[Dean's World] Dean: A Blogging Pet Peeve

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Dean:
A Blogging Pet Peeve
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1152774985.shtml


   I normally try to stay out of blogwars (he says as he does that very
   thing twice in as many days), but [1]this recent spat between
   Patterico and Glenn Greenwald hit one of my hot-button issues. At
   least a few times a week, either from another blogger or a commenter
   here will level the charge is that I failed to do X, Y, or Z--and
   quite often, if that person just took two minutes to search through
   the archives, or at least politely ask me if I've ever done or said or
   written about X, Y, or Z, they would find that yes I have.

   This is incredibly tedious. You assume I haven't written about
   something, or condemned something, or praised something, or addressed
   whatever point you thought I should, but you just assumed that because
   it didn't magically appear under your nose just seconds before you
   opened your big stupid yap, it never happened?

   Here's what a polite inquiry that's likely to bring about a discussion
   looks like:

   "Dean, I notice you're saying such-and-such. Did you have a reference
   for that? Have you ever addressed this point in more depth elsewhere?"
   That's an inquiry that starts a discussion.

   Here's what doesn't start a discussion: "Dean you say such-and-such
   but you don't prove it, and you haven't addressed this other point I
   think is important. You should...."

   ...at which point I stop paying attention, and wish that I could find
   a way to hunt you down and beat you with a sack full of ripe oranges
   until you scream for mercy. Or tie you down and make you listen to Lee
   Greenwood's "Proud to be an American" over and over until you claw
   your own eardrums out of your head just to make it stop.

   But hey, we all have our pet peeves, right?

References

   1. http://patterico.com/2006/07/12/4859/is-glenn-greenwald-a-liar-or-is-he-just-someone-who-makes-confident-assertions-of-fact-without-having-the-slightest-clue-whether-they-are-true/#comment-57561