What about the irresponsible journalist thing? Bago na naman? Hehe.
Yung tungkol sa 13 year old na yun, sa opinyon ko hindi big deal. HAHA. Anyway lagi naman akong ganito e, hindi big deal pag hindi ako sangkot. Kidding! xD
[...] Health Blog « A Month of Blog Scandals and Wars [...]
[...] Prudence 11:25 amAdd comment1 Views After the Carl Ocab ghostwriting issue and the Misrepresentation issue, here now comes another sizzling hot scandal (though not blogging related anymore) that hits the [...]
Honestly I don’t believe that Carl can write all those posts. I suspected already from the very start that he is a fake. I read a lot of investment and business books for almost five years but still I can’t write same as those. Meaning they were done by some expert or some matured person. I removed his link in my blog long time ago, before this influential top ten blogs which I think are not. What makes the apple a day great? I don’t find any. Sorry to say that but I am not influence by her/his blog. A blog should be something which you get some ideas to learn. It is not even well presented.
don’t worry make money
Wow. i didn’t even know something like that was going on… Thanks for that comprehensive article. I am now “educated”. However, isn’t blogging supposed to be for everyone? I mean, I blog about Asian stars and my boobs. Ahaha! I don’t think my blog will be influential anytime soon…
Also, will link you.
[...] Prudence and Madness chronicles A Month of Blog Scandals and Wars. [...]
Dang….I had no idea. Thanks for the summary of what’s going on.
I think it’s just taking the blogosphere a step too high. I guess it all comes down to having fun, and not ranting and demoralizing each other.
[...] recent events in the Pinoy blogosphere. The (not so) recent issues of blogging elitism and other scandals have definitely caught our interest. The main issue of our discussion - the concept of a blogging [...]
[...] on returning comments. And I also chose to vanish *poof* when the Philippine blogging community was abuzz over a kid, misrepresentation, and Malu [...]
Hi Tess,
I’ve been out of touch as of late. Thanks for the update.
100% of these were based on opinions– as long as everyone has an opinion, we will always have issues. Issues will always be there, but it shouldn’t really worry us.
to Regnard:
It’s because you’re busy with scholastic stuff. Hehe.
Issues are fine. As long as everybody will act as mature, rational adults.
[...] The Top Ten Emerging Influential Blogs of 2007 FOBCAST - Third World Tech Talk and a lot of dicking around (”Top 10…” Podcast) Ethical Blogging Yuga Meets the Kid Blogger A Month of Blog Scandals and Wars [...]
[...] the Carl Ocab, Misrepresentation, and the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs issue, just go over to my post. I’ve an encapsulated form of the issues which can be easily digested, especially by a blogger [...]