to think that noone could care less about the self important 'Guest Blogs'?

[moondog]

They sit there for days on end at the top of the lsit with about five comments (probably made b the name changing author in any case.)
I don't get it. Why do we need 'blogs' when the place is jam packed full of people expressing interesting opinions in any case?

I don't think I posted either, gold. But I was really frustrated she didn't reply. If I remember rightly HQ replied in the end saying they had managed to communicate with her beforehand or she was in a different time zone or something - not good!

hadn't managed to communicate, obviously.

I think she would have known that she was a guest blogger. As I understand it the guest blogs aren't just pre-existing blogs pulled from the MN network, they are specially commissioned pieces of writing for the particular slot they occupy on the talkboard?

That's what I don't understand about them, really. They aren't blogs, at least fairly often, in the sense that they don't seem to have been written by bloggers but are rather pieces of content created to promote a campaign issue or sometimes to promote a book. In that sense they don't really promote the MN bloggers network they just ... I don't know ... inject a kind of magazine element to the talk board. Which seems a bit odd --, especially when, like today, they just duplicate a subject which is being discussed in a grassroots way by the talkboard itself, and either get ignored or compete for interest with the talkboard's self-generated discussion.

I completely don't understand your hostility to them though, moondog. They are just articles that you may or may not want to read, and since they are more often than not really blogs but pieces written on a newsy issue by people with professional experience of that issue the whole "self-obsessed blogger droning on about their private life" thing that exercises so many people's prejudice just doesn't have a purchase. Some are good, some are not -- like threads in general. Just read the ones you want to read and ignore the rest.

The ones I've seen have been from pre-existing blogs, but I only really read the feminist ones. Vagenda and HerbsandHandbags and so on are definitely pre-existing blogs.

Ah, right. That shows how ignorant I am of the world of blogs. The ones I notice seem to be more like commissioned pieces.

I am, officially, gobsmacked.

I honestly have no answer for what you just said to me moon except your logic is not like our earth logic. You don't even know what my blog is about!

If you don't want to read blogs, don't read them.

But how rude is it to come and post this on the internet about someone's hobby or even their career? Plenty of professional writers have blogs these days. Most journalists, for one thing.

Oh, no, it doesn't show that at all, because like I say I only read in one section really. I was only commenting because it indicates there must be a range. And I thought maybe that'd explain some of the strength of feeling about it all, which I don't really understand.

I like lots of blogs- not the mundane daily life ones, but the ones which have a theme or are basically free witty columnists. Saying you think all blogs are shit is like saying that comment pieces in newspapers are boring: there will be some you like and some you don't.

Why are you so angry about them moon? Have you read them? They aren't the "What I did with my child today and what we had for lunch" kind of thing (and even if they were I wouldn't really understand your anger)

There may be a small navel gazing corner of the universe for bloggers but it sure isn't MN.

It seems rather navel gazing to resurrect a thread that was dead for 3 days.

Rather than whine about it, I'll take the simple option of clicking hide. Like I do with other threads that do not interest me.

Oh my god, she really did resurrect it when it died, didn't she?

Talk about "...arrogant assumption that folk care."

ButThereAgain
Some Guest Blogs are 'commissioned' pieces and some are pre-published pieces from MN Bloggers.

The idea (as I understand it) is to have guest blogs which tie in with current affairs or news stories, or with MN campaigns.

I do think that when MNHQ ask a non-MNetter to write a blog, then they should make it a condition that the writer replies to any questions that are asked. They are getting publicity for their cause/book/event, so should be willing to come back and engage with their readers.

I am the MNetter who LRD referenced earlier. Posting on Mumsnet, and being complimented on my writing gave me the confidence to start my own blog, and I can honestly say that it has changed my life.

Women often struggle to make themselves heard. Blogging helps many women find their voice, and Mumsnet Bloggers' Network is an amplifier, helping us reach more readers.

It is discouraging and offensive when blogging is dismissed as silly women blathering about their mundane lives.

Ah, right. Thanks. I think I prefer the "blog of the day" thing at the side, rather than the guest blog slot. The former seems more true to the grassroots ethos of a blogging network. And I don't really understand making blogs into threads -- it feels a bit like not trusting the talkboard to run its own topical discussions. There do seem to be some interesting guest blogs sometimes, though.

I didn't want to name you, Mme, in case you didn't want to be 'outed' as that person.

Btw, I agree that it should be a condition of doing the guest blog that the writer replies - otherwise I think it is pointless and unfair. And I think that is related to the 'grassroots' issue, too. I don't really see why someone would want a guest blog on here if they didn't want to discuss it.

I do get some of the 'don't want to know' comments ... I am a pretty technophobic person in many ways, and you have to drag me kicking and screaming to try out anything new. I wouldn't have wanted to blog ten years ago when it was all much newer. But I think it's going to go away now, any more than MN is going to revert to us all writing pen-pal letters to each other.

Personally, I've always maintained, since the Bloggers Network started, that you shouldn't be allowed to be on the Network unless you're a Mumsnet user, but HQ disagree with that.

Although I do wish the 'featured bloggers' would come and answer queries also.

I find quite a few people take advantage of the Network, aren't Mumsnetter and slag off the site in public.

Yeah, I find that a bit dodgy too.

Yes, that annoys me too, Tee.

I guess the idea with making the Guest Blog a talk thread is to get people discussing the topic. Personally, I'd rather my blog be 'blog of the day' as it pushes traffic to my site.

I'd prefer if the Guest Blogs were by Mumsnet Bloggers really, as that's the whole point of being part of the network.

It is fecking terrifying engaging with comments on a blog you have written, though. I've only done it a couple of times and you feel so fearfully exposed even in a context where comment conventions are such that the comment-maker is obliged to be constructive and genuinely courteous, let alone on a place like MN where you might well get spoken to very very harshly. So I don't really blame people for keeping out. I once failed to "go below the line" even though I had been asked to by the people I was writing for. But I suppose you are all right you should engage in return for getting the slot. Especially if the blog is actually the OP of a thread.

Oh, yes. I do agree with you on that. Perhaps that is why so few actually take part in the discussion, as they are afraid of the response. It would require some attentive moderation, to ensure that our Guest Bloggers aren't left with the impression of the 'nest of vipers'.

But it'd be easier if the bloggers were MNers, though, it'd be like posting in AIBU.

May be, but only if they were allowed to use mn identities rather than more public ones. And even then there is a difference between getting slagged off for an OP that you have flung out without too much thought and getting slagged off for something a bit more polished. You have more at stake in yhe latter. Another reason why it seems a bit uncomfortable to assimilate "blogs"/articles and mn threads.

That's true, it is different.

I was thinking more than sometimes people who aren't MNers wind us up for things that are pretty avoidable - like people who start out with 'hello mummies!' and people think it's patronizing. All the little things that would be more confusing.

Blimey is Moondog a failed blogger? Why so vicious over something that you're not forced to read?

MN has LOADS of content that I ignore including the blogs because I just haven't got the time Had I got the time I'd probably browse them. I respect people who can blog and have seen some really clever writing. There are obviously also a lot of boring public diaries but tbh a lot of posts on here are either boring or opinionated or repetitive ...just ignore

Oh yes, l see lrd. That makes sense, though I guess mn give them a steer around the most dangerous pitfalls!