Well, some of you are anyway.
Believe it or not, there’s a huge amount of moaning going on in today’s podcasting world. It’s mainly within existing communities and is becoming more and more prominent as the medium grows. Now I’m not someone to talk about using an existing community to promote something I’m doing, but it has to be the main annoyance I’ve had to put up with lately.
Usually a forum is a place where you contribute to the ongoing discussions taking place. Granted, if there isn’t much going on that interests you it may not be something that you want to take part in. Nonetheless it isn’t an excuse to shamefully use said forum as a place to shamelessly self promote what you’re doing. Podcasting and promotion do go hand in hand, but there’s got to be an unwritten rule somewhere that if you hardly ever contribute somewhere, you don’t suddenly go around posting to dead topics with details of your next stunt, how you’re looking forward to being asked back to an event, trans-continental trip or other such guff.
After a long train journey back from London a couple of weeks ago, I checked one of the many podcasting communities I sometimes frequent, only to find four posts that did exactly what I described above. Naturally I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to remain my cautiously friendly self, so I proceeded respond to the poster with the below;
Richard, nothing against your trip to the states or anything else you’re doing but could you possibly hold off on the meaningless promotional posts? We’re all well aware you’re going over (well done) – I think you may be pushing it a little too much.
Looking back, I’m not sure the way I worded it was quite right for the situation, but I do know it wasn’t meant to scare him off from the community. The written word is not the best way to get a point across sometimes, but I’m sure it really doesn’t warrant someone deleting all of their posts from a forum – effectively throwing their toys out of the pram.
This isn’t just restricted to communities within the British podcasting world. I’ve recently given up going to Podcast Alley because of all the name calling, back stabbing and other general child like behaviour.
Expect more rantings on this blog. There’s a lot to get out.
Technorati Tags: podcasts, podcasting, british, bitjobs, rants
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4 Responses to “You’re all a bunch of moaning podcasters…”
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1 Apr 19th, 2006 at 6:13 pm
Actually, well said, I say at least. I never really got on at Podcast Alley due to the negativity of the place, but I did latch on to podcast Pickle.
However, I have been posting a lot less there as well as I sometimes get a cavity while on the boards, the whole thing is so sweet it gets to me.
There needs to be some reality, some middle ground. Something between the parade of assholes at the Alley and the never ending love fest at the Pickle.
You spoke your mind, but were not disrespectful. Hey you were human, and I say good job!
Hey, there are the ladybugs again! This is like porn, I love it! lol
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2 Apr 19th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
Hey, Phil! Congratulations on another format for your musings!
I wonder, though, if another way to think about the whole throwing-the-toys-out-of-the-pram situation and the events leading up to it could be to acknowledge that all blog and forum responses (and yes, even this one) are little bits of theatre. All over the web people are posting comments to vicariously wave arms, and throw kisses (or punches), and poke fun at each other, are they not?
Because I feel a bit responsible for the whole misunderstanding, owing to events I will not go into here (ah, mystery! that is theatre, too), I must add that the dead-topic postings you mentioned seemed to be only vehicles for displaying a rather clever parody of the signature-banner-as-advert that popped up on various websites and forums, such as yours, a day or two earlier.
As you know, some of us Firefox users quickly figured out how to deactivate the banners, but others chose to turn the tables and poke fun at them. As frequently happens, results of that strategy were mixed: some did not think that it was very funny, and some thought it was right on the mark.
I am not defending the subsequent tossing out of toys. I am simply hoping that we all remember that there is a lot of histrionic posturing out in the so-called blogosphere that is not worth the fretting.
Wearing a pair of mittens while reading forum posts also helps a lot!
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3 Apr 20th, 2006 at 11:10 am
Linda, that’s a great point.
My initial grievance wasn’t actually with the parody banner that he had displayed. It was more with the topics he chose to grab our attention and the fact that in the past, he has only ever contributed to the forum to promote something.
This indiviudal also constantly complains how he isn’t making any money from podcasting, perhaps someone should point out that any positive relationships he has with other podcasters may help in the endeavour in the future.
- 4 Apr 20th, 2006 at 11:18 am
However, I have been posting a lot less there as well as I sometimes get a cavity while on the boards, the whole thing is so sweet it gets to me.
I’ve noticed that too. Everyone is so back-slap happy over there that sometimes it just gets too much. The good thing about Britcaster, although it can have that Pickle-like sweetness (mmmm sweet pickles) people are still able to speak their minds. The recent debate on MCPS/PRS licensing and whether or not we need a UK association of podcasters proved that.