As I move along in my professional career, I have some across three types of people in my office who I generally try to avoid working with. These may be people I get along with in a bar setting, but in a meeting or at work, we can be fierce enemies.

As I lay out the descriptions of the three types of people I try to avoid in the office, think about how these might apply to the blogosphere.

1. The Distracter

We’ve all met the Distracter. He eats his lunch loudly and has his speakerphone on full volume. He also finds it appropriate to host a conference with three people at his cubicle at eight in the morning.

He’ll blab to you about his wife and kids, or catch you up on the sport you can care less about.

Rather than helping you get work done, he actually distracts you from doing the job you’re supposed to be doing.

So what are your defenses against a Distracter besides some headphones and a sledgehammer? Your best bet is to beg upper management for a change of venue and hope Mr. Distracter doesn’t turn into Mr. Offended.

2. The Gatekeeper

The Gatekeeper can be your best friend or your worst enemy. When you need something done, and something done now, the Gatekeeper is usually the one standing in your way asking for the magic password. And if you don’t give the correct password, the Gatekeeper can easily turn you away.

The Gatekeeper takes satisfaction in knowing that you have to jump through an extra set of hoops in order to get a task done that can be easily accomplished. Rather than flick a wrist and let you through, he is content to watch you squirm and suffer just to prove to you he has the control.

Sometimes you just want to jump into that H3 Hummer and ram right through him and his gate, but you’d rather deal with this Gatekeeper than another.

3. The Roadblock

The Roadblock is different from the Gatekeeper because the Roadblock is exactly where you want to be. However, once you find the correct destination, there are detour signs everywhere and none lead you in the right direction.

An example of a Roadblock is a person who can easily help you. However, you didn’t follow proper procedure, so the red wall comes up and you have to go somewhere else. Or, the person will put up the “Out to Lunch” sign and tell you to come back later when what you need is clearly in sight.

Conclusion

So how do these three people I described relate to the blogosphere?

For the Distracter, I can see the SEO or Make Money Online blogs falling into this category. Although the blogs are helpful, they can distract you from what you are really trying to accomplish, which is producing meaningful content.

The Gatekeeper would be someone who makes you jump through a bunch of hoops in order to do simple things such as commenting. The Gatekeeper might make you pay to be rid of “no-follow” tags, or limit you to only a certain browser.

The Roadblock may be a fellow forum member or commenter who yells, “Use Search. It’s your friend” when the answer can be as simple as including a link to the thread with the answer. The Roadblock could also be a blogger who refuses to answer that “obvious” e-mail because it’s been asked a million times already.

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