I recently came across a written piece about a bullying situation online from a somewhat famous blogger. Her reputation is that of a funny and pretty accurate source on most current events and other pop culture stuff.
So, you can imagine that I would be less than thrilled to see her most current reads with no known source or link attached to it.
I’m sure if you follow a few bloggers online, you can figure out who it is. And make all the comments you want about me being a jealous little bitch with an eighth of her readers but I FUCKING CHECK MY SOURCES. I link to my stories. I will check and double check news reports and I will promptly and happily send you the link if it’s not already embed in my post. But trust me, that fucker’s embed.
I’m a writer. I may not be the best at speaking eloquently or using 5 star words to get my point across but I’m a writer who does their readers a favor. I make it a priority to get the correct information to you. I do it out of respect. I do it so you may share my posts to others. I do it because it’s the right thing to do.
Don’t make other bloggers, especially “mommy” bloggers, continue to have this shitty reputation of not being real writers. Of not checking their shit before hitting publish. To some of us, this is our job, our livelihood and our passion. We take it seriously. We want a reputation of being funny and poignant and newsworthy. We love it.
Stop shitting on my “little hobby” that puts food on my kid’s plates. I’m proud to be a blogger.
Four words: Check Your Sources. Bitch.
12 Comments
I know the blogger too. Did you message her and ask her the situation? Because I did. She knows the people involved. It isn’t a news story. Yet. She’s protecting the anonymity of the people involved. She’s not CNN. She is a blogger who vents her opinion. This was a story she heard she vented her opinion on. It doesn’t mean her sources aren’t accurate just because she chose not to site them.
Did I say I was fucking CNN? Did I say I was reporting a news story? Nope. I sure didn’t. I’m not a news outlet. I’m a blogger who writes about whatever is on my mind. I write about anything that pisses me off and right now you’re on my fucking list.
I think it raises an interesting question about the role and the responsibility of the blogger today. No, bloggers are not journalists but they are often called upon to express their opinions on products, services and issues by companies. Or just rant on every day life. Whatever your role, you have readers and you have power.
As a publicist, I would want to ensure that the bloggers I reach out to on behalf of my clients would provide an accurate and fair opinion of the company and the product or service I requested that they review. As a regular reader of several blogs on parenting, I respect honesty and realness in a writer. I’m not 100% aware of what went down with this particular situation but would love to have a conversation about the evolving role of the bloggers and his/her responsibility to readers to provide sources for their writing.
Whoa. This is pretty out of line (your post, not the original one you’re commenting on).
Agreed, 100%. I won’t be reading this blog anymore.
Ho hum. This is actually kind of boring. One person writes a fluff piece that may or may not be true, but the crazies sure came out to say hey let’s shame the kids of those probably just over adolescent moms and we all want to know if it’s true or not. Who cares. I say lets pick on those bitches who are so eager to take things out on the kids and LOVE to throw out that stupid bullying word.
I think someone who is criticizing another blogger should probably hold themselves to a higher standard … like attempting to request an interview, comment or feedback from the person you’re writing about.
Of course “checking sources” might involve actually contacting a source …
This is no more than a drive-by masquerading as valid commentary.
This is the strangest thing I’ve ever read. Why the FUCK do you give a shit about this? A news outlet not checking their sources before publishing is one thing. This is not that thing. What if the blogger was cut off in traffic and posted about it? What source should she link to in order to satisfy your strange obsession? How can she PROVE that she’s being accurate in her rant about that asshole driver? You need to get a life.
The only thing giving “mommy” bloggers a bad reputation is “mommy” bloggers picking fights with other “mommy” bloggers. If you want to write a post about the importance of citing sources, then do so in a respectable, professional manner. You lose all credibility when you end a post calling someone you don’t even know a bitch.
Hmm. This one has me pondering. I don’t cite sources, unless I am writing a fact based article with links and such. On my personal blog I am a storyteller, and when I write, I tell stories. Hopefully my stories end in some sort of learning or objective, but during the process of writing them I just might exaggerate some details to make a point (yes, that means I might LIE!)
In the process of storytelling, ideas have to be formed and amended to lead to a conclusion. Some more than others.
I think we should always support writers to write. We can take it or leave it (or start wars over it as so often happens). I don’t agree with anyone taking on another person via the internet . . but I guess it does get clicks and possibly some people are on this forum to argue their point.
So, in the end . . . writing is what we are supposed to do here. Some of us write stories (or even historical fiction from the weekends activities) others write fact based articles. However we communicate our feelings, is our choice. Support, build up and create awesome stuff. That is all.
I’m sorry, but I don’t agree at all. Bloggers tell personal stories all the time. Just because the story hadn’t been reported by a news outlet first and there was no existing story to link to doesn’t mean that the point is any less valid. If my daughter is the victim of mean girls at school am I supposed to wait around for the news to write about it before I address it on my own blog? That’s just stupid. If a blogger is talking about something that she witnessed in her own life or the life of those close to her then she has every right to address it without having her integrity questioned.
Also, if you are going to rant about people not citing sources and get on a high horse about ALWAYS having your sources embedded, then you should at least link to the original piece so that people can form their own opinions.