k r i s a n d r o

I am breaking many of my personal rules here, but here I am posting another community related post about Ping. I need to address a few issues about my last post, and this will be the last time I am talking about it as a post on my blog.

To address some points that Endoh pointed out and other comments left on the blog, I have the following to say.

Before Daphne spoke to me over msn on this matter, I was already aware that at least 2 people were openly disliking the level of interest in the mundane topic of Daphne’s crush. I DIDN’T CARE, because I am in for the believe that everyone has a right to like or dislike topics or blogs as long as they don’t declare war over it. Like what Uzyn said,

“Everyone’s unique. Every bloggers are unique. Ping.sg is started not as an aggregator for smart bloggers, nor is it started as an aggregator for immature bloggers. It’s started because of blogs and bloggers of Singapore.

Everyone’s unique, and every bloggers have their own readerbase, even before Ping.sg. Ping.sg gives the bloggers a chance to exchange each others readership and naturally, a reader who likes to read sports blogs wouldn’t like to read a fashion blog, but that doesn’t mean the fashion blogger IQ is lower or anything.

Let’s open our arms and accept that all of us are bloggers (I know I’m becoming less of a blogger now due to the inactivity of my blog, paiseh) and all our blogs are unique in one way or the other, ok?

Anyway, here’s a promise. As long as I am able to (unless gahmen say i kenot), Ping.sg will always remain neutral, open and free. That’s my goal and my dream, and I’m sure most Pingsters’ goal and dream as well.”

I believe in that vision and that’s why I don’t care about the indifference towards such topics. Only when Daphne told me she felt really affected by it was when I got very upset. I got upset because, it’s the core community that is affecting her. And I do believe that these people are actually friends with Daphne and they really shouldn’t hurt her like that.

I also agreed in my post that Daphne SHOULDN’T be so affected by it as everyone is entitled to their own opinions!

Now it comes to the part where Endoh and anyone else asks,

“Where is the evidence? Give us names!”

I didn’t care on gathering evidence nor screenshot the shoutbox or twitters as I already know the displeasure of a few people towards the ‘shallow’ topics. Moreover, I regard some of them as friends and my post isn’t about pointing out individuals. If I wanted to do that, I would have approached them through private ways.

Then some say,

“If they are your friends, then why are you trying to attract attention through such a title and make a big fuss over it?”

I used my blog to express my opinion about them because it isn’t my business to approach them about the matter in the 1st place and I would rather voice my views at them while preserving their anonymity. And to those who think I am trying to attract attention or raise my popularity with such a posting, I’m afraid you are right.

Right in the sense that I am a blogger and my posts are made public. I want high readership like any self respecting blogger who admits to it. BUT, I am like what a few mentioned in the comments for the last post.

“I don’t care much for being in the top 10.”

That is true for me as well but I will like to elaborate it so that it is more correct. I did mention to Wishbone sometime back that people with good content who are not ‘popular’ in Ping need not worry. Those with good content will eventually have a fanbase. Why? Because eventually, it’s the content that makes people bookmark/subscribe/visit your blog. If a blogger has poor content and constantly misleads people with his/her title, he won’t get much traffic on days where he doesn’t blog and also in the long run. And I do believe that I have a group of readers that may be relatively small, but they enjoy what I write mostly. Ping and tomorrow.sg may have been two of the driving forces behind my websites growth, but I don’t need to whore myself to get reads. If I manage to get into the top 10, then it’s just a bonus. The loyal readers will still come to appreciate my posts.

The last post was lousy content in my own opinion, why the hell do I want attention to such a post to ‘raise my popularity’. I had common sense to think that the so called ‘popularity’ would actually dip because of it. But I still wanted to say my peace because I have an opinion and I am not afraid to say it with tact.

And if you think it wasn’t with tact, you’ll be amazed at what I really had in mind.

It’s weird but I think the word ‘shallow’ also affected more serious bloggers than the ‘shallow’ ones. I think I could have stepped on a sensitive spot somewhere. I do admit on hindsight that it could be wrong to label it as ‘shallow’. Maybe ‘mundane’ would have been a more tactful word.

In conclusion, I admit that I am shallow(like always… but i am extremely proud of it), I might have mislead people to think that I am waging war against certain people. But there is nothing I disagree on when I look at the post over and over again. I may have been seen as being exaggerated or making groundless accusations but I still stand true to my opinions.

Sorry if you still want me to post pics here and there and to link here and there to point fingers. I still won’t do it because it wasn’t my main purpose in the 1st place. My biggest point is still,

“There is nothing wrong with shallow bloggers/posts/topics. Good content can still come from it.”

I know I could have unwittingly created discomfort or discord amongst certain bloggers but so be it. If the relationships are that fragile, I don’t think the affected bloggers should be sad of losing a friend or two. And I still welcome and cherish whatever friends that I have made in wonderful communities like Ping.

I try to not blog about the Ping community much as I have readers who are not from Ping and they will be scratching heads at what I say about the community I have grown to love but I must blog about this. Why do I love Ping anyway? Because, it’s a community that allows almost EVERYONE to have a chance to let their posts have exposure. Let’s just look at Ping’s FAQ, item #5.

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Basically, if anyone has a blog in which he/she THINKS might appeal to the local readers, the person can just join Ping. Uzyn nor Daphne, is NOT responsible for the content on Ping. Anyone can blog about anything and in whatever style they want. Even if the contents of a post or blog run afoul of a nation’s law, it has nothing to do with the staff at Ping.

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Recently, there has been a lot of feedback that the community has become ‘shallow’ and a handful of the ‘prominent bloggers’ have voiced their unhappiness at the content of the blogs and the shoutbox. Why? It could be a couple of reasons and various origins but I guess it’s the point when Daphne blogged about having a crush and there was a sudden surge of interest to who she was talking about. Bloggers like Wendy also had her share of traffic when she tried to find out who the mystery crush is. Why is there such a big hoo haa when probably there has always been posts made before like the one Daphne did? It’s because she is popular and she garners attention!

The so called ‘serious bloggers’ start to think why such ‘shallow’ topics get ‘Ponged’ to the top when they have used 30% of the words in the dictionary and done 3 days of research just to compose an insightful entry which eventually didn’t even make it to #10. And they are also disturbed when the shoutbox gets all lively when people talk about ‘shallow’ stuffs compared to serious issues.

Well, there are a few factors that make a post go to the top ranked in descending order.

1. Popularity of the blogger

2. Blog title

3. Reputation of the blogger

3. Content

The list above is not exhaustive but the point I like to bring is that unfortunately, CONTENT is the least importance. WHY? It’s because of a few factors.

1. There is no way you can know how good a content is without clicking on the post.

2. Most people who Pong entries because of other factors do not bother to revoke their Pong even if the entry they read is deemed ‘unworthy’.

3. Many people simply prefer to read ‘shallow’ stuffs.

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I said this here and there I think but I will like to say it again. I am a ‘shallow’ blogger mostly. I mostly write about mundane stuffs. I am not someone like Endoh who can churn out topics that are very articulate and invoke your thoughts on serious issues. I do enjoy reading posts by bloggers like him but I PREFER reading about ‘shallow’ stuffs which are interesting. This is what I love and this is how I usually try to write. I want readers to come in and read and LAUGH. Even if I only manage to make one smile, I would be happy.

Look at the reasons Ping came up with if you wanted to ‘poof’ someone.

If someone’s post is qualifies for one of the reasons above, ‘POOF’ him/her! If you simply do not like the blogger and cannot find a valid reason to ‘poof’. Do click on the button below at Ping.

If you don’t like the way the community is heading, you can either QUIT Ping, or just ignore the ‘shallow’ ones you don’t like with the help of the tools Ping provided. If you people still think ‘shallow’ bloggers like me shouldn’t be allowed in Ping, go ahead and draft a new FAQ for Uzyn to bar ‘shallow’ bloggers and if it gets approved, I WILL QUIT PING.sg myself. Not because I don’t agree with that ruling, but because I AGREE that I am a ‘shallow’ blogger.

As I write this article, I also understand that it is not WRONG for Pingsters to voice their displeasure at the ‘shallow’ posts/bloggers. If you are unhappy, blog about it, talk about it in the shoutbox, discuss it over msn, announce it over twitter. You have every right to do so. But I think it’s wrong if you complain to people like Daphne and probably Uzyn, who work hard at ensuring this community’s success. What is your purpose? Do you want them to do something about it? Do you want them to encourage people to blog on more serious stuffs?

On another note, if everyone is just using the proper channels to voice their opinions, Daphne and Uzyn shouldn’t be so affected by it. I know it’s only human to be bothered about it but people are people and everyone has a right to a voice no matter how limited it is by the gahmen.

Before I end this post, I will like to clarify the following before all the flaming. I am not saying that ‘serious’ bloggers are culprits because I do like bloggers who write well with an original and strong point of view. I am just sad and angry that Daphne is very affected by this group of ‘prominent’ pingsters because she simply bother to care.

How hard is it to just ignore posts/bloggers that you don’t like? If you have something to say, voice it in the proper channels. And for Daphne, I know it’s hard but you really cannot please everyone. I know you want to keep the community as a whole but in reality, there will always be people that doesn’t like other people or trends in the top posts.

So just let them be.