Real posts coming soon, I promise – life is rather getting in the way at the moment!

If you call yourself a writer, you can read all you want and people think you are working.

 -Katherine Paterson

Something that always seems to come up in the Blogosphere, often from disgruntled commenters, “trolls” and the like, is this notion that bloggers can’t call themselves writers unless [...]]]> Photo Credit

If you call yourself a writer, you can read all you want and people think you are working.

 -Katherine Paterson

Something that always seems to come up in the Blogosphere, often from disgruntled commenters, “trolls” and the like, is this notion that bloggers can’t call themselves writers unless they have had something published / write with a certain level of sophistication that seems to be determined by the preferences of the person leaving the comment. This is something that never fails to irritate me.

In my opinion, if you love to write, and do so on a regular basis, then you are a writer. If you love to take photographs and actively seek out new things to photograph, then you are a photographer. In just the same way that someone who spends their spare time scrapbooking can be called a “scrapbooker”, or someone whose favourite activity on a Saturday night involves spending a portion of their wages at their local casino is a gambler, why should those who write, take photos and create art be scorned for declaring that these pass-times are a huge part of who they are?

It seems that certain pass-times, certain creative exploits have come to be defined by the money you can make from them, rather than the pursual of the craft itself. In the world of blogging this is predominantly represented by writing and photography, although I’m sure there are probably other hobbies and / or pass-times for which this occurs. I think that if what you do is a big enough part of who you are that you want to label yourself by it, that should be enough. If writing is one of the most important things in your life, you are a writer, whether you have five bestsellers under your belt or you come home from your day job and scribble well into the night without ever being published. You don’t have to have a shiny portfolio and regular commissions to be a photographer or an artist, just a passion for the art form in question.

Just because you don’t get paid for it doesn’t mean it isn’t a big part of your life.

Many bloggers dream of being professional writers, but being an amateur doesn’t necessarily make you any less of a writer, it just means you’re not getting paid for it yet.

What’s your passion? Are you lucky and talented enough to call yourself a professional? Are you an amateur who’s been criticised for calling yourself a writer / artist etc. when it’s not your profession?

I’d like to open this by saying that if you’re totally sick of hearing about this by now, I’m sorry, and the rest of this article is under a cut so you can ignore it! Back in November, I received a number of search engine hits in reference to Lime [...]]]> Photo Credit

I’d like to open this by saying that if you’re totally sick of hearing about this by now, I’m sorry, and the rest of this article is under a cut so you can ignore it! Back in November, I received a number of search engine hits in reference to Lime Crime Makeup and the associated drama caused by alleged mineral eyeshadow repackaging and the company’s business ethics in general. I wrote a very brief post on the subject directing readers to the various articles wherein the majority of the discussion was taking place, and since then it has become one of the most viewed posts in my archive.

Back then I felt uneasy posting anything on the subject, as I had no personal interaction with Xenia (the owner of Lime Crime) or her company, but I will admit to a slightly unhealthy fascination with Internet drama, so I have from time to time gone back and read the original thread where much of the discussion started, but I have refrained from posting any kind of personal opinion up until now.

The truth is that I enjoy Xenia’s blog, Doe Deere Blogazine and have been reading it for over a year now. I’ve posted comments, praised some of her outfits and no doubt at some point remarked on the cuteness of her cat. Despite having a bit of a history of getting involved in Internet drama in the past however (lets not go there right now!) I have thus far *tried* not to take either side in this matter, at least not on this blog. The nature of Internet drama tends to make ascertaining the realities of either side quite difficult, and whilst there is a lot of evidence to suggest their eyeshadows were indeed repackaged wholesale micas (the original source of the drama), Lime Crime was not the first company to do this and nor will it be the last, and with no physical evidence in front of me, only others’ reviews and swatches (though I’m not doubting the authority of these, merely stating that I am unable to give my own opinion based on the products themselves) I decided not to play any part in this one. Besides, the lipsticks are undeniably an original product, so perhaps the company is veering away from the easy, repackaging option.

The reason I have decided to post today however, is something I read whilst checking my email this afternoon. As I said, I rather enjoy reading Xenia’s blog, so when the lipstick line was introduced and she set up a “street team” with regular email updates, I signed up. I even had a badge on this site for a while, though I removed it as a precaution when the drama kicked off, not wishing to be associated with anything that was later confirmed to be shady. It was to my great dismay then, when I read the latest update from “Team Candyfuture” that I read what I can only see as an invitation to spam a blogger’s personal email address with gushing Lime Crime reviews.

Finally, we wanted to discuss a less-than-favorable review we received on Temptala.com. The review gave our Candyfuture opaque lipsticks a C- rating… We don’t agree! Do you? Here is the link so you can see for yourself: http://www.temptalia.com/lime-crime-lipsticks-reviews-photos-swatches

We would like to encourage all of our futurettes who have had good experiences with our company and products to make yourselves heard. Please don’t keep your happy opinions to yourself! Feel free to email Christine (Temptalia) at [address removed for privacy reasons] and share your positive Lime Crime experiences with her, let her know you disgree with her review, or leave a comment on the article letting everyone know your personal view on our products and company. Please be honest, respectful, and polite!

Despite asking the “Futurettes” to be “honest, respectful and polite”, this sounds like a request for her fans to bombard Christine with what amounts to junk mail, since it’s unlikely to get her to change her mind and however “honest, respectful and polite” these fans choose to be, it reads like Christine’s time is being wasted as a “punishment” for writing an honestly less-than-favourable review of products that were sent to her by Xenia, presumably in the hope of a review on the site. There is absolutely no need to email her with opinions, Temptalia allows comments on all posts, and in addition there is a contact form on the website. If people have had favourable experiences with Lime Crime and want to share them, there are ways to do this that do not require making Christine’s personal email public.

If it were any other blogger or company I would likely have passed this off as an innocent mistake, a bad judgement call that is easily forgivable once in a while. With all the other evidence stacked up against Lime Crime however, it really doesn’t look good, and I think after sitting on the fence for a long time, I now feel justified in saying that I would not buy from Lime Crime unless I started to see evidence that they were learning from all the mistakes they’ve been called up on recently. I’m sure many small business owners make numerous silly errors in judgement, badly-timed, badly-worded comments and many, many more start off buying wholesale goods and repackaging them, but Lime Crime seem unable to address questions about these problems face-on.

From what I’ve read, Xenia appears to have been given numerous opportunities to answer questions and either come clean about mistakes she and / or her company has made, or to set the record straight, but there are many people claiming to have asked these questions and either received no answer, or a very vague reply telling them not to listen to the “haters”. I’m not trying to turn anyone against Lime Crime, in fact, if anyone can speak for them and explain how these so-called “haters” have things wrong, I’d love to hear it. I want this brand to be ethical, I want Xenia to be the trustworthy “gleeful” “unicorn queen” she presents herself as, but right now as I see it, the evidence speaks to the contrary and nobody from the “Candyfuture” camp seems to be in a hurry to address the problems.

I wrote this because more than half my hits from search engines at the moment come from “Lime Crime Drama” or similar phrases, and the number keeps increasing so I felt I should, finally, share my point of view. I’d love to hear about your personal experiences with Lime Crime / Xenia / Doe Deere, the products, the drama, or anything else you have to say about it all and I’m still holding out hope that Xenia or some other representative of Lime Crime will address these problems straight-up and tell us what’s really going on and what they intend to do to re-gain the trust of consumers.

Throughout my life I’ve had something of an odd relationship with Lent. Brought up a Catholic, giving something up for the 40 days before Easter was something encouraged, but my parents’ weren’t the types to force it on me, believing that it was something I had to do for myself [...]]]> Photo Credit

Throughout my life I’ve had something of an odd relationship with Lent. Brought up a Catholic, giving something up for the 40 days before Easter was something encouraged, but my parents’ weren’t the types to force it on me, believing that it was something I had to do for myself in order to get any kind of spiritual benefit from it. Thus, whilst I often marked the season by giving something up, it was usually for relatively non-religious reasons such as weight-loss or saving money for charity.

Religion is no longer a big part of my life, and when asked if I believe, my very genuine answer is always “I have no idea”. I certainly don’t hold Catholic ideas such as no contraception and that being gay is wrong, and I’m definitely not a creationist under any circumstances, but I reckon if there did turn out to be an intelligent being of some sort behind the Big Bang, evolution etc. I wouldn’t be too shocked. Perhaps it’s that Catholic guilt everyone speaks of, each year I do feel somewhat compelled, still, to give something up.

I’ve decided therefore, to observe Lent in the same way as I do New Years. Just like making a new start on January 1st, Lent is a good time to deprive ourselves of something that’s bad for us, something that we spend too much money on, or simply to do something good for the world. These things can of course be done at any time of year, for any length of time, however a particular block of days when lots of other people are doing a similar thing lends a certain sense of community and mutual support to the proceedings. Just as everyone setting goals at New Years encourages me to think about what I want to achieve in the year, I think giving something up for Lent will encourage me to stick to it more, as I’ll know there are many others in the same boat as me. Plus, there’s a definite finishing date and the prospect of Easter eggs at the end of it!

I can’t think of one single thing I need to give up however, as I have far too many vices! To that end, I have decided that for the next 40 days I shall cut down dramatically on food and drink that’s bad for me. I can’t say I’ll be able to give it up completely, as for a start we take turns doing the shopping and cooking in our house, so for two weeks out of every three the evening meal is out of my control, but I’ll do my best to swap chocolate and junk food for healthier alternatives, etc.

This is something I’ve been saying I’ll do for a long time, but I think I have more chance of succeeding knowing that it’s for a set period of time and that I’m not the only person being deprived of something I enjoy!

How about you? Do you observe Lent? Are you religious or are you a non-religious person who gives something up anyway?

Also, I hope you had a fabulous Pancake Day! x

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It’s times like these I really start to wonder what the rest of the world must think of the UK! Despite having nowhere near as much snow as other countries get on a regular basis at this time of year, and despite the total inevitability of the odd [...]]]>

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It’s times like these I really start to wonder what the rest of the world must think of the UK! Despite having nowhere near as much snow as other countries get on a regular basis at this time of year, and despite the total inevitability of the odd snowy winter once in a while, when it happens we always go crazy and treat it like the coming of the apocalypse! Having said that however, I really could do without the ice that’s everywhere! The snow I don’t mind, it’s pretty and snowball fights are great fun, but when it’s compacted down into sheet ice on the pavements it’s not so great.

Still, if everyone else is walking like a penguin too, I don’t feel quite so silly!

Days like these are a great excuse for hot chocolate, wholesome, stodgier than you usually allow yourself meals, evenings in watching movies instead of going out, keeping the curtains closed to help keep the warmth in, wearing a blanket like a cape, stompy boots, scarves worn indoors and putting things off because “it might start to thaw tomorrow”.

If you’re currently in the UK, how are you coping with the snow? People who get it worse than us, how do you manage?

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Totally uninspiring title I know, but I couldn’t really think of anything better! I wrote a lengthy draft post containing my personal observations and impressions of the Fat Acceptance movement that seems to be growing in popularity at the moment, however I decided to scrap that because of [...]]]>

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Totally uninspiring title I know, but I couldn’t really think of anything better! I wrote a lengthy draft post containing my personal observations and impressions of the Fat Acceptance movement that seems to be growing in popularity at the moment, however I decided to scrap that because of an email from someone I’ve never met – heck, barely even interacted with Online, regarding a comment I made on a forum about my desire to lose some weight. This is actually the fourth post I’ve attempted to write on the topic, but the other two were deleted because they were turning into rants I’m not really informed enough to make! Before I go on, I want to make it clear that I am not judging the entire Fat Acceptance movement based on one comment, I know this person is something of an anomaly.

The email read I hate it when I see women giving in to the media pressure to be thin, why can’t you all accept and love your bodies the way they are instead of trying to get to size zero all the time? Now, for a start, I have no intention of getting to size zero (for a start, I don’t think my hips could ever fit into a size zero garment, even if I had no body fat whatsoever!) but right now, I’m heavier than I’d like to be, and I don’t like the way it looks or feels. It also has a big impact on my breathing, which is reduced anyway, so I could do with shifting around 15lbs for health reasons.

Now, I’m all for being happy the way you are, but there are a few common judgements that are made against people because of their size. I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of one or two of these, but wouldn’t women in particular be so much happier if:

• Average, naturally thin, fat, eating-disordered, disabled, we’re all Real Women.
• People didn’t assume tat:
  • Fat people eat too much and are lazy – medical conditions, certain medications, etc. can all be a cause too.
  • Thin people don’t eat – I once lived with a girl who would buy a packet of blue cheese and eat it on its own with a fork in one sitting. She always had ice cream in the freezer and her favourite meals were huge bowls of chili and pasta dishes. She was also as thin as a catwalk model and believe me, I know she didn’t “purge” any of it, the walls in that house were far too thin.
  • People only want to lose weight because magazines tell them to.
• People didn’t feel the need to judge based on weight or comment on it at all! Lets face it, insulting someone for being fat when is the same as insulting them for having a facial birthmark or a visible disability – it’s judging based on appearances that potentially the person in question has no control over.
• Well-meant advice to “just do a bit more exercise” or advice to eat more or less food should be left to professionals, family and close friends – those who know the cause of the “problem” they’re trying to “cure”.

Simply put, people shouldn’t have to feel like they must hide their shape in fear of the judgement of others. Sure, someones belly fat could be due to laziness, someone else’s protruding hip-bones could be due to obsessive under-eating, but unless you know the person concerned, you have no idea if that really is the reason, even if it seems the most likely conclusion that can be drawn. For every genuinely mean-spirited person out there, there are probably several others who would laugh or make a cruel quip about someones size, but would feel terrible if they later found out that the person in question couldn’t do anything about it because it was a side-effect of medication they were on, or a lymphatic problem etc.

Fat acceptance is great, and I read some really wonderful, inspiring blogs dedicated to just that, but I think until people stop judging others by their size and making assumptions about their lifestyle based entirely on physical appearance, it’s going to be hard for many people to accept their own bodies. This has probably already been said by many bloggers, writers etc. and indeed I hope it has – it’s something I think everyone needs to think about. I think kids, as well as being taught that not eating right will make them become fat, unhealthy, etc. should be taught that this is not the case for all overweight people. Finally, I hope the picture I chose for this post doesn’t offend anyone – I chose it because I think it represents well what society thinks fat people are like, but it’s a Barbie doll, as plastic and fake as you can get!

What are your views? Have you already written about this? (I’d love to read other peoples’ thoughts on the subject). Have you ever been the victim of a judgement based on your size or been criticised for wanting to change your body shape?

I have noticed quite a few searches for phrases relating to the Lime Crime drama that’s currently erupting throughout the blogosphere. I don’t really feel qualified to comment since this from what I’ve read (and I must admit, I do enjoy a bit of good old Internet drama from time [...]]]> Photo Credit

I have noticed quite a few searches for phrases relating to the Lime Crime drama that’s currently erupting throughout the blogosphere. I don’t really feel qualified to comment since this from what I’ve read (and I must admit, I do enjoy a bit of good old Internet drama from time to time, so I’ve been following it with interest), the issues surrounding Xenia and the Lime Crime brand go back much further in time than I have known of either. I therefore, present you with two links:

“So wanky it’s illegal“ is a post in a community that’s quite critical of those getting involved in the drama, but never the less, the post contains a lot of links and comments for people wanting to find out more.

Gothique’s post “Where to Start“ is an excellent primer for those of us who have realised that actually, it could be quite fun to formulate our own mineral eye-shadows instead of buying them. I know I want to give it a go, I’ll probably be ordering samples after pay day!

Oh, and I’m afraid I have no idea why Gala Darling deleted her Lime Crime eyeshadow review, you’ll have to ask her!

EDIT: Xenia has responded in part to these accusations in this interview with Afro Bella.

Do you believe in the spirit world?

This post was inspired by a conversation with a work colleague concerning the new series of Most Haunted which is on TV at the moment. This series they’re doing different “scientific” experiments to try and prove the existence of spirits “haunting” [...]]]> Photo Credit

Do you believe in the spirit world?

This post was inspired by a conversation with a work colleague concerning the new series of Most Haunted which is on TV at the moment. This series they’re doing different “scientific” experiments to try and prove the existence of spirits “haunting” or otherwise occupying some of the purportedly most haunted sites in Britain. I, personally, don’t watch the show, as I saw a few episodes several years ago and found it a little farcical, though I’ve been informed that it has improved dramatically since then.

Now, having been brought up Catholic, with a brief dalliance into obsession with the paranormal (brought on by my addiction to the X-Files as a very impressionable teenager), I’ve been exposed to many different points of view throughout my upbringing, yet I’ve never been able to fully reconcile myself to making a decision as to whether or not I believe that spirits could walk amongst us.

One thing I am sure of is that many “ghostly encounters” etc. are complete fakes, and others can be explained away by science. I still find myself gleefully digesting any information I come across on the subject however, and I think a part of me really wants there to be some truth in it. Indeed, I do hope that it’s not just a construct born from human beings’ fear of there being nothing after death, though maybe that’s my own fears talking! For now, I’m willing to entertain the notion that those circumstances that cannot be explained by conventional science may have a more spiritual explanation.

What do you think? Have you ever had an experience you can’t explain? Are you a believer or a skeptic?

There’s a chip on my shoulder, And it’s big as a boulder. With the chance I’ve been given, I’m gonna be driven as hell.

(“Chip on My Shoulder” from Legally Blonde: The Musical)

I’m a law student who loves chick flicks and musicals, so naturally I’m super-excited that Legally Blonde: The Musical [...]]]> Photo Credit

There’s a chip on my shoulder,
And it’s big as a boulder.
With the chance I’ve been given,
I’m gonna be driven as hell.

(“Chip on My Shoulder” from Legally Blonde: The Musical)

I’m a law student who loves chick flicks and musicals, so naturally I’m super-excited that Legally Blonde: The Musical opens in London this December. Though as yet, I haven’t found anyone to go with (my other hates chick flicks and isn’t really into musicals) I’ve been watching lots of YouTube videos and even if I have to go alone, I’m determined to see it!

One big difference between the film and the musical is the character of Emmett, in the musical he is given a background story of growing up in poverty and having to finance his way through Law school by working two jobs as well as studying. The chip on his shoulder he has about his background and the fact that he has to work twice as hard as his classmates is what motivates him to achieve. He wants to earn enough to buy his mother a big house, to break the cycle of poverty by using the chance he has to elevate himself. Although Elle’s initial reaction is to exclaim “I’m sorry, but that sounds highly negative”, Emmett encourages her to find the chip on her shoulder and this gives her the determination she needs to succeed.

I’ve spoken briefly about the chip on my shoulder in my article for Little Flutters regarding my fears that relatives expected me to make very little of my life, and the determination to be independent that ignited in me from those indications. Whilst at some stages of my life this has had a slightly negative impact – I’ve avoided getting into relationships in the past for fear of becoming “needy” when part of a couple, for example, which can hardly be healthy – I think without that chip on my shoulder I wouldn’t be writing this. At several points in my academic and working career it would have been so much easier to just give up and move back in with my family, but if I’d done that I wouldn’t have become interested in writing my own blog (which stemmed from my dissertation on blog ranking sites), wouldn’t have met so many great people and, although life wouldn’t be such a financial struggle, I think my self-esteem would be far lower if I had to rely on my family for support still. Many people I know or have known in my time have been in similar situations, where the chip on their shoulder has given them the push they needed:

* The ex-housemate with to all intents and purposes the classic “evil stepmother” character in her father’s partner, who told her she would never make it at uni. She worked super-hard in response, graduated last year, has a great job and is highly successful.

* The guy who turned his failing degree around in a year due to a scary vision of the future painted for him by a friend’s calculations on how much money he would have wasted if he failed, and how much easier it would be to enter his dream career path if he had a degree.

With all the talk of positivity at the moment, sometimes I think we can forget the advantages that negative experiences can eventually afford us. Sometimes it takes a negative influence to really drive us to prove ourselves, to show our naysayers and the world in general that we can do great things.

What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, as someone once said.

Do you have a chip on your shoulder that keeps you moving forward towards your goals?

Have you ever taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test? For those of you that don’t know of it (and can’t be bothered to click through to the Wiki entry) it’s basically a long version of those personality tests you see all over facebook, only this one was developed with a [...]]]> Photo Credit

Have you ever taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test? For those of you that don’t know of it (and can’t be bothered to click through to the Wiki entry) it’s basically a long version of those personality tests you see all over facebook, only this one was developed with a real scientific basis, from published typological theories. To cut a long story short, after a series of questions it defines your personality type (and the definitions are quite long and in places very specific), and the majority of people I know who’ve taken it say it’s pretty accurate.

The test assigns people one of only 16 personality types.

According to Government statistics the population of the UK in mid-2007 was 60,975,000. This means that if you took the Myers-Briggs test that year, and assuming that people are evenly distributed amongst the 16 personality types (which I doubt they are but for the purposes of illustrating my point this doesn’t matter too much), there would be 3,810,937 and a half people with the same personality type as you.

My point? (Though I think to most of you it’s probably quite obvious where this is going!)

Recently I’ve been seeing an increase in the number of female bloggers being accused of copying others, of having a “blogging persona” based on their favourite blogger, and generally of being fake, trying to make themselves into clones of another, usually more popular / successful blogger. After the amazing debate in the entry regarding the Cut Out + Keep article which has opened my eyes to quite a few things, I’d really like to open a dialogue on something I think quite a few of us have probably either experienced or witnessed – being accused of copying Gala Darling. It happened to me on Monday (my first nasty anonymous comment – I’m really quite proud, it’s something of a blogging milestone!) and I’d be really interested to hear the thoughts of those who’ve been accused themselves, thought others may be less than genuine and trying to be more “Gala-like”, or simply have something to say on the subject!

To illustrate this, I’ve been combing through my Google reader and have found several interesting blog posts on the subject.

Back in January, Fi posted:

I’m sick and tired of seeing so many female bloggers tagging after Gala Darling. Are you all so nostalgic about high school that you feel you must do or believe everything and anything the coolest girl in school says or does? To quote Mean Girls:

“I saw Cady Heron wearing army pants and flip flops, so I bought army pants and flip flops”

Be your own blogger. You don’t have to go out and buy a hula hoop just because Gala did. You don’t even have to freak out about Mercury Retrograde. If you only noticed the effects after her post, you’re probably just looking for them. Placebo effect, kinda. Yes, Gala is talented, but she’s hardly groundbreaking.

This is a rather strong opinion and in the context of a post entitled “Things on My Mind”. I don’t think Fi is the type to go around leaving anonymous comments and I hope she isn’t offended that I quoted her in this context – I think she shared her feelings on the subject in the best way possible, by venting her frustrations in a way that could spark debate, without accusing individuals.

On the flip-side, Kim of Cupcakes and Mace wrote this recent post (interestingly enough also name-checking Mean Girls). She doesn’t name-check Gala, instead she writes about female bloggers in general, stating:

Everyone thinks their work is original, that their statement style or colour is theirs alone. In reality no one has an original idea, there are 6.7 billion people in this world and chances are someone liked pink before you.

Kim’s post is really insightful, I’d really recommend it to anyone who’s ever been upset by a negative blog comment.

My own opinion? I’m leaning towards Kim. Although I don’t believe that people can be categorised quite as easily as the Myers-Briggs test would have us believe (though as a guide it’s really quite fascinating), there are only so many things people can be interested in, and only so may topics to write about. I’m sure there are probably people who do copy Gala, she has thousands of fans so some of them will be the type to take on the personalities of their idols, etc. All I know however, is that whenever I’ve seen a blogger being accused of copying Gala, I’ve been surprised as I would never have considered them anything less than genuine.

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Here’s a few things of which I am sure:

• I read blogs that are relevant to my interests. I read iCiNG, a personality-based blog, therefore it stands to reason that I share some interests with Gala. If I didn’t I would find her blog immensely dull and I’d have deleted it from my Google reader long ago. No amount of great writing can make up for content that I just don’t find interesting.
• In my “real life” I have groups of friends who are all linked by common interests. This doesn’t apply to all of them, but it does to quite a few – be it music, geeky persuits, the fact that we all like a particular pub better than the others, there’s a common thread. Surely the same goes for online relationships? It’s hard for people to relate if they have nothing in common to relate to.
• As commentor Savannah F on the Cut Out + Keep article stated:

We learn from other people, we take what we can get and toss what doesn’t work for us. Because I learned from my mother or my therapist doesn’t mean that I do not have any personality.

• So, too, have girls quite probably found iCiNG and been inspired. They may have learned about themselves through reading it, developed their own personalities further and wanted to write about it too. That doesn’t make them copycats, it means they’ve been genuinely inspired and influenced by someone else.

There are a lot of bloggers who are into the pink, glittery, cupcake-fuelled ideal, and there is something of a community built around it, but just because they have similar interests doesn’t mean they copy each-other or anyone else, a strong community is far more likely to be based upon a genuine shared interest or three. I think Poppy Gallico said it right in her post about “big-girl bloggers” and the follow-up.

If every second post in a blog is a list post, I just wouldn’t subscribe to it.  I wouldn’t leave angry comments telling the blog owner that they’re doing it wrong, because a lot of people really like those sorts of things.

You can never tell for sure if someone is genuine on the Internet it’s true, but this doesn’t mean that everyone with similar interests to someone more “popular” should instantly be branded a fraud. Millions of people blog every day, it’s no longer a minority activity where just the fact that someone blogged at all brought them all together in a special Online clique. It’s only natural now that there are so many active blogs that bloggers with similar interests will connect with each-other and read the same blogs – especially the bigger ones.

All we can do is give each-other the benefit of the doubt until we meet in real life. Until then, all we have is blog posts, tweets and sometimes IM conversations to go on, and I think until we can make a real life judgement on someone we should just enjoy their posts (or stop reading if we don’t).

I tried to keep that as balanced and rant-free as I could, I hope it’s not too repetative, it certainly seems to be an exercise in how many times I can fit the word blog into a paragraph in places! If you got to the end without your eyeballs falling out I’d be fascinated to know your opinions!