Ryan Jerz :: Reno Blogger, Reno Blog

Fun, conversations, and occasional journalism from Reno, Nevada
Let the parade of horribles begin!


Misc: Maybe it just shouldn't matter to me

I’m not sure what to do anymore. This stuff is getting a bit out of hand. I just got an email from someone pointing me to this post and telling me to look at comment #6. It says that “The Man” has been banned from Myrna’s site. If it’s true, then it’s a serious black eye for Reno and Nevada bloggers.

Here’s the thing that really gets me. I know Myrna reserves the right to ban someone, but when the banning comes because the guy has posted stuff that, frankly, simply went against the ideology of Myrna and called her out for lacking class, who can defend it? I refuse to do so.

I’m probably about to breach some sort of an agreement I have with Myrna here, but in some emails we’ve exchanged I got the impression that she was interested in furthering discussion through blogs. I am committed to that ideal to the point of obsession. Myrna, feel free to correct me here. Unless “The Man” has done something completely offensive, then I see no reason he should have ever been banned. The irony here is that the only record of his posting on her site is kept by me. She removed the post where he left his mark, but I kept it in a screenshot of the page. So why ban him? Is there more to the story, or are you just trying to shut down dissenting opinion from your site?

Update
Myrna says no one has been banned so I should be a little more clear. “The Man” told me in an email that he tried to post twice last night and it did not work. Then a comment appeared that said he had been banned, but the comment was by “Mr. Johnson.” How might “Mr. Johnson” have known about the banning of “The Man?”


tags: banned, banning, blogging, blogs, myrna, myrna minx, nevada, reno, reno discontent
posted by Ryan Jerz on 03/08/2007

Comments

Eric Odom, Mar 9, 02:13 PM #:

I don’t if she’s telling the truth on this or not, but either way, Myrna has really gone down hill. She seems to be pandering to her crew of loyal Liberals and because of it she is shutting out people such as myself. It’s fine if she wants to do that, but I personally can longer take her blog seriously because of it.

I lost a lot of respect for her when the whole “queen of Reno blogging” crap started. The blogosphere didn’t succeed because of “me”, no, it succeeded because of “WE”.

Plus, her recent removal of that post was just over the edge. And she doesn’t even realize the implications.

Which is quite disconcerting.

I’m really bummed that she went the direction she went. I was looking forward to watching her grow and working with her in the Nevada blogosphere. But that kind of hope is long gone.

-Eric Odom

Nevada Blogger JWH, Mar 12, 03:42 PM #:

Markos Moulitsas Zúniga (founder of DailyKos) March 12, 2007 – “I’m no blog triumphalist. I am fond of saying that a “blog” is no more than a tool, such as a telephone or a word processor. How it’s used is far more interesting. So while the clueless prattle on saying things like “bloggers are X”, or “blogs can’t do Y”, anyone with a modicum of awareness knows that each blog is what each blogger makes it. And that can be polemic, journalistic, literary, comedic, satiric, none of the above, or any combination thereof.”

Ryan Jerz, Mar 12, 04:20 PM #:

I think you’re missing the point. When you don’t care about being taken seriously, then do whatever you want. I don’t have to like it, but you can still do it. But if you do care, and you attempt to shape opinion, you have to have standards. It’s like we’re beating a dead horse here. She deleted a post! If nobody read the site, then fine. But since it’s “Reno’s #1 blog” or whatever self-congratulating term she’s using this week, she has to abide by some sort of ethical minimum. Deleting stuff is bad. The equivalent would be the tossing of things into the memory hole in 1984. I’d bet your boy Kos wouldn’t like that comparison one bit.

He’s right about blogs being tools. That’s the point I’ve been trying to make for a long time, I just haven’t said it as well as he just did. We should be on a level playing field with traditional journalists, but in order to be there, we have to act like we belong there. Pulling that stuff and then attempting to excuse it while being defended by others is hurting what we’re trying to do. The justification gets bloggers laughed at, like Dennis Nolan just did. He laughed at bloggers and said what he said because bloggers do things like delete posts.

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