You get what you give
Taking the sage advice of "...you will probably derive much more satisfaction from writing your rebuttal in your own weblog than you will from e-mailing us." provided to readers of Trainwreck I'll spend my time rebutting their recent review of not just an entry I made on my blog a few days ago but a paragraph of an entry.
Let's not even get into how your reviewer didn't get the entire point of the blog entry I wrote. Let's not discuss that the paragrah was to set up a sense of irony and to show avoiding certain behaviors doesn't always do one any good or that it should made the reader feel a relation to the fear - a sense of "Oh I hate that too!". It isn't that the paragraph was criticized. I never said it was a brilliant piece of prose. It may very well be a clumsily written humorous paragraph that gained its humor in a way I never intended. It's the piss poor attempt at criticism that's annoying. Not reviewing the entire piece but merely a bit of a paragraph taken out of context and the criticism (both of them actually, one being in the comments) being nothing more than pissy nitpicking.
And that's the problem with the execution of the entire website - the lame, obtuse reviews. We're promised trainwrecks - blogs that are so truly terrible you can't avoid looking at it. Entire blogs that are bad, are filled with poor grammar and spelling, ridiculous writing, unoriginal thought, horrible graphics and eye gouging templates. It's a straighforward concept and certainly not an original idea as it's already being done Shitty Blogs and I Talk 2 Much. But we don't get any real trainwrecks. Instead we're treated to nothing more than half-assed jabs at snippets of blog entries that are written without even an ounce of wit. We don't get trainwrecks but instead are treated to nothing more than a few cracked windshields.
You advise that blogs turn into trainwrecks because "...it’s all about self-delusion." but what could be more delusional than self appointed anonymous reviewers without a shred of credibility thinking they are the final word on what's worth reading? In the end no one really gives a damn about your reviews, especially when they're so painfully executed.
As this will be my daily entry on Holidailies you can direct your thanks to me for the increased traffic to your site. Maybe finally you'll have commentors other than the other reviewers on your site.
posted by Dixie at 12:36 PM
12Comments:
Having taken my first look at Trainwreck, I've got to say, it's a much bigger self-delusional trainwreck than most of the blogs they're reviewing. It's pretty sad, actually. But isn't that always the case when someone attempts to be funny doing something as unoriginal as poking fun at others?
Personally, I got that paragraph. It was a bit of exposition that illustrated that not only do you have the normal fear of falling that all human possess, but that perhaps you take the fear a bit further than most. Got that the first time I read it. You know, because I know how to read and stuff.
Oh well. Those who can, write. Those who can't, criticize.
For the record, Trainwreck averages 29 readers a day. Obviously, their witty blog stylings are setting the world on fire.
Well, the site just started on December 7. Miss Dixie's review (which I didn't think was actually as mean as Miss Dixie thought it was) was one of the first one's posted.
I stopped by Trainwreck and took a peek. After reading as much of it as I could stomach, I've come to the conclusion that those who are obviously unable to form an original thought, make their place in the blogosphere by posting the works of others, then assume that anyone gives a rat's ass about their opinion. Bless their hearts.
I never once said the review was mean. It wasn't mean. Mean may have been interesting. I said the review - all the reviews there - are lame and obtuse and what they review and how they're reviewed doesn't live up to what is expected when one is told they're going to be shown blogging trainwrecks.
Yes, I realize the when the website started. It started on the same day Holidailies started and I'll bet dollars to doughnuts the creators thought they'd go to Holidailies and feast on the blog entries posted to gather their review fodder instead of making the effort to seek out what may be truly deserving of the title of trainwreck.
If you're going to do it, at least make the attempt to do it right.
You're right, Trainwreck has to be about the lamest websites I've seen in a long time. Definitely noth worth going back.
I just don't see the charm in trainwrecks either. I think it is too easy to criticise...it sounds like when they were reviewing you that they were trawling for stuff due to their lack of originality, thus forcing them to deform what you said for an entry. Crazy lame.
Bwahahahahahahaha!
Oh, Sweet Dixie. These people are a bunch of goofy doofuses (doofusi? Pardon, Trainwreckers who are no doubt reading this and who OBVIOUSLY know all there is to know about all things, what IS the correct plural form of the word "doofus"?).
Let them slide off your back like the slime that they are. They can't hold a candle to you.
Beege, I think the multiple of doofus is doofs. As in, a doofus is just one person... a group of people are a buncha doofs.
I had a nice long, fat comment all typed in here earlier about this and I pushed the send button without realizing that my connection had disconnected and I couldn't get back and get it. Whenever that happens, since my head threatens to explode or I'm close to hysterical weeping... I usually have to just let it go, get up from the computer and go do something else for a while.
Basically what I said was that I don't see the need for this service. Blogs are personal, who gives a shit whether they're any good or not. It's a non sequitur. Unnecessary and mean-spirited, I think, to devote an entire blog to making fun of people.
I also said that I agreed with Robin about how what you said, Dixie, about avoiding opportunities to fall, was not painfully obvious. It was clear to me that you meant to convey that where other people might not think twice about hopping up on a footstool or stepladder, you try not to do that.
And I wrapped it up by pointing out that we live in a free country. Free meaning: no one is forced to read stuff (on the internet or elsewhere) that they don't like, don't agree with, think sucks or whatever. There's all kinds of stuff I DON'T read everyday. And THAT is what I call painfully obvious.
BTW, Beege, I was informed by my parents last night that the plural form of doofus is doofae or doofi. I still think doofs is better, but - luckily! - I'm not the world's foremost authority on plural forms of slang terms, colloquialisms and idioms.
If the person who runs that site is who I think it is...well, no one should feel too bad about being linked. She is uninteresting, uninspired and if I may get personal, a bit ugly. Inside and out.
Hey, I win! I was accused of being a xenophobic snob and was mocked because I spell the Canadian way (or because there was a typo, I'm not sure exactly what my offence was). Apparently, because my boyfriend's family hate me for being a Canadian of British/German ancestry and not Polish, I'm the xenophobic snob. Me, who could care less if they didn't raise the issue every time they saw me and who refused to learn my name for 3.5 years because they didn't like me. Yeah, there are some real winner with too much time on their hands there.
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