You have brought up very valid and interesting points in your comments. Giving Cindy a bit of a reality check on these topics is greatly beneficial.

Tim: What I really love about blogging is that people ARE reading and writing instead of just watching the tube. I’ll bet more people can find countries on the map now than before blogging because folks WANT to be literate and aware. Just listening – well reading – posts and comments and seeing how well thought out some positions are is inspiring.

Tim and I are not related. One of the most common issues when one moves from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 is that they perceive hostility in “the conversation of Web 2.0″. It’s part of the learning curve.

As you were open, honest and sincere in your question, I was equally so in my suggestion regarding emulation.

Are you related to Tim??? I was open and honest with my inexperience in blogging and was sincerely curious as to what I perceived as “hostility” toward the business. I am looking to start a blog related to a particular area and market that will be information for consumers. Not really geared toward the business of Real Estate and what needs to change. Your suggestion to find another RE blog to imulate was offensive. Not sure what is going on in your market, but around here we are still looked at as professionals who service a particular need to our consumers. My blog may be full of consumer information to assist in the sale and purchase of homes…and yes, I may even have a few cute quips on “how does your garden grow?”. Thats the culture we have here.

Ya’ll have a good day!

Cindy

I guess for me, the interesting thing was that blog wars (debates) are entrenched in so many venues and topics outside of r.e. I was reading the Seahawks blog last night and same thing, people carrying on and on. It’s everywhere.

As you mentioned, I’ve heard about that similar sentiment about Active Rain too.

I read your article this morning, and then went out for a walk and thought about it for awhile. Now that the day’s over, it’s interesting to see what people think about the blog wars.

Taking a step back and looking at, for example, real estate blog wars from a sociological perspective. Humans have always been at war with each other in one form or another. Go back hundreds if not thousands of years. We, as humans, don’t have a very solid track record on “always agreeing with each other on everything.”

I think the world would be a pretty boring place if we all agreed. Like a Stepford world. We’d all be robots. Instead, we think and feel and sometimes feel very passionate about what we believe.

Likewise, blogging is very boring if everyone just does “attaboys” for comments, which is why I never really understood the draw to ActiveRain, which rewards bland comments.

Blogging wars are nothing but conflict, inherent in human nature.

Morality exists to control conflict (I didn’t say that; I think Nietzsche said that.) So we have rules, like attack the argument, not the person, because flaming is nothing more than launching a grenade using words.

Conflict is also an opportunity to learn more about the other person. I’ll never forget the first time I was attacked with words by the seattlebubble readers. I couldn’t figure out why they were doing that. Then I started reading seattlebubble and I really began to understand them as a group…and I realized I had more in common with them than I thought.

Blog wars = dynamic, conflictual dialogue.

Blog peace = boring, happy-happy, polyanna talk.

I’d rather read and play blog wars.

Well, I always did like playing war with the boys in the neighborhood when I was a kid. I bet you would have never guessed that.