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One thing I hope dies in 2007

Comments

Hugh Macleod cracks me up. His post about “five things you don’t know about me” was the ultimate way to stop this stupid meme that seems to be continuing to travel through blogs. Although now people are posting what kind of superhero are you. Sigh. So, I’m not optimistic that these kinds of “blog questions” will end in 2007. I wish they would, though.

Here’s his answers — you have to understand British humor, methinks to get why this is funny:

five things you don’t know about me

1. I dislike you intensely.

2. I love it when bad things happen to you.

3. When your name is mentioned I immediately try to change the subject.

4. I wouldn’t read your blog if you paid me.

5. If we were trapped on a desert island together I would kill myself.

Comments

  9. “I’m not optimistic that these kinds of “blog questions” will end in 2007″

    They’re ridiculously popular amongst non-techy bloggers, as a quick trail around LiveJournal would show. There’s no chance of them dying in 2007, but complaining they exist is silly. It’s just as silly as complaining about what’s on a particular TV channel - just change the channel / stop reading those posts.

  10. “I’m not optimistic that these kinds of “blog questions” will end in 2007″

    They’re ridiculously popular amongst non-techy bloggers, as a quick trail around LiveJournal would show. There’s no chance of them dying in 2007, but complaining they exist is silly. It’s just as silly as complaining about what’s on a particular TV channel - just change the channel / stop reading those posts.

  13. And I had almost begun to get depressed because nobody tagged me (although I have nothing much to tell that can even fill the 5 bulleted points) :-). I thought it must be a game for the who’s who of the blogsphere.

  14. And I had almost begun to get depressed because nobody tagged me (although I have nothing much to tell that can even fill the 5 bulleted points) :-). I thought it must be a game for the who’s who of the blogsphere.

  19. I’ll leave essentially the same comment I did on a similar post almost 1 year ago:

    The meme spreads because people want to be involved in it. If they don’t, they don’t.

    I guess I don’t understand the angst directed at people who are writing what they want to write about on their own sites.

    But, it just depends on your point-of-view. Some memes can be helpful. Who wouldn’t want site after site talking about the [five] things they love to do with [the site/product/service you support].

  20. I’ll leave essentially the same comment I did on a similar post almost 1 year ago:

    The meme spreads because people want to be involved in it. If they don’t, they don’t.

    I guess I don’t understand the angst directed at people who are writing what they want to write about on their own sites.

    But, it just depends on your point-of-view. Some memes can be helpful. Who wouldn’t want site after site talking about the [five] things they love to do with [the site/product/service you support].

  21. In Britain here but it isn’t funny, it’s no more a waste of space then the hero stuff going around

  22. In Britain here but it isn’t funny, it’s no more a waste of space then the hero stuff going around

  23. The superhero & supervillain ones went around over a year ago, but I have seen them raise their head again lately…

    Oh, and there’s no such thing as British humor, it’s British humour ;)

  24. The superhero & supervillain ones went around over a year ago, but I have seen them raise their head again lately…

    Oh, and there’s no such thing as British humor, it’s British humour ;)

  25. What a elitist attitude. What a great way to make people who indulge in a little harmless meme exchange feel stupid and “dumb hack” compared to you sophisticated A listers, who have nothing better to do than start your own continuous round of memes all favoring attention on yourselves.

    You’ve taken a little harmless end of year round of exchanges and you’ve turned it into something tawdry and silly, all because you want to prove how sophisticated you all are.

    You are both sad men who can’t stand the thought that a discussion can be about someone other than yourselves.

    Here’s a New Years eve challenge to you both: think about someone other than yourselves. Wait a sec, we’re supposed to reserve our resolutions for something that we can hope to meet, and I just gave you too difficult a task.

    Shame on the both of you for making yourselves seem big by making others seem small.

    All you had to do, was ignore it.

  26. What a elitist attitude. What a great way to make people who indulge in a little harmless meme exchange feel stupid and “dumb hack” compared to you sophisticated A listers, who have nothing better to do than start your own continuous round of memes all favoring attention on yourselves.

    You’ve taken a little harmless end of year round of exchanges and you’ve turned it into something tawdry and silly, all because you want to prove how sophisticated you all are.

    You are both sad men who can’t stand the thought that a discussion can be about someone other than yourselves.

    Here’s a New Years eve challenge to you both: think about someone other than yourselves. Wait a sec, we’re supposed to reserve our resolutions for something that we can hope to meet, and I just gave you too difficult a task.

    Shame on the both of you for making yourselves seem big by making others seem small.

    All you had to do, was ignore it.

  27. [...] ebenezer scoble January 1, 2007 at 11:50 am | In Blogging, what-ever, stop your nonsense! | Poor Robert Scoble (who is apparently someone, like, important or something), has been complaining about blog memes. Sucks to be him I guess. [...]

  28. While I’ve never answered these ‘tagging memes’ myself, I have learned more about OTHER people from reading their answers to this than by anything else. I basically tagged *everyone* reading my blog-by asking them to answer questions-so that I could get to know them. Some of their answers made me laugh, and some made me a little teary-eyed, actually.

    Robert and Hugh, we all *know* a lot about you guys, but it’s very unbalanced — I’m guessing most of your readers know way more about YOU than you know about THEM.

    I don’t like the idea of the “tagging” thing, though… it’s pretty lame to have to wait for someone else to *choose* you. And yes, I get a little tired of hearing bloggers talk endlessly about themselves, but learning more about my readers? Gold.

  29. While I’ve never answered these ‘tagging memes’ myself, I have learned more about OTHER people from reading their answers to this than by anything else. I basically tagged *everyone* reading my blog-by asking them to answer questions-so that I could get to know them. Some of their answers made me laugh, and some made me a little teary-eyed, actually.

    Robert and Hugh, we all *know* a lot about you guys, but it’s very unbalanced — I’m guessing most of your readers know way more about YOU than you know about THEM.

    I don’t like the idea of the “tagging” thing, though… it’s pretty lame to have to wait for someone else to *choose* you. And yes, I get a little tired of hearing bloggers talk endlessly about themselves, but learning more about my readers? Gold.

  30. Remember, people…Scoble wrote the book on blogging. Everyone MUST blog according to how he dictates. So, it’s no surprise this frustrates him as people are not following his guidelines. Blogo-facism rises again!

  31. Remember, people…Scoble wrote the book on blogging. Everyone MUST blog according to how he dictates. So, it’s no surprise this frustrates him as people are not following his guidelines. Blogo-facism rises again!

  32. Is that a meme in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
    *snicker*

    Happy New Year to you (and to Hugh, who doesn’t give a damn - lol)

  33. Is that a meme in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
    *snicker*

    Happy New Year to you (and to Hugh, who doesn’t give a damn - lol)

  34. While I find a lot of the other memes less interesting (I don’t do a lot of quizes in Cosmo, either), the five things meme is actually a good icebreaker that gets people out of their zone of comfort for a few minutes.

    I’m thinking of starting “Five reasons to unsubscribe from my blog”, but I doubt it will take off in a big way…

  35. While I find a lot of the other memes less interesting (I don’t do a lot of quizes in Cosmo, either), the five things meme is actually a good icebreaker that gets people out of their zone of comfort for a few minutes.

    I’m thinking of starting “Five reasons to unsubscribe from my blog”, but I doubt it will take off in a big way…

  36. It’s kinda funny how old some of those memes were, just outside of the tech blogosphere. These thing are HUGE in ordinary parts of the Interweb.

    It’s okay, the unwashed masses will rinse off with a little water. ;)

  37. It’s kinda funny how old some of those memes were, just outside of the tech blogosphere. These thing are HUGE in ordinary parts of the Interweb.

    It’s okay, the unwashed masses will rinse off with a little water. ;)

  38. Oh, I forgot the first rule of blogging: you must check with LayZ and Shelley first to see if something you’re about to write is idiotic or elitist. Sorry for forgetting this rule.

    I forgot to put the disclaimer on it: that this was funny, not meant to hurt anyone’s feelings, or anything like that. You might remember I participated in the “five things meme” too a few weeks back. So, if anything I was poking fun at myself.

    Oh, and I’m a Green Lantern, just in case anyone was wondering. ;-)

  39. Oh, I forgot the first rule of blogging: you must check with LayZ and Shelley first to see if something you’re about to write is idiotic or elitist. Sorry for forgetting this rule.

    I forgot to put the disclaimer on it: that this was funny, not meant to hurt anyone’s feelings, or anything like that. You might remember I participated in the “five things meme” too a few weeks back. So, if anything I was poking fun at myself.

    Oh, and I’m a Green Lantern, just in case anyone was wondering. ;-)

  42. Hey Robert et al .. lighten-up. Memes are simply online games. Play or don’t play it’s up to you. But they do tend to give a bit of insight about the person. And if anyone was surprised by hugh’s response guess they don’t read him much. It was so very hugh. Happy 2007 by the way!

  43. Hey Robert et al .. lighten-up. Memes are simply online games. Play or don’t play it’s up to you. But they do tend to give a bit of insight about the person. And if anyone was surprised by hugh’s response guess they don’t read him much. It was so very hugh. Happy 2007 by the way!

  46. Whoa that’s kinda trippy seeing both Kathy and Shelley chime in.

    Personally, I thought the meme was just a way for A-listers to pump their pagerank. Basically, a sort legitimate spamming. if you will.

    No matter though, in a world of wikiality it ain’t spam if the readers don’t think so :)

  47. Whoa that’s kinda trippy seeing both Kathy and Shelley chime in.

    Personally, I thought the meme was just a way for A-listers to pump their pagerank. Basically, a sort legitimate spamming. if you will.

    No matter though, in a world of wikiality it ain’t spam if the readers don’t think so :)

  48. I’m not sure if your writing comes through as “poking fun at myself”. Maybe that’s why people call it elitist? Good to see that we are two Green Lantern! I would never have guessed…

  49. I’m not sure if your writing comes through as “poking fun at myself”. Maybe that’s why people call it elitist? Good to see that we are two Green Lantern! I would never have guessed…

  50. This meme game never smelled A-list to me; for one thing, I got tagged early and often, and I’m Z-list. For another, well, a chain letter is a chain letter, even if it’s about you.

    If people want to learn about me they can straight-out ask me questions. I vastly prefer that to some “here, play this by invitation only chain letter game”.

  51. This meme game never smelled A-list to me; for one thing, I got tagged early and often, and I’m Z-list. For another, well, a chain letter is a chain letter, even if it’s about you.

    If people want to learn about me they can straight-out ask me questions. I vastly prefer that to some “here, play this by invitation only chain letter game”.

  58. [...] Here’s an odd contradiction from Scoble in a very short time, less than 12 hours. First, he hates the 5 things meme and the superhero quiz (both of which were blogged here) and today he says he loves that you can blog whatever you like. Uhhh, dude, I for one was doing just that when you weren’t happy with our subject choices. That’s life, baby. I’m just doing what I want here, I have no particular obligation to be particularly profound at any given time. To me the value of blogging is that I can talk deeply about what makes life worth living, and then an hour later about the various effects of red kryptonite. This is, like, very similar to how my conversations go in real life, so if blogs are to be a conversation why should they be distributed differently than my literal conversations? Sorry Robert, one of your two positions is all wet. Which one is your call. I support your right to blog them all though, as long as that’s what you want to be writing. [...]

  65. Well, good for you then Robert. Then perhaps the next time when you want to make fun of folks who are just having grins and giggles, you’ll remind yourself about how happy you are, and how much you do have compared to most, and just. Let. It. Slide.

    Hugh, someday we’ll get you to a point where you can have a discussion with words instead of pictures. Maybe therapy? Perhaps big lined paper instead? It worked for my niece when she was five, so I have hopes for you.

  66. Well, good for you then Robert. Then perhaps the next time when you want to make fun of folks who are just having grins and giggles, you’ll remind yourself about how happy you are, and how much you do have compared to most, and just. Let. It. Slide.

    Hugh, someday we’ll get you to a point where you can have a discussion with words instead of pictures. Maybe therapy? Perhaps big lined paper instead? It worked for my niece when she was five, so I have hopes for you.

  67. PS and one bit of good news for you both that will make you even happier and that’s that I doubt I’ll be back here for a good long while. There a Happy New Year present for you both.

  68. PS and one bit of good news for you both that will make you even happier and that’s that I doubt I’ll be back here for a good long while. There a Happy New Year present for you both.

  69. Shelley: you seem to like attacking people who are just having grins and giggles (like the Blogher conference) just as often as I do. In fact, I was just having a grins and giggles at the beginning of this post. But, I guess, my reality doesn’t matter as much as those of other bloggers to you.

    But, I’m not happy you won’t be back here. I like your point of view cause it often is different than mine and it gets me to question my own point of view, which almost always is a healthy thing. I do subscribe to your blog, though, so I’m sure I’ll continue to get a healthy dose of your reality.

  70. Shelley: you seem to like attacking people who are just having grins and giggles (like the Blogher conference) just as often as I do. In fact, I was just having a grins and giggles at the beginning of this post. But, I guess, my reality doesn’t matter as much as those of other bloggers to you.

    But, I’m not happy you won’t be back here. I like your point of view cause it often is different than mine and it gets me to question my own point of view, which almost always is a healthy thing. I do subscribe to your blog, though, so I’m sure I’ll continue to get a healthy dose of your reality.

  84. Five Things (times 3)

    I surrender. I’ve now been tagged three times for the same meme, by Tom, Anthony and now Nathan, so I’m going to have to do it. Here are five things you (probably) don’t know about me: I took my first photograph when I was 3 years old and created my…