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#TrumpDay – Hardcore Edition

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Take Your "Death of Right-Blogs" Proclamation and Shove It!

John Hawkins at Right Wing News has posted a piece proclaiming that if you're not a big important blogger like him and are just a smaller, newer, blogger like me, then you should just give up, hang your head in shame and go away.

Hawkins can shove it, because I am not going anywhere and neither are most of my colleagues, big & small, in the right blogosphere, no matter how much he and other elitist snobs wish that we would. It appears the whole point of his post was to demoralize the competition that is not as big and important as he thinks he is, which if you ask me, smells like an ulterior motive. If us small fish in the ocean weren't some sort of threat to the big headed fish in the small pond, then I doubt that he'd take the time to try to scare us off because he generally doesn't deem us fit to recognize at all. Jimmie Bise at the Sundries Shack comes out swinging for those of us who Hawkins disparages; you should read his entire post, but this quote gets to the heart of how I feel about Hawkins' hit piece:
It doesn’t make much sense to me, though, to write a piece on the death of the conservative blogosphere when you’re one of the people with your hands around its throat.
Why should we listen to someone who looks down his nose at us, anyway? Better to take advice from a successful blogger (who also happens to be a good guy) who considers even smaller, less well known bloggers to be "valued contributors to the blogging community." (The Other McCain) Forget John Hawkins and his defeatist nonsense, if you are a blogger or want to become one, write about things that you think are important, and try to do it in a manner that gives your readers something of value. Read and learn from bigger bloggers who aren't fatalistic jerks, who haven't forgotten that they were beginners once too, bloggers like Stacy McCain, Jimmie Bise, Doug Ross, Blazing Cat Fur, Pamela Geller, and Jill Pundette who are not only successful, but also righteous and kind. Be sure to link to them (and other blogs, both big and small that have good information) as often as possible too, because as Stacy says,
Reciprocal linkage is the essential lubricant that makes the blogosphere purr with contentment.
I don't do what I do for the money, there really isn't any right now with the Obama economy, and while I might not be bringing in millions of page views, I do have a growing audience of people who do stop by to read what I write and they seem to think I have something worth spending their time with over here, and I treasure each and every one of my readers. I am delighted when a fellow blogger honors me with a link from their place to mine, whether they have millions of readers, dozens, or a handful; these fellow bloggers matter to me, even if they don't to blog snobs like John Hawkins.

This isn't the first time some wishful thinker has prematurely and falsely rang the death knell for the right-wing blogosphere, but it's usually leftists doing it. Stacy McCain recently debunked previous "death of blogs" proclamations over at his place, eloquently, HERE and HEREDan Reihl, unlike John Hawkins, offers encouragement; here is an excerpt:
But when it comes to what John seems to be lamenting, that lone, sometimes howling voice of the true Indie blogger - as I see myself when writing here at my site and not for Breitbart Media, it will always be something of a haphazard, hard to make a living effort done for love of something, perhaps America or a particular political ideology, for most. It's not a bug it's a feature, as Instapundit might say. But it's damned important that people do it and should be to you for its own sake if you plan on staying with it for any length of time; otherwise, you'll only get discouraged and go away. There's nothing new in that.
All that said, ultimately, if you're good at it, there are more options to pursue writing professionally today as a result of any exposure you may receive and I expect the future will provide still others. Consequently, to me, the future for Right-side media, overall, remains bright. From Talk Radio, to professional outlets and Indie bloggers, we each and all represent an effort to further democratize media through technology. And because I believe the American population as a whole is more conservative, or libertarian, than it is far Left, the more the merrier.
If you're doing it - keep doing it. And if you're contemplating jumping in - then just do it. My advice would be, don't spend too much time navel gazing about it. You might end up with little more than lint in your eye. And I hate it when that happens! RTWT
Donald Douglas at American  Power and the mighty Professor William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection appear to be taking Hawkins discouraging words to heart, these men are terrific bloggers in their own right, they shouldn't buy into Hawkins' gloom and doom. Flap's Blog has a much more optimistic view, and I thank him for it:
There is more to life than traffic to blogs for the conservative world. There is Twitter which has jump-started the Tea Party and to a lesser extent there is Facebook where conservatives can more socially interact. Google Plus has just started and there will be a place for conservative bloggers there as well.
The blogosphere and social media are interconnected and it is far better for the smaller, independent blogger.
When I first started this enterprise over five years ago, nobody knew who the hell I was or cared. The large blogs (the ones with the most traffic) linked within themselves. Nobody gave a rat’s ass about the upstarts in the sphere. But, with Twitter and Facebook, content and opinion hit the internet without the filter of Instapundit or Powerline. Traffic to the independents grew and so did modest ad revenue.
Power in the blogosphere shifted to the small, independent blogger who might cover more, especially in their own locale. Commentary was not limited to large blogs comments sections but to Twitter and Facebook.
So, with these changes, why would anyone quit?
In the era of the grass-roots Tea Party, it is time to get started. RTWT
At the Sundries Shack, Jimmie Bise delivers a well deserved spanking to John Hawkins:
John Hawkins wrote a post today called “The Slow, Painful Coming Death Of The Independent, Conservative Blogosphere” wherein he pretty much advised every right-wing blogger to either pull down big traffic numbers of quit.
That’s it. No advice for how to get that big traffic. No mention of smaller bloggers who are doing a good job of building their site’s visibility or traffic. Nothing. Just, well, this:
Bloggers have asked me: So what’s the strategy to deal with this?
Really, it’s simple: Get big or go home.
Find a way to dramatically increase the size of your blog, expand into multiple websites that together are big, hook up with someone who’s already big, or accept that there isn’t much of a future in a small, niche market for you. Maybe that sounds a little grim, but unless something changes, independent conservative bloggers who haven’t already made it big don’t have a bright future.
Gee, thanks, John. What, you couldn’t find a way to deliver an electronic kick to the groin right at the end of that last paragraph?
As I’ve written before, right-wing bloggers do have a couple fairly large problems between them and a respectably-sized readership, but they’re far from insurmountable. Unfortunately, a big part of the solution to those problems lie in the hands of bloggers like Hawkins who have no real interest in spending much if any of their time on community-building.
Take a quick scan over Hawkins article and look at the links. Do you see how all of them — every last one — goes to a big right-wing web site? That’s by design. He’s link-whoring. Now, link-whoring is a venerable blogging tradition and often helps bring in a few links here or there, but if you’re going to write about smaller blogs, why not link to a couple of them? There are sites out there — William Jacobson’s Legal Insurrection, Donald Douglas’ American Power, Stacy McCain’s The Other McCain, Joy McCann’s and Dan Collins’ Conservative Commune, and Duane Lester’s All American Blogger — who would have benefitted from a link and a quick mention as examples of at least some level of success. He could have pulled links from within his own stable of guest-writers (who, by the way, get no special mention anywhere on his site that I can find) for the same purpose – William Teach’s Pirate’s Cove and Lance Burri’s Troglopundit come quickly to mind.
He didn’t because, well, he’s in the game for the links and he’ll get more from a Lucianne sideswipe than he will a direct post from any of the bloggers to whom I linked. Look at his “Linkswap” page. Sure, he’s willing to give a blogroll link to another blogger, but only if that blogger can guarantee him 500 hits a week. How many small, or even mid-sized, blogs can guarantee 500 hits a week to one site? Not many, unless they make an point of giving Right Wing News a fairly prominent link in a couple or three posts a week. The message he’s explicitly sending to other bloggers is “If you can’t help me in a fairly decent way, I have no interest in you at all”.
That’s not how things worked when I was a new blogger. When I started the Sundries Shack, I got links all the time from more popular blogs like Q and O, Captain’s Quarters (the home of Ed Morrissey before he joined Hot Air), and even Right Wing News. Now, years later, I’m lucky if I get a link every few months from the guys who used to link me three or four times a month.
Times change. People change. Job responsibilities change. I get that many of the bloggers with whom I came up in the blogosphere have moved on to much larger professional gigs. Some have sites that pull hundreds of thousands of hits a month. Some work as social media consultants and rarely write anymore. Their lives, and their blogging/writing schedules get pretty busy. The demands on them are more pronounced than when they were hustling hits for their own sites. Their employers demand big, fast results. I get all of that. But would it kill any of them to toss a few links back to the folks trying to get a leg up? Would it truly be that onerous to add a few smaller blogs to their RSS readers and perhaps highlight one of those blogs in a post or newsletter a couple times a month? I can’t imagine it would. I manage to do it pretty much every day with my Clearing the Browser Tabs post. In fact, one of the reasons I do that daily post is to spread some of the linky love to bloggers to whom I know I don’t link enough otherwise. I do it on purpose because I think an important part of my presence in social media is being social. More of us who have been around a while need to remember how good it felt when one of the big dogs noticed us and sent us a healthy dollop of Sitemeter-bulging hits and make sure we do that once in a while for other bloggers.
It won’t kill the bottom-line. In fact, it’s far more likely that reconnecting with the blogospheric community will be good for all of us in the long-term. Not only will we get more links from the little guys, who may well become big guys one day, but we’ll also foster a much-needed sense of community among right-wing bloggers. RTR
In response to the push back John Hawkins is getting for telling the rest of us to quit, he has a followup in which he claims that he was just keeping it real, he wasn't telling us to quit at all, he says. Yeah, right. He did, however seem to get Jimmie's message, because he's actually linked to some of the bloggers (who he disdains) who wrote about his miserable original assertion that we should all just go away. John Hawkins may be a 'big important blogger' or something, but this here lil peasant blogger gets a lot more satisfaction from reading stuff by better bloggers, both big and small, who aren't jerks, you know, at places where you can go and feel good that you went there because you've learned something, not places that leave you wondering if you should maybe just kill yourself and get it over with.

John Hawkins can take his "death of the conservative blogosphere" and shove it!

LONG LIVE THE RIGHT BLOGOSPHERE!

Big important Update: BigFurHat at iOwnTheWorld  is spearheading a fabulous effort to help other bloggers in response to John Hawkins' doomengloom. Be sure to check it out, and if you're a blogger, leave a link to your place there! If you're not a blogger but want to leave links to blogs you like, that's great too!

Big Important Update II: Robert Stacy McCain weighs in, and we thank him. See also where he writes about the problem we Conservative bloggers have monetizing, HERE. Shame on Republican donors, shame!

Big Important Update III: Stacy writes, Don't Mess With the Zilla! A MUST READ! Thank you, Stacy!


This post is linked at Blazing Cat Fur. Thank you, Arnie! 

This post is linked at Adrienne's Corner. Thanks, Adrienne! 

This post is linked at Fishersville Mike. Thank you, Mike! 

This post is linked at Sitting at the Edge of the Sandbox. Thanks! 

This post is included in the Recommended Reads list at Pundit & Pundette. Thank you, Jill! 

This post is linked at Boudica Weblog BPI. Thanks, Bob! 

This post is linked at The Other McCain. Big thank you to Wombat-socho! 

This post is linked at The Conservatory. Thanks, Dan! 

This post is linked at Midnight Blue Says. Thank you, Tania! 

This post is linked at NoOneOfAnyImport. Thanks, Linda! 

This post is linked at Sultan Knish. Thank you, Daniel!

This post is linked at Maggie's Notebook. Thank you, Maggie!  

This post is linked at Political Byline. Thanks, Patrick! 

This post is linked at American Power. Thank you, Donald!
 



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79 comments:

MNRobot said...

Amen, Zilla. JH obviously doesn't get it. The point is not about how big you can get. All of us can't be huge, readership wise, but we can damn sure add our voices to all the others outraged at the direction of our country. It's our duty, as I see it, to attempt to inform and educate and activate as many as possible.

You keep on keepin' on Mi Lady. What you and all the other Right Wing bloggers do is an enormous, in-calculable benefit to our nation.

I shall now remove every instance of John Hawkins' links from my blog.

Every free voice should lend itself to the dull roar mounting against tyranny, rising until such powers are torn asunder. ~ 'bot

Donald Douglas said...

Great essay!

I'm not quitting blogging, Zilla!!

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Thanks, Donald, I'd miss you if you ever did! 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Thank you, Robot! We've got a job to do, and we are uniquely qualified to do it since we don't have to work within the PC constraints of the MSM or those big fancy "important" blogs, and no blog snob is gonna stop us from doing it!

SignPainterGuy said...

I seem to remember an old expression, "Pride cometh before the fall." Could JH be feeling a sinking sensation of his own, or just a bit light headed from all that rarified air up there at the top ? Or maybe he just "ain`t all that" anyway and is suffering the ill-effects of hangin` out with too many libs !

You`re plenty big enough to take very seriously, MJ and I come here numerous times a day secondarily to add to your hit-count. BTW, I refuse(d) to click on any of the links to JH so as NOT to add to his count !

I can empathize with you about being told I was "nobody", "too small" and "you don`t belong here". Believe me; if they don`t want you, you don`t need them !

flyoverpilgrim said...

Seriously, who is this Hawkins guy? never heard of him. Literally.

Zilla, don't you dare stop writing, I need my Zilla fix every single day!

Anyway, I don't blog for a huge audience. It's because I have something to say or share.
Of course, that's not to say I don't enjoy seeing that people read my stuff!

Buffoon said...

Maybe I'm a little different when I see post like the one at issue here.  I don't take it personally and try to learn from it.  John is after all one of us and there's some truth in what he wrote.
I don't think he intended it as an insult.

Zilla of the Resistance said...

I don't consider myself "big" but I am pleased with the fact that in 11 months I've gone from no blog at all to one that gets 5 figure numbers in monthly page views! What ole whatshisface has to say has no effect on me or my blog, but it chafed me because I know a lot of really awesome writers who have "small" blogs and I'd hate like hell for them to buy into his garbage and give up because they are good people who add great value and richness to the Conservative community - if the small bloggers "gave up" the right blogosphere would be a much poorer place for it.  And those small blogs might be intimidated by ole mister big britches and might not be able to find the voice to fight back like I can. This post is more for the other bloggers he may have discouraged than it is for me. I read more from those independent blogs than I do from the big powerhouse conglomerates, and I know I am not the only one who dies. The advantage of being beholden to no one is that you can 'go there' for topics that the big guys won't touch because they have to consider who might get "offended". You're not going to see those big important blogs go after the islamonazis and Obama's repeated acts of treason the way us "nobodies" do.

Zilla of the Resistance said...

I'll stop writing when I'm dead and not a moment sooner if I can help it! That guy and his doom & gloom don't scare me, but I was worried that it might hurt other bloggers, which is why I'm speaking out. You know what's funny? People who saw where I posted the link to this post on facebook are also asking who the heck he is! Ha!
I blog for the same reasons you do, the little bit of money I get once in a  while, the linky love and the page views are just gravy; I really am happy about those things but even without them I'd probably be doing this anyway.

Zilla of the Resistance said...

SPANK! 
You're the best, Jack, thank you!

Zilla of the Resistance said...

I think he came off as a defeatist snob, but I don't know the guy. I DO know that guys like Jimmie Bise, Stacy McCain, and Doug Ross are successful bloggers who not only link to us peasants, they also post things that are helpful to other bloggers by encouraging them, not by telling them that they have no future. Furthermore, I think John is totally wrong in his assertions. Smaller right-blogs are growing, not dying, it's a free market system, if you have a product that people like and you make sure folks know it's there, you can do OK with it, no matter what big establishment types say. He may not have intended his post as an insult, and I'm not insulted because what he says doesn't effect me or my blog, but I am annoyed because there are newish and smaller blogs out there that may not be as stubborn as I am and a post like that could totally undermine their confidence and cause them to throw in the towel for no good reason.

Jack Puglis said...

Hey, Girl!  You're very welcome.  I think that the guy is a liberal.  I can find no other motivation for his incompetent work.  He writes like he's not dumb, but maybe he is.

Maybe he's written other more conservative-leaning stuff.  I didn't look at his other articles.  Even if he's conservative, he really "screwed the pooch" on this one.

Kaffir_Kanuck said...

Damn it. Thanks to BCF I linked and read his entitlement rant. He needs to grow up, and commented as much, but not before I called him an elitist A-Hole.

And really, without your link, I would've never heard of him. So his 11 years of bloggin' have "really" been successful...Not.

Buffoon said...

Disclaimer: John linked the site I'm associated with today at Linkiest.  Why?  Because I shot him an email and asked him to look at our site.
I don't know him either and after a few beers, don't know why I'm defending his post.  In closing, if someone throws in the towel after reading a blog post, they probably shouldn't have endeavored in the first place.
That said- wanna wrassle?

rhaines5 said...

Jealousy is an ugly thing Zilla. You have a good blog. Ask Pam Geller who gets kicked in the face regularly because she is effective. People accuse her of being a Diva from the Right, iF not actual slurs.
You tell the truth, & you will be targeted.
Just ask Ezra Levant.

SignPainterGuy said...

This morning, Michelle Malkin posted just a few hate e-mails, which btw incl. their e-mail addresses in full, along with the most vile, obscene and hypocritical comments you never wanted to see. Several of her commenters e-mailed them, expressing their own sentiments. One e-mailer in particular e-mailed back, threatening a lawsuit if she didn`t take down his original e-mail, which he claims he didn`t send. Squealing like the pig he is !

michellemalkin.com , she links and gives credit wherever it is due and has a huge following, yet she remains down to earth and a model of decorum !

Yep, when your taking flack, you`re over the target.

You`re doin` fine now, MJ, but just think, someday you too could get mounds of e-hate-mail of your own ! You`ll know you have arrived ! ;-)

SignPainterGuy said...

Yeah, yeah, Jack`s the best ! But does he have Special Hi-Speed Racing Cargo Snails ? Hmmm ? ;-)

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Supposedly he's not a lefty, writing at "right wing news" and all, but you know when a righty gets into the establishment, the start taking shots at Conservatives they deem somehow beneath them, take Charles Krauthammer, for example, he says a lot of mean and idiotic crap about Sarah Palin & others with no basis in fact & even trashed the HERO Geert Wilders! Makes one wonder whose payroll HE'S on sometimes. And he's not the only one, look at O'Reilly, or The Daily Caller which today launched a nasty libel against Michelle Bachmann. 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Actually, I think he does, SPG! 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Bwahahaha!!!!!!!!! I fight dirty, you would not want to wrestle me, no matter how much gear ya got. 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

I saw your comment, LOVED IT!
I see a lot of people asking in other places where I've shared my post, "Who the hell is John Hawkins?" LOL I only found his post because some of the "small blogs" that I read all the time  happened to be talking about it, otherwise, I don't bother with the place either unless Van Helsing (Moonbattery) now known as Dave Blount is writing there.

Zilla of the Resistance said...

I did have an email conversation with Pamela today, she's terrific and takes the time to talk to people like me, SHE says to never ever give up! I'll listen to her before I heed some guy who most of the people I know online have never heard of before today. Ha ha ha. I like & respect Pamela, she's the real deal and even though she is read (and loved) by millions, she is very gracious about linking to smaller blogs. 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

I'm surprised that I don't get the hate emails yet, but maybe it's all waiting for me at one of my public email addies that I haven't checked in months. I did see some folks screaming about me at Media Matters one day, but they were really screaming about Pamela Geller (first class blogging HERO) who happened to link to one of my posts so I just got some overflow of the vitriol directed at her.  Some little lefty blogs have also blogged about me, with the standard "Waaaassssiiiissssttttt!" bitching, but it was all pretty wimpy.

A Mindful Webworker said...

I did have paragraphization! But it seems to have disappeared.

SignPainterGuy said...

Hmmmm, it may be time to have a word with their union rep. I said he is a real "slug" ! ;-)

Dodoforever Canspell said...

My blog is like a  therapy session for myself.... free sessions courtesy of Google.  I care not what anybody thinks of it and I bet many bloggers think like me.  Just rant a bit and get the poison out of  our system .... tell it all to Dr.Google.
Hawkins probably thought he was giving good advice .... silly man !!!

SignPainterGuy said...

Zilla, I just made a discovery of sorts. The John Hawkins in question posts at Townhall.com  . I have in fact seen his pic and story headlines there, but never saw anything of interest. Just FYI .

Zilla of the Resistance said...

See? "Big important" guy who tells all us
peons to quit and kill ourselves,
because he already got his.



________________________________

SignPainterGuy said...

Have you read anything lately at townhall ? The comments are horrible. It`s as bad as my home paper`s w./s, but a little better grammar and spelling. Disgusting. There are fewer and fewer authors there that I read regularly. And I rarely bother to comment, even when I have something I think may be valuable. I hate getting lost in hundreds of noisemakers !

JH no doubt hears from lots of lefties and their claims (propaganda) that the rightosphere is shrinking BS. He probably feels a small blog is a waste of time considering the size of the job at hand. He`d be right about the size of the job, but totally wrong about the positive effects of many small grassroots blogs.

Thom Paine said...

Zilla, as usual, you've hit the nail on the head. That's why I enjoy your blog as much as I do. No, I rarely comment here (in fact, I don't I have at all until now), but now I feel I must. Hawkins simply doesn't know what he is talking about. He may be correct in saying that the number of "big name" conservative blogs may be in decline, but to say that does nothing more than discount the plethora of smaller conservative blogs such as mine, and quite honestly, I get a little peeved when I am arbitrarily discounted in such a manner. I am sure that Hawkins has never read my blog, and honestly, I couldn't care less. I do not blog for wealth or recognition. I blog because I can. Because I enjoy writing and because I have an opinion. Whether or not anyone agrees with my opinion matters not to me, and I will still continue to blog even if no one ever reads what I write. Why? Because I can.

Thanks for your blog, thanks for standing up and pushing back at Hawkins. Perhaps he needs some pushing back. And perhaps he needs a bigger pair pf pants, as it seems he getting a little big for his britches. Take care and keep up the great work.
Best Regards,
Thom Paine - the Independent Realist
http://independentrealist.blogspot.com/

Thom Paine said...

Zilla,
I just went back to Right Wing News (why? I don't know, maybe my blood pressure needed to be a bit higher) to see if just maybe Hawkins had repented and apologized for offending a huge section of the conservative bloggers. But no, he simply managed to upset me even more. Apparently (according to Hawkins) I should quit blogging and limit myself to a diary or journal. I am insignificant, irrelevant and have nothing important to say. At least according to him. Thankfully, the only one I know of that thinks he is important, is him. If I was even the tiniest bit doubtful, I am no longer. I will continue to blog in spite of John Hawkins!
Best Regards,
Thom Paine - the Independent Realist
http://independentrealist.blogspot.com/

Zilla of the Resistance said...

I'm delighted and honored to be in your reading list! Thank you for your support. You've got a pretty spiffy website, it's in my blogroll now. 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

When I read your comment in my email notifications from DISQUS, the formatting was there. Go figure. 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

That puts him in the camp of the leftist tyrants, telling people what to do "for their own good" because they "know better" than we do. 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

I used to read and post Townhall articles to the A-C page all the time, but the place truly has deteriorated the past several months, I rarely visit there any more. 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Thanks, Thom! You've got a great blog, I'm glad you left me the link, because I'm your new fan & you're now in my blogroll. I see you are one of the few among us who goes after the islamonazis, something the 'big important' establishment types will never ever do. Just like the MSM, the 'big important' elitist blogs are writing their own obituary because they won't touch the stuff that us little nobodies are all over, we've got the market cornered and that is why smaller blogs are growing while the heavily censored cocktail party sites are losing readers.  Hawkins has it all wrong.  A commenter to his hit piece mentioned that Jim Hoft took down Van Jones when Gateway Pundit was still a blogspot blog, also MY blog took down a sitting Congressman just three months after it opened when nobody was linking to me at all! David can, and often does, beat Goliath.

1389 said...

GMTA! I hadn't read this particular article, but I DID cover the same issue of big vs. small blogs here:

Who owns the media - and what can we do?

Bob A. said...

Ditto Zilla,
Will do a very brief line or two and link back here.

Zilla of the Resistance said...

I just read your post a little while ago, great work!

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Thanks, Bob!



________________________________

Dave Blount said...

That's the spirit, Zilla. Never say die! When the election season heats up and traffic shoots into the sky, no one's going to remember JH's doomy predictions.

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Thanks, Dave, it's great to get encouragement from the master of Moonbat slaying!

Thom Paine said...

I went back and looked, and he has not deleted your post. And I'm glad of that because you expose what he actually did say, and you called him on the carpet for it. Bravo Zilla! Normally I try to reserve my blog articles for my opinions on political and current events, but I have to admit, that what Hawkins said really did get under my skin. I guess I just really hate being dismissed by elitists. So I gave in and wrote a response on my blog as well. I did mention you, and I hope you don't mind, but I felt that it was important to mention your role in getting rid of a corrupt congressman, especially since it happened when your blog was still relatively new. Had you followed Hawkins' advice back then, that congressman would likely still be in office instead of out on his rear, which is where he belonged. Thanks for following my blog, and adding me to your blog roll. I appreciate it very much, and keep up the great work.
Best Regards,
Thom Paine - the Independent Realist
http://independentrealist.blogspot.com/

MattRoss said...

Great job Zilla!  

Hobo Projekt said...

I never heard of him either. I think that this was a good way to get attention for him though.

Tania Gail said...

Hmmm, I read John Hawkins piece and I saw a professional blogger; one who makes his living from his blog, trying to intimidate potential competition. 

I don't agree with his main point of 'go big or go home' at all.  A vibrant community of smaller blogs is the incubator of future talent. I find there are scores of talented bloggers on the right who don't have anywhere near the traffic of RWN, yet produce quality, useful  information consistently.  This is our core strength. 

John is correct in his assessment of our poor marketing skills, the left side of the blogosphere is all over branding of content. This is a skill that can be easily adopted with the right training. Jimmie Bise is absolutely correct in the lack of sharing information at Republican/Conservative conventions. Skip them in favor of conventions that actually share this information, such as Blogworld, SXSW, Podcamp or BlissDom 12. In addition, search out bloggers who are writing about branding of websites.

I've more to say on this and will post my complete thoughts on John's article tomorrow on MidnightBlue. 

FYI: For the sake of transparency, John Hawkins and I are friends. 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Hi Tania,
I look forward to reading you post!

Mike Trani told me about your blog

so I checked it out & added it to the blogroll here.
I've heard from others who know him that he's
not a bad guy, but he comes off really badly in his

two posts trying to convince little bloggers to go away.
The whole thing from him strikes me as stemming
from an ulterior motive.





________________________________

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Heh. I told him in the comments section under his equally offensive follow-up post to enjoy his traffic bump from all those who he's pissed off, and promised that it would likely be his last from most of us. 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Thanks, Matt!

ReaganiteRepublican said...

you were on fire over there Zilla,  ha

Tania Gail said...

More to the point, Pamela would never write a post extolling fellow bloggers on the right to 'go big or go home'. 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

No, she would not, she's more the type to encourage all to raise their voices in any way they can!

Zilla of the Resistance said...

I saw that he closed comments to his first miserable post, I guess he couldn't take the heat from all us "nobodies" anymore. 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Thanks, RR, he had it coming. If he hadn't closed comments, I'd probably go back & kick him a little more because he deserves it. What a weenie. 

MOTUS said...

Hey Zilla: I'm not going away and I don't think you are either. We are in this for the long haul. I have a hand gesture for  Johnny boy, butt I'm too much of a Lady to give it... no I'm not }-- !

BTW, thanks for the +1ing my little blog! I still don't get most of the stuff google does, butt I +1'd you back. My first too! Oh, and Dewey from Detroit, Raj & Little Mo +1'd you too!

Zilla of the Resistance said...

It would be a crime against America if you were ever to go away, MOTUS!

I'm glad to +1 you any time and am glad that you got to be my "first". Thank you to you & Dewey, & Raj, and Little Mo for the +1s too! Yay!

Linda said...

Wow Zilla, you've really led the charge on this one.  I'll be adding your link to my silly post about John Hawkins.

Did you notice that Hawkins closed the comments to his follow up article after only 8 or 9 comments?  That is very telling, me thinks.  Also, the fact that he had to do a follow up at all.  And when you step back and realize that the whole topic is "blogging," and not anything of real substance, he starts sounding like a self-licking ice cream cone.

I've been aware of John Hawkins as one of the "original" "old skool" bloggers who runs Linkiest, but that's about it.  I tried to use Linkiest but just didn't like it's format.  I've never seen any actual articles or essays of his, until now.  I'll be discounting his opinion accordingly.

You are a tigress, Zilla.  I've seen you around some of the same blogs I haunt regular, but I haven't come round to yours much.  I'll have to try and rectify that.  Do you ever start feeling stretched as thin as I do? 

Cheers

SignPainterGuy said...

"Self-licking ice cream cone", heh heh, good analogy. Triple scoop no doubt. JH is a reg. at townhall dot com, so, if you needed another reason to avoid TH, there it is !

Zilla IS  a tigress ! She latches on like a pit bull, but I refuse to consider her any kind of dog ! ;-)

TOWG said...

JH"s article brought me to your sight by way of IOTW so I sorta "owe him one" in a weird kinda way. I enjoy your site, keep up the fight!

IdaFlo said...

I'm more of a reader/re-poster than a writer, but I stopped sending folks to John Hawkins'  when he became such a porn promoter.
Perhaps he's yet another blogger that needs to take an occasional break from the keyboard to take a walk or jump on the treadmill.  
We all need help in clearing the cobwebs, the arteries AND the ego. 

Maggie@Maggiesnotebook said...

Great coverage and commentary Zilla. I'm linking today.

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Thanks, Maggie!



________________________________

Don Collett said...

Great essay.  It's making me think of taking up blogging again.  With what's going on in our country, we need EVERY voice possible to stand up for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, no matter how small.

Amusing Bunni said...

Great post, Zilla!  This hawkins guy sounds like a real jerk,  I haven't even heard of him....so despite not wanting to give him more traffic, I think I"ll go look at his site.

Congrats on all your linkage, I read lots of the people you liked to in your post.

Patrick said...

Anyone that worries about what John Hawkings thinks is crazy.

Hawkings takes his cues from the podhoretz and kristol crowds. You know, the one's who lied us into the Iraq war?

He needs to be ignored and shipped a crate of Jenny Craig.

McGehee said...

If there was any risk my blogging hiatus would be permanent, the opportunity to make John Hawkins cry has eliminated it.

quite_rightly said...

Zilla & Company - Just found this post over at The Right Way.

Read about "The Association of Miniscule to Middling Conservative Blogs."

I think you will enjoy it!

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Will do! Thanks, QR!

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Wonderful!  Welcome back and please feel free to send me links!

Zilla of the Resistance said...

I am not worried about what he thinks, and although I think he went about it all wrong and his tone was atrocious, I've been hearing that he is actually a decent guy and in his own backward way was trying to help. 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Thanks, Bunni!

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Thank you, Don, and welcome back to blogging! Please feel free to send me links! 

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Hi Ida, thanks for stopping by! A blogger's readers are a treasure beyond measure!  It is always a delight to see people comment to one's blog posts. Thank you so much for being a valued member of our community!

Zilla of the Resistance said...

Thanks, TOWG! Recent events and the resulting conversations that are now burning up the right-blogosphere make me realize that I also grudgingly owe some thanks to r. Hawkins. 

Eanruig0 said...

Who is John Hawkins?  

Thom Paine said...

At this point, he is a nobody. A persona non grata throughout the conservative blogosphere.

Lisa said...

It is hard to be competing against these professional bloggers.  Having said that, I started my blog to create a venue for expression of conservative values.  So, even if all of the blogs don't get 50K+ views a day, they do collectively get a lot of traffic, and I am proud even to play a small role in the fight against liberalism.

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