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Something we could do together...

  
 
Mazarine
04:25 / 09.09.02
Just curious if anyone else would be up for this, and it may be a dead tired idea, for all I know: We find the blog/live journal/online diary/whatever of a non-Barbelither, and follow it consistently. Discuss hir views and opinions, debate hir positions, and who knows, that person may come join to find out what the hell these lunatics want from hir.
 
 
aus
04:33 / 09.09.02
That sounds to me almost like cyber-stalking. The blogger might be embarrassed or even distressed if they find out.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
05:35 / 09.09.02
I can't help imagining this poor unfortunate blogger driven to distraction by the fact that a cabal of total strangers has inexplicably taken to discussing their every whim and foible at length. I picture hir running through the streets, clothing awry, hair unkempt, screaming: "What do they want of me? WHAT DO THEY WANT OF MEEEEE?"

Hey, sounds like a laugh.

I reckon that this might be an interesting project, but it's only going to be defensible if we pick a public figure who blogs and is already getting loads of attention (Wil Wheaton?).
 
 
Seth
05:38 / 09.09.02
I vote we do it to a Lither, and we do it to Ellis
 
 
netbanshee
12:40 / 09.09.02
Maybe we'll need a disclaimer or only to focus on a person for a set period of time. You can only get so nitty-gritty in say a week. Then if we move onto another, contact the previous blogger and describe the project to them.

It may feel like cyber-stalking, but then again why blog if you want no one to read it.
 
 
Ellis says:
13:46 / 09.09.02
Ahh!

But I had to close my blog when kids who use the site I work for started reading it, and I really didn't want 15 year olds who hated my guts knowing personal things about me, although it was my own fault.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
16:31 / 09.09.02
I quite like this idea, just so long as we did do it briefly and try to avoid getting personal. Somewhere where you don't have to sign up with anything first would be nice too.

BLOGMACHINEGO!

Who's first?

I think Wheaton might be a good one, and he does seem fairly sussed, I mean, he's read 'The Illuminatis Trology' an' everything!
 
 
Persephone
16:46 / 09.09.02
Wil Wheaton stresses me out in every direction. He's like Everyman and not-Everyman. I can never adjust how I feel about him.

Uh, spoilers, I guess...









On the one hand, he can get, like, 500 comments on one post. On the other hand, he auditions for Jonathan Frakes and he's all excited... he thinks he did really well... and Jeremy Piven gets the part... but it's okay, because he's going to be in the new Star Trek movie... yay, he goes to a costume fitting... he shoots his scene... so wonderful to see everyone from the days of yore... and then the producer calls to tell him that they had to cut his scene from the movie.

That did me in, I seriously had to stop reading after that.
 
 
grant
19:52 / 09.09.02
I wonder, though - part of the beauty of blogs is that it makes ordinary folks into celebrities. It might be a lot more fun to do someone seemingly ordinary. Since, after all, it's a very public medium.

Of course, I've already stalked the "other" grant on Livejournal.
 
 
w1rebaby
19:56 / 09.09.02
Most definitely, someone "ordinary" - or rather, "random". Nobody's truly "ordinary" after all, unless you are an insufferable ponce.

There's a random Blogger tool as well as a random LJ tool. I can't remember the exact URL, but it's on my site. I think this whole thing is a good idea - just for a week, everyone look at someone's blog, analyse everything - but we can't be biased towards host, after all.
 
 
Mazarine
01:38 / 10.09.02
Okay, second option: we could ask someone. Though I do like the public figure/celebrity blogger idea, we could always find a non-celebrity and ask hir permission to study hir blog. Less stalkery, less orwellian. Thoughts?
 
 
LDones
02:22 / 10.09.02
I love this. I think some kind of 'permission granted' is a good idea, although the humor inherent in secretly and anonymously deconstructing some poor blogger's personal narrative construct is attractive.

Permission makes things less threatening, more honest, though the only real harm that might come about by not asking is if they independently discover they've been thoroughly poked and prodded without their knowledge and get dreadfully self-conscious thereafter. Unless it's a celebrity or Wil Wheaton, then we should just Get Our Deconstruct On, permission be damned, though I don't see why both celebrities and The Ordinary can't be looked at over time.

But it's an exmperiment - Anything Goes, I say, and either way I'm in. It seems like Step One is now to determine the method of selection, and then zero in an a victim- er, subject.

My vote's with Mr. Wesley Crusher. Someone (relatively) large and accessible with a rich library of potential pathos to mine.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
02:24 / 10.09.02
Couldn't we find a blogger from Texas and haunt them... I'm intrigued by the Texan mind.
 
 
_pin
11:45 / 10.09.02
I suggest we all stalk Brooke.
 
 
gridley
12:09 / 10.09.02
I think we should all stalk this girl...
 
 
Mazarine
15:48 / 10.09.02
We should probably actually stop using the word stalk. Just in case.
 
 
LDones
16:53 / 10.09.02
There's something deeply sad in the Jan. 24th first post and 'Goodbye' scenario in that Brooke girl's blog. I shall go and have a good cry now.
 
 
Mazarine
19:26 / 10.09.02
To start with, we should probably vote: celebrity/public figure or every(wo)man. Then we can decide who in specific.
 
 
Hieronymus
22:42 / 10.09.02
I'm all for the every person. Though Blogger once kept Ru Paul's blog on file and it walked a high-wire between "who do I know" claptrap and interesting introspection.

As for the privacy issue, look most blogs/livejournals/e-diaries have an option to lock-down their writings as private, some even password allowable. Those that don't are always exhibited in various index pages for the joints they write from. So it cannot be said that the writer doesn't know their writings are publicly aired.
 
 
Monkeyzilla Vs Tokyo
23:07 / 10.09.02
www.moby.com
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
07:46 / 11.09.02
it cannot be said that the writer doesn't know their writings are publicly aired.

True, but there's a difference between having people read yr stuff and having it discussed at length by a bunch of total strangers.
 
 
grant
18:11 / 11.09.02
I kind of expect total strangers to be discussing anything on any blog.
 
 
LDones
19:01 / 11.09.02
My money's in for Everyperson. Against my previous statements, because kaos is kool.
 
 
Rage
02:29 / 12.09.02
Wiley Wiggins
 
 
Mazarine
16:06 / 12.09.02
Well, the current tally near as I can tell has every person in over celebrity by, enh, we'll call it a few. Anyone else wanna throw down a vote before we pick the hapless focus of our affection, ire, and oh-so-peculiar attention?
 
 
Mazarine
15:07 / 16.09.02
Well, the link to Brooke's blog leads to a 404, so right now, tis Mintyzilla vs Wiley Wiggins, I figure we should vote then ask the 'winner' if we can study hir. So, Minty or Wiley or write in, unless everyone's lost interest.
 
 
rizla mission
15:15 / 16.09.02
Hmm.. would stalking an individual created by a branch of our own group be weird, interesting and brain-buggering, or just pointless in the extreme?
 
 
Mazarine
15:40 / 16.09.02
Rizla- is one of the links listed someone created by our group? Sorry, could you just clarify your question a bit for me?
 
 
grant
20:10 / 16.09.02
What Rizla means.
 
 
Mazarine
20:34 / 16.09.02
-takes of glasses and rubs the bridge of her nose- Serves me right for never reading the Creation. Any thoughts or shall we just let this project die?
 
 
grant
20:42 / 16.09.02
Wiley?
 
 
gridley
18:19 / 18.09.02
He's hawking Telsa Tote Bags on his site. Clearly, this is the man we must cyber-commentate upon.

So, the question is, do we just comment about him here? Or are we going to post our observations in his comments sections? Personally, I think he'd get a kick out of it if all of a sudden he started getting 9 or 10 comments to every entry.
 
 
Rage
10:23 / 20.09.02
I think he'd love it here. He was the main character in Waking Life. He also played the little freshman brother in Dazed and Confused.
 
 
rizla mission
14:23 / 20.09.02
ohmygod, so he is actually that Wiley Wiggins, rather than just some loser with the same name? Surely he doesn't need our attension what with his international slacker mega-stardom..
 
 
grant
14:13 / 23.09.02
Y'know, Livejournal has a "find random blog" function....
 
  
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