An open letter to Journalists

Friday, May 9, 2008 ~ 9 Comments

Dear Journalist,

I understand that at times it can be hard to find a good article, that deadlines must be met, and that you are under a lot pressure to deliver.

I also understand that the internet is chockful of content, a lot of it of good quality, and that blogs in particularly lend themselves nicely to the provision of the “human side” of the story. I understand that, really I do.

Unfortunately there seems to be a bit of an issue at the moment, with a few journalists pillaging blogs for content and the underlying view seems to be, “well, they are just blogs”. Now, I know (and I’m guilty of this in the past myself) that bloggers have always been the most forthcoming with credit when re-using your content but I think we are getting better at that and remember, just about all of us are amateurs.

That said, there really is no excuse for this sort of thing* which really doesn’t cast your profession in the best light and, even to the hobbyist blogger, spanks of shoddy work.

Like I say, I know that it’s only a few of you that are falling into this bad habit, and I guess that if you weren’t misquoting and badly researching your articles around blog stories, you’d be doing it on some other topic, but here’s the kicker.

We bloggers read each others blogs. We know them well, like old friends. We know the history, we know the personality behind the blog, so we know when all you’ve done is do a few quick searches and cobbled together a twisted view of reality.

And, really, we’d all kinda like you to stop doing that. Feel free to contact us, ask us questions, learn about who we are and why we blog, and most times we’ll be so accomodating you won’t believe it. Honest, most of us are pretty decent people just like most of you.

I hope that’s cleared things up a little,

Sincerely,

The Hobbyist Blogger

* In this case, the editor has been contacted and the article has been reported to the Press Complaints Commission. I’d encourage you all to spread the word about this, it’s not the first time and unfortunately I doubt it’ll be the last, so the more coverage this gets (hopefully) the lower the chance of it happening to you or I.

Merge

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 ~ 4 Comments

I really shouldn’t use that as a title for a post, all I now have in my head is Chandler (from Friends) talking about how funny it would be to have a Merge road-sign above the bed (”MERRGE”).

Anyway, the week is rolling past at a fair old lick, and the countdown to our trip to Hungary has begun. Louise has nabbed the book on Budapest my Dad gave us, and each morning I’m regaled with a new set of facts about either Buda, Pest, Budapest, the Danube or the surrounding area. We are slowly gathering a list of places to visit but, at some point, we’ll need to stop as we are only there for 5 days (really 4 when you discount travelling).

I’m taking my good camera to Budapest and have a nice big 4GB card to fill (and 2GB spare as well), so expect a LOT of photos. I’ll be competing with our host though, and she has a big fancy DSLR so it’ll be interesting to see some comparison shots. I’m getting quite excited about our trip to be honest, really need to start thinking about what to pack.

As for the title of this post … well it seems like this little hobby of mine and my work are finally converging with “web 2.0″, blogging and community websites becoming the main focus of my attention as I’ve just started to plan the creation of a “community website” for my current employers. It’s nice when hobbies (passions?) and work collide and I’m having to force myself to STOP thinking about it 24/7… well almost 24/7, the usual diversions still kick in (Wii, Champions League, Ollie, kitchen DIY, por… errr… some other stuff).

It’s also sparked some ideas that I can use to get Scottish Blogs back up and running. Admittedly that’ll be a little way down the road as I’ve got a couple of website clients to deal with first, but exciting (busy) times ahead.

Modern Life is Rubbish

Friday, April 18, 2008 ~ 11 Comments

Kitchen is almost finished. Last bit of tiling is getting done on Monday, most of the flooring will go down over the weekend, then it’s a couple of touch up jobs with a paintbrush, a little wallpaper and we’re done!!

I’ve sent off my letter of complaint and received a phone call following up to tell me they had received it and I will receive a written response soon. So that’s moving on nicely, and my altercation with a taxi is now in the hands of the Glasgow City Council licensing board.

Work has been increasingly busy these past couple of weeks, hence the paucity of updates here, it’s all I can do to stay awake long enough to eat dinner sometimes. It’s been great though, and I’m really starting to grow into the role (now that I’ve kind of figured out what my role is!). Plenty about that on my other blog mind you.

And speaking of blogs, I’ve been making a conscious effort to get back to commenting again. Yes it’s easy to say that you are still reading but sometimes that little comment counter can make a huge difference to your blogging mojo. It’s the little things that make a difference.

So, just got my health to sort out then we’ll have a semblance of order resorted (results of tests due tomorrow). I’ve almost completely eliminated “additional salt” from my diet, it’s taken a bit to get used to it but I certainly notice it when it’s been added. Hopefully that, plus the diuretic (bendroflumethiazide if you must know) will bring my blood pressure out of the stratosphere it was operating within (195/122 at highest reading… but down to 174/114 about 10 days ago).

I’ve also made a conscious effort to relax and de-stress, but truth be told I don’t feel any different, a little easier to tire since I started the pills but… yeah… not much has changed. Aside from my diet of course, which also means I’ve lost a little weight… things are heading the right way.

In other news, our cat is growing up. Looking back at photos from January he’s noticeably bigger and today he made his first kill!! A little baby starling. Shame really but we knew it would happen. Frankly I’m a little disappointed, it can’t have been much of a challenge so I’ve told him not to come back next time until he’s got one of the bloody magpies in his claws.

And that’s quite enough of that. As soon as I get the kitchen finished I’ll be starting a book clear-out, more on that… later.

Publishing

Monday, February 18, 2008 ~ No Comments

Prompted by the You’re Not the Only One… wait, you’ve not heard of it! Well a few bloggers are:

…putting together a book for WARCHILD written by bloggers and here’s where you come in:

We would like you to submit a written piece about something you’ve been through from any aspect of your life that you want to share. It can literally be about anything: your relationships, your past, a road not taken, being a parent, an illness or your regrets etc. We’ve called it “You’re Not The Only One” to reflect the camaraderie of blogging.

[All] Proceeds will go to WARCHILD

If you are interested the full details are on the site, submissions need to be in by the 29th February. I’m sure it’ll be a success, and even if you don’t contribute, or don’t make the final edit, make sure you buy a copy - for charidee!

I’m considering submitting something from this, as I’ve had a few emails over the years thanking me for sharing my experiences here, largely because they had been (or were going through) something similar. One piece leaps out but I’m not sure I want to revisit it…

So I’ve been trawling my archives to see what else is hidden away in there and I have to admit that I’m shocked, and somewhat disappointed in myself. Place is bloody littered with bad grammar, spelling errors and general sloppiness. Now, I’ve always stated that this blog is informal and I certainly don’t apply the same strict rules here as I do in my daily work but still, it’s embarassing.

I really must buck up and start checking my posts before hitting Publish.

Of course, I say that but…

*clicks Publish*

London Calling - Take 2

Sunday, February 10, 2008 ~ 6 Comments

Back from Spain, unpacked and back into the routine. The next few weeks will be busy, preparing for a new kitchen, finishing off a website (two on the go at the moment) as well as a few other things that have cropped up in our absence that need dealt with.

However, before all that and as I’ve already mentioned, I’m in London this coming weekend. Friday evening will find me in Charing Cross in the Ship and Shovell pub from around 4pm.

At the request of some, I’ve setup an Upcoming event for this momentous occasion. As I was told (or at least this is how I remember it) this is an incredible opportunity for you all to meet and greet the 17th most important blogger in Scotland. OK, maybe I’m over-egging it a little but I’m DEFINITELY the most important blogger in my house.

If you can be bothered to come along, and you have an Upcoming account, then it would be handy if you’d sign up to this event so I know how many people to expect. I know the pub has a maximum capacity so this will help me gauge the interest in what may be a once in an evening occasion.

I realise the location won’t suit everyone but as I’m hauling my ass down from Scotland, it really would be a little rude of you to complain, so suck it up. I will bring some signed photographs and if you are really lucky I may even let you buy me a drink. It’s only fair.

Hope to see you all there.

London Calling

Thursday, January 17, 2008 ~ 17 Comments

On Friday the 15th of February I will be flying to London, I’m only there for a couple of days and I’ll be attending a birthday party on the Saturday night. That does mean that I have, at present, Friday night free.

So, my London-based blogging friends, are you about? Fancy a social gathering? I’ll be based in Wandsworth but I’m willing to travel. I have little to no knowledge of how far is too far when it comes to London, and I have little to no idea of where might constitute a reasonable place for some strangers to meet.

Ohh yes, we are strangers, don’t kid yourselfs. I may know a lot about you, and vice versa but it’s never the full picture now, is it.

Anyway, don’t let that put you off. I know many of you have been through the first tentative blogmeet type things, so let’s not call it that, let’s just say that some of us will meet in a pub/bar somewhere.

And yes, I know that what I’m basically asking is for someone to organise a blogmeet on my behalf but, honestly, I AM worth it. Honest.

So, Friday 15th February. Anyone free?

What of Scottish Blogs?

Wednesday, January 9, 2008 ~ 10 Comments

But first, a cat update: Ollie is fine, no cone as, apparently, they don’t use stitches any more? He was a little groggy last night but was up and hungry as usual this morning. And I said this wouldn’t become a ‘cat’ blog. Hmmmm.

And so, onto Scottish Blogs. The website lost hosting late last year, and whilst I have a backup of the database that was only a week old, most of the site details in the directory are safe. However I’m now faced with starting over from scratch which, from a coding point of view, is a good thing. When I built Scottish Blogs it was largely done piecemeal as I was learning PHP as I went, leading to problems later on that, with my lack of knowledge, I couldn’t have foreseen. So, a clean slate is a good thing and would allow me to ‘get it (more) right’ from the start.

However, to be frank, I’m not sure I have the energy, inclination nor desire to rebuild and relaunch the site and, judging from the paucity of emails bemoaning the death of the Scottish Blogs website, I can only presume that no-one else is missing it either. So why am I bothering?

At present I’m not sure what, if anything, will replace the Scottish Blogs directory. Whilst I harbour grand plans of growing an online community, I’m not entirely sure I have the bandwidth to do so at present. With that in mind I’ve quite deliberately not done anything with the website since it died late last year and the overwhelming silence confirms that it was probably about time I killed it anyway.

Yet somewhere, in the depths of my brain, I am sure the site was useful to some, so I remain unsure as to the final fate of the website. Perhaps I need to co-opt some volunteers to help get it back off the ground, perhaps I need to hand over the entire thing to someone else (unlikely, but possible), or perhaps I need to make more of an effort to illicit some feedback from others.

Regardless, this isn’t something I’ll be looking at anytime in the next couple of weeks, that’s for sure.