About a year ago I wrote a blog in support of Dual Pricing in Bangkok; a policy which sees locals and tourists pay different prices for one off tourist attractions. I argued from the side of domestic tourism and the obvious gap in disposable income. I think I made fair points, maybe in a slightly provocative way, but little mattered anyway. The blogging community in Bangkok had already made up their minds and I wasn’t going to get away with it. It was like being picked on in primary school only this time it was the nerds doing the bullying. Name calling, twisting words and just being darn, right mean. I have a fair idea who many were, prominent expat bloggers in Bangkok and Thailand and bloggers who I now find very hard to find respect for. This was at a time when my blog was 2 months old, with so called ‘pitiful readership’. I took the blog post down and never looked back. However there was always one niggly comment which stuck with me “we will not take you seriously from this point on” We? Who are they? Why won’t they listen to me… Maybe I should have backed down, bowed to them and avoided the blacklist from the Gods of Bangkok blogs. But then again I’m not a chump. Anyway Bangkok was never my main interest for blogging it just happens to be where I live; a city I truly love. I have been visiting Bangkok 10+ years, I have lived here 4 years, I own property here and my wife is Bangkokian; yet I am not qualified to write on Bangkok because I disagreed with top tier bloggers. Am I still not taken seriously? I have no idea. Maybe. Does it matter? I don’t mingle or interact with expats in Bangkok let alone bloggers or micro-bloggers. On the plus leg humping was not necessary to gain recognition because Google liked me. I now rank number 1 for keywords ‘Living in Bangkok’ and have gained recognition from those who matter. All achieved through blogging alone, no networking, no meet ups, no tweet ups, no kissing ass.
The Pretension at the Top
My rant comes after a comment on a friend’s travel blog. While I don’t call myself a travel blogger it is part of my lifestyle (as is Living in Bangkok) and it is something I dabble in. So in the post my friend shares his experiences during his first year blogging; only to be called ‘shit’ and told to “Put your big boy pants on. Learn to help the blogger community, continue helping your blogs community”. Holy good God! The blogging what? Who are these people?? Turns out we have to pay homage to the more experienced before we have the right to write. But I became an independent blogger to not deal with dicks on a daily basis yet lo and behold…. it’s our obligation, apparently. Admittedly my experience with bloggers in Bangkok was more like trolling; I got the bite of bitter expats. The comments on my friends blog were on whole new level of deluded. I’m now forced to hold off my post on a ‘Shadow Puppet Show in Xian’ to consult with my nearest blogging community and will no doubt have to read the blogger handbook of etiquette. What if there’s an initiation… either way my dues need to be payed. In fairness I have come across Blogger Communities before; general networking on Twitter, Facebook with a lot of kissing ass, back scratching, building profiles and just being uninteresting in general. Blogging tends to take a backseat for them. I refrained from joining the cliques as it would only have been with snide comments. So for now I will be wearing my small boy’s pants, blogging independently, as a rebel and outcast. Here’s some photos of a Shadow Puppet Show in Xian…. please don’t hate me.
I saw that comment on your friend’s Blog, as well. She was clearly just responding emotionally for seeing an “alleged” negative comment from your friend on another Blogger’s site. As far as I am concerned, we blog about our travels not with the initial intent to make a living/show who has the biggest dick/become better than others, but rather, we blog to share our adventures in hopes that our friends and family will gather enough courage to do the same thing. But, at the end of the day it doesn’t necessarily have to be about traveling, but ANYTHING that they had dreamed of doing in the past, but have not yet had the courage to try.
If people disagree with your posts/choice of lifestyle, then why are they wasting 30 seconds of their life responding negatively to a blog? Better yet, why are we wasting more than a second respond to said stupidity? 😉
I see them more as lifestyle blogs. Some people live a lifestyle of travel, while some people live a lifestyle which incorporates travel (as I do). The aim of a blog should be primarily to the readers / audience.
I Agree 100% Ray. My response is more to show new comers that networking is not necessary to be successful and in many ways can be detrimental to those new to blogging. Many bloggers get far to caught up in becoming part of a community instead of creating value of their own and for their readers. That being said I’m probably not the best to talk about this as I have very few followers (if any). I always rely on Google for my traffic so it’s great to find you here 😉
Just thank Jonny Blair! Glad I came across your blog because of him, and look forward to reading more about your Southeast Asian adventures!
Caught you at the World of Weech. Note this was my first ever rant. Only happiness from here on…
Ha! Thanks for the add! And no worries about the rant. You have to pick and choose your battles wisely, and stand up for yourself at times. This was warranted for sure. Looking forward to reading more about Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia!
Blogging communities sometimes forget that one can be a blogger without belonging to a community or group. That’s why I tell you should read “Martin Eden” by Jack London.
I’m on it Ele 😉
Please don’t let the bitterness get to you. There always will be people who spread poison. Love your blog.
Cheers Martin. Honestly a one off and my next scheduled post is about kittens in a cat cafe so it should balance out 😉
Allan – you’ve hit the nail on the head with this and it all rings true. Its sad that this is the way things are. Of the “bigger bloggers” I ve got plenty of time for some of them – particularly Wandering Earl, Nomadic Matt and Nomadic Samuel for sure. I’ve read their stuff and I message them regularly. It’s the asslickers that seem to be the problem. “Flashpacking westerners” who post average photos of beaches in Philippines and share them with 20 other “top bloggers” so they can all be cool together. “Wow – amazing place youve been”. I see myself as a traveller first and foremost, and a blogger second. Those bloggers who see themselves as bloggers foremost are the ones with this attitude. I do reach out into the community of other bloggers as some of them travel to cool spots and write real travel articles about them. But yes, there is some kind of community policing going on, and quite frankly it’s time to strip the place of the wannabes.
I’m sorry you deleted that post as it would have a lot of raw truths in it. Nobody can criticise you about your Bangkok and SE Asia stuff because you KNOW your stuff. You are an expert. And even better – you don’t meet the hoardes of Bangkok ex-Pats and get drunk with them every week.
In 10 years time, we’ll see where these asslickers have got, while LLO still blogs away about living in Bangkok, backpacking in Bangladesh and countries that havent yet been existed.
Safe travels and happy blogging!
Cheers Jonny. All part of the learning curve for us ‘new’ bloggers. Don’t expect help on the way up. You’re fortunate to know some of the better of the bunch. I think the best way to look at it is; you will never be at the top if your always following others.
Ha ha.. Nice post dude.. Sounds like the trolls who be on the ThaiVisa website.
Yup. Forum experts, prolific twitterers and other expat cliques.