by Forgive me for being Mr. Grumpy today.
Here’s a short — okay, it’s longish — list of things that make me grumpy when I read blogs of others and I realize 99% of what I say will insult 95% of the blogs I’ve read so far:
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Cute names people give themselves like “Mr. Grumpy”
Anything about precious or precocious kids
Anything about precious or precocious cats and kittens
Anything about precious or precocious puppies and dogs
Anything about the weather
Continued bad spelling
Everlasting bad grammar
Never-ending stories about the drudgery/crises/joys of a job
Faux sexual stories
Real sexual stories
Teasing nudity — either show it or stow it!
Anything with audio that plays without permission
Cursing of any kind (it’s crass, gets old and shows a lack of vocabulary)
Women who call themselves “bitches” (I’ve met much worse!)
Anything about caffeine/coffee/soft drinks
Everything about blog design
Blogs that repost news stories
Blogs that repost photos
Blogs that violate news and photo Copyrights by reposting
Here are some things on blogs that always take out the “Grump:”
- Excellent writing (even about kids and animals or the weather)
Conflicts of spirit
Something I’ve never read before
An interesting idea
An introspective post (but not about sex or kids or cussing)
A message about the world in which we spin
A thought on what it means to be human
Thank you for the time of your eye and please don’t attack Mr. Grumpy for the first list or he’ll come after you in Part II!
The really frightening thing is that 95% of people read the blogs you describe…
Hi Gone!
You’re right! Heh! I am guilty as charged because I do read these sites I describe and make myself crazy.
I guess I always think the next post in queue will be better. 🙂
As a budding blogger, I certainly hope I don’t break any of your ‘grump’ rules. In fact, I couldn’t agree more. I am a little curious (neophyte) about images and implied copyright on things put in the public domain. I hope I don’t get sued 🙂
Cheers, and happy blogging.
Hello Love!
You ask a good question about Copyrights. The issue can be sticky and cloudy.
Basically, if you see an image or a news item on a site you do not own you may NOT repost that content by default on your site unless the original site explicitly grants you permission to use the material first.
Most people flaunt the “fair use” Copyright doctrine as an excuse to freely use whatever they wish but that is a narrow legal conceit that few blogs and websites are able to abide.
The best thing to do if one must lift or borrow or copy information from a site is to ask permission first. Many times people are honored you like their stuff enough to use it on your site. That said, the big for-profit sites like CNN and the New York Times, etc. will rarely allow you to “borrow†their work for your site for free.
Ah yes…but my kids are irresistible – so it’s different for me! (chuckle!) I know what you mean… I think the key for the mommyblog genre is to mix it up. I don’t have a problem with posting something funny or poignant about my boys -but I try to follow up with something in a different vein the next day.
Now the blog-style that irks me the most is the dear diary, here’s what I did today type. There are precious few people on this planet who are so interesting that we need to get minute by minute reports of their daily routine. (Except me of course – cause I’m, like, all that! …cue self-mocking grin)
Hi Blest!
You make some excellent points and I am with you on the diary entries as well.
Mixing it up, as you suggest, is the key! It keeps readers interested and guessing what will come next. That is, as you suggest, an effective method for hooking readers.
I’m still trying to figure out when it became the hep-cat thang for smart, beautiful women to start calling themselves “bitches” on their blogs. It may be funny at first, but then it is ultimately self-defeating in a long term way.
Hello, this is Rob from http://rg3.blogspot.com. I changed my blog to another server and the new domain is http://www.robblogs.com. I will no longer be updating rg3.blogspot.com, so please update your link. Thanks!
You would probably enjoy http://blgd.blogspot.com then. Brad writes reviews of the bad blogs out there and they are quite entertaining.
I’m sure my blog annoys some people but I try to keep it as annoyance-free as possible. 🙂
I liked your list.
Hi Courtney —
Thanks for the post to the bad blogs site! Funny!
I think your site if a lot of fun and I wish you all the best in your writing career.
i agree with most of this list. having said that, however, i’m guilty of most of the same points, most likely because i don’t look at blogging as something worthy of such seriousness or analysis. i write the same way that i talk – rapidly, off the cuff and completely stream-of-consciousness.
that my grammar isn’t the best, or that i swear like a sailor, shouldn’t be bothersome as long as my point is understood.
Heya Marie!
I think writing like you talk can be a fair and effective way of communicating on a blog.
We may, however, disagree on what it means to be universally understood :), but I respect your point-of-view and I appreciate you taking the time to post such a fine comment.
Ooh..excellent list, Mr Grumpy. I’ve even found that we have many things in common on that one. By the by, is this intentional?
“Continued bad spelling”
Yes, A.W., Mr. Grumpy is beloved and wonderful. We think he’s tops! 🙂 Everything and nothing is intentional — it all depends on your POV. 😉