The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

JBlogosphere

Blogging Etiquette- Derech Eretz

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It is a late night here at the Shack so this could be a little more convoluted than I’d like. But then again this blog is more of a place for stream of consciousness than a George Will essay or maybe I should really say Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson is a personal favorite. I have always enjoyed his essay on Self Reliance.

One of my favorite lines is “No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature.” If you are interested the sections I cited here caught my eye as well. But we’ll get back to that at a later date.

Blogging is an exercise that involves a number of components. You have a topic, a writer and readers who comment on the posts produced by the writer. Sometimes the nature of the topic is such that it engenders very strong feelings in those who read it. That in turn can sometimes lead to acrimonious debate within the comments.

It is good to have a healthy debate. It is worthwhile to challenge yourself and see if you can provide an adequate defense of your position. In theory you should strive to do this solely based upon facts and not based upon emotion. Derech Eretz is the term one of my teachers used to use in reference to having a polite debate.

I can remember more than one debate in class in which he would pepper the discussion with reminders that we were all human and the importance of Derech Eretz. It was a worthwhile reminder and a good lesson.

That is something that that the blogosphere is missing. I have wondered more than once how many people would be willing to say face to face what they type to others.

Within my own blog I have rather simple rules. In general I don’t do much moderating. Given a chance most people are pretty good about self-editing. It is not unusual for someone to post a strong response and come back and edit it.

Here is a basic rundown on how I moderate the discussions. Advertisements that are not cleared with the management are nuked. Threads that are hijacked and controlled without approval are subject to moderation. Beyond that everything else is simply subject to the whims of Shack Management.

Truth is that I update this so frequently it is unusual for battles to rage very long at all. I’d write more but the hour really has drawn late and I am tired. Perhaps I’ll continue this at a later time.

The Post I Started To Write

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I grew frustrated with the post below. It didn’t quite flow the way I wanted it to so I decided to ice it for a while.

Individualism is a trait that is prized by many people. It is something that we teach our children. Here in the U.S. it is quite common to hear people use phrases like think outside of the box or color outside of the lines. If someone calls you a sheep it is not a compliment. This is a very simple explanation for why we see so many examples of people trying to demonstrate their independence by how they dress, adorn their bodies etc.

Yet humans are communal creatures. Most of us want to be a part of a group. Most of us want to be accepted in a community of peers and others who think like we do. Trying to demonstrate/maintain that independent think outside of the box streak while still being a part of the gang is similar to walking barefoot on hot coals. If you lose your focus you will fill the heat.

I suppose that you could say that this begs the question of what is most important, independence or being a member of the community.

Define Yourself- I Am More Jewish Than You

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I have a couple ideas for posts percolating around my skull. They are only partially formed so I am not going to give them the chance to see the light of day just yet. But I’ll provide sort of a short preview.

Amishav’s post here provides some of the impetus for one of them. It ties into a post I wrote a couple of years ago called Orthodox Versus Jewry- Or My Blood is More Jewish.

What I want to do is spend a little more time thinking about this and then I’ll put together a new post about it. The purpose of taking more time is twofold.

1) I want to think about this a little bit more and see if I can provide more clarity for myself. I want to decide if I still feel the same way or if my views have changed.

2) I don’t have enough time to do a proper job of writing this post.

More later.

The Golden Age Of The JBlogosphere

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The Golden Age of the JBlogosphere. I can’t speak for anyone else, but it is one of those terms that catches my eye. Maybe it is because I am sentimental and I like to look back and see where I have been. In any case, it seems like every six months or so someone writes an introspective post about what the JBlogosphere used to be like.

The first time I remember seeing one of these posts was at The Muqata. Old Jameel mused about what he thought was the watershed moment of the JBlogosphere as being some time during 2005.

Today Treppenwitz became the latest blogger to speak of the Golden Age of the JBlogosphere. His timeline is a bit different. He refers to the golden age as being somewhere between 2003-2004.

I suppose that you could say that what this shows is that a blogger’s perspective is very much influenced by when they began blogging. I know, that wasn’t very insightful nor all that profound, but it is interesting to me for a number of reasons.

When I look back at my time in various organizations I can always pick out moments in which others spoke longingly of a time in which things were different and in their eyes better than whatever the present situation was. Sometimes it was an accurate assessment and sometimes it was a limited perspective.

I was involved with Camp Ramah for more than 20 years. If you ask people of a certain age they usually will mention my name as having been a part of the core group. But like all things those days are past. These days to find anyone who knows me you have to go back more than a couple of years. The oldest campers weren’t even born when I was roaming that place. So much time has passed that with the exception of some real old timers no one would even know my name.

It is really kind of humbling but it also offers some good lessons about life. It is a reminder that we need to live today. I don’t want to ever become one of those people whose best days are past. That doesn’t mean that I have to give up those amazing memories. I don’t have to pretend that they didn’t happen, I just have to maintain my perspective about who I am today and who I am going to be tomorrow.

Flipping back to blogging, I have to agree with David that there is a certain intimacy in the Jblogosphere that has faded. Eighteen months ago I asked people How Many Blogs Do You Read? because even in those days it was getting to be hard to try and keep up.

The JBlogosphere has exploded. Even if I had 10 hours a day to devote to blogging I couldn’t keep up. There are only so many blogs to read and even though a number of my favorites have closed up shop there is always another to take their place.

I guess what I am really saying is that after three years of running The Shack I hope that my posts are better than what they were. I hope that there is growth and that it continues. I don’t want to find myself in a place where I look back and say that the best I had has come and gone.

The day I come to that conclusion will truly be the time when I hang up my keyboard. Hopefully that day never comes.

The JIBS

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Folks I have tried hard not to remark on the JIBs but I just can’t refrain any longer. The real point of the JIBs is to promote Jewish/Israeli blogs, to help provide greater exposure than currently exists.

The thing that I have always found distasteful about the JIBs is the campaigning that takes place. Some people are so concerned about winning all they lose their ability to blog about anything else.

But if winning means that much to you than I guess that is how it goes.

I Am The Source of Evil In The JBlogosphere Part II

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In part one of this series I shared part of an email I received from one of my fans. It was an uplifting tribute in which my dear cyberFreud provided their analysis of all that is wrong with me. I must say that I was moved and flattered by the attention. It seems that the dear soul is trying desperately to garner more attention from me.

Jackass,

Your pathetic and moronic attempt to cover up your own shortcomings is transparent.

In days past I would have printed more of their email but as I said below, I am lacking some of the blogging passion. I would have jumped on the attempt to make a joke out of transparent shortcomings but again I am lacking passion. It might have been good. Some snappy remark about buying new underwear or some such thing.

But alas the blogging malaise has afflicted me and I haven’t the words to share. So let me wrap this up by saying that if you want to make me the villain of the JBlogosphere I shall gladly accept your title in the same spirit that Reggie Miller loved to be the villain.

Excuse me, I have to go watch some more Snidely Whiplash video so that I know how to play this role.