Last night I finished writing a blog entry at the Albert Lea Tribune about McCain and Obama. I emphasized the importance of replacing personal attacks with policy insights. One really fun thing about writing a blog at the Tribune is that the comments people leave are so colorful.
I would say that about 50% or more of the comments people leave are insults. Not a lot of thought goes into them and folks don’t use their real name in order to remain anonymous. I just finished responding to a comment and attempted to take it at face value even though the tone of this person’s writing made them sound as though they were angry.
Even if a person leaves an angry comment or tries to rifle off a string of insults, I’m usually happy to know that they’ve read what I written. What I often find rather funny and sometimes frustrating is that I am simply a blogger at the Tribune, and am in no way part of the Tribune’s reporting staff. I’m not paid, just a member of the public who has a blog. Some people assume that because I have a blog, I’m a Tribune writer and, therefore, when I share my opinion, I am contributing to the Tribune’s liberal bias. It’s hard for people to understand that the blogosphere is all about sharing one’s opinions with the world. Occasionally bloggers do reporting, but most of their writing is done with a known and acknowledged bias.