Kent’s recent post at Newsome.org outlined the 7 quickest ways to get yourself deleted from his reading list. His list was comprised of items that would annoy most of us readers. No huge surprises there.
The item that I thought was most interesting was his Number 7, ignore/dismiss the other side of the issue. I’ve come to understand that there are people that see things as clearly black and white, while others, like myself, view in shades of grey. I’ve seldom had much luck in having a good give-and-take discussion with those who only see black and white.
Recently, in comments on another blog I ran into a women who made the absolute statement that she taught her kids that “the law is the law, period!” Now I respect the laws of our nation, but I certainly don’t believe they’re the absolute last word. I explained this in the comments. In this situation I think the end result was that we agreed to disagree…or from her point of view, I was wrong and she was right, period!
Would I drop a person from my reading list for Kent’s Number 7. It would depend entirely upon the person and their views. I certainly wouldn’t read someone who’s always a “yes” person, but I do enjoy those who have a different view point then myself. Even if it’s a “mono-view.” I learn more of my own thoughts, opinions and feelings by direct contrast.
For my own reasons to cut someone from my reading, I would add Excessive Ego. This would expand upon Kent’s Number 2 reason, engage in excessive self/blog promotion.
Ego’s like garlic. I love garlic, but it’s something that has to be used in reasonable amounts or it totally overpowers everything else in the dish. These ego maniacs can be excellent writers with abundant new and unique content, but buddy, I just can’t get past the overpowering taste of the garlic to enjoy the meal. Unsubscribe!
Technorati Tags: blogging, feeds, unsubscribe
Hi Earl,
I read Kent’s 7 Ways To Get Deleted post as well, and I think I’m pretty innocent on all counts. ;)
And I agree about making sure to take a look at both sides of an issue, but sometimes I think I err too much in the other direction. I sometimes tend to take a weaker stance that I should. I find my posts are sometimes peppered with ‘maybe’, ‘possibly’, ‘personally’ and ‘in my opinion’ statements when sometimes these things weaken a blog post. I’m sometimes too worried about covering all the bases and alienating others. Which is socially not a bad thing, but doesn’t make for the strongest of blog posts.
Also as far as ego goes, I tend to be attracted to humility and self-deprecation. Big ego’s go nowhere but down to me.
Hi Richard,
I’m also bad about using weakening adverbs (possibly, probably, maybe, perhaps, etc.) when I write a post. I’ve even made a point of going through and removing most of them as one of my final QC steps. That’s helping because the removal process seems to be required less as time goes on.
It’s related to the fact that I’m one of those “everythings a shade of grey” people who seldom see’s things as totally black or white. At least that’s what I’m telling myself! ;-)