Things to Avoid – Drooling Over A-Listers
08. Jun, 2007 
7 Comments - Leave your comment
Who is the only blogger in the world you worship the most? Now, if you have a blog and that A-list blogger that you worship one day tells you, without any explanation, to quit blogging, would you do it? If not, why? Because quitting your blog affects you directly. You will think twice before you quit blogging simply because an A-list blogger told you to.
If you apply the same concept to everything A-listers or A-list bloggers say, you will end up drooling less over A-list bloggers and thinking more about what they say. If you are a person who praises A-listers simply because they are A-listers, even the zombies in zombie movies are smarter than you, since many zombies think outside the box.
Biggest reason for drooling over A-listers: Too scared to disagree
Take John Chow’s post about having people pay John to have their nofollow comment tags. In response to that, you could see some people embracing the idea right away, because for them, John is probably God. Take the following comment, to John’s post, by Monetize Your Blog, which says:
it’s a great idea nevertheless
There is no reason offered for such a comment; for that commentor, the idea is great because John said it and because it makes money for John and people who can pull it off. There is no regard for blog readers and commentors who will get affected by such an idea. Other commentors usually doubt a bit, but they still side with the supposed A-list blogger in the end, like Kumiko‘s comment:
I think it’s a great idea, but I’m a little worried what it’s going to do the comments here.
I love this site, butt since the Top Commentators plugin started, the comments really started to get a little more spammy…like 5 of the first 6 comments in this post being from “Monetize your blog†and now people are paying, there may just be a few more useless comments to get their money worth! Oh well, I’ll wait and see and may even buy in myself!!
Kumiko
The comment praises the idea more than once, and even in the end, Kumiko says she wants to try the idea depending on how many customers John gets. I like a lot of things Kumiko says on her own blog, since she sometimes, with logic, tends to go against the crowd, like her post saying that Agloco is a bad idea. She has the nerves to disagree with John with logic, which is nice, but she still sides with him in the end and gives his idea a go-ahead.
I am not sure why people are scared to disagree with pride on popular blogs. Will people stop visiting our blogs if we start disagreeing with A-listers? We disagree with small-time bloggers, but we cannot do the same with A-listers. Did John ask you before implementing his idea? No, he didn’t. You were nothing for him. However, you consider John to be such a powerful God that you cannot even post a 100% disagreeing comment. Wow.
People who drool over A-listers harm the blogosphere
It is not someone online, who has a bad idea that hurts others, that is to blame completely. It is the supporters and the commentors. These people support A-listers in everything, without considering the welfare and prosperity of others. If these people read a blog post by an A-list blogger which says “Breath, it is good for your body“, these mindless supporters will drool over that post with comments like “Wow, what a wonderful idea! I knew I had to breath but I didn’t know it was good for your body! I love you!! xoxoxo”
People who follow others online without thinking have the tendency to do the same in the offline life because they probably have personal issues. They cannot express themselves, and they want attention and approval from someone. If they disagree with someone, they feel secluded, since their happiness revolves around the concept of sucking up and keeping someone famous happy. These people do not realize that observing role models is better than mimicking them.
Stop being a mindless zombie.
It is nice to drool over ideas you like. It is stupid to drool over ideas only because someone you dream about every few minutes said it. Try it yourself: drool over an idea you like, and drool over someone you like expressing any idea, specially if the idea is a bad one, in your comment or blog post. See which one gives you more pride and dignity, and a sense of logic and reasoning.
Other RA Project Articles
Author Info
All I can say is “Amen” and “Well said”. Nobody likes a lemming… except maybe John Chow…
So Bes,
If you ever become an a-lister, does that mean I don’t have to drool over you? *sigh of relief*
On a serious note, well said and thank you for the bluntness.
I agree, Most comments on John Chow’s blog are from wannabe SEO experts or Internet Marketers. They try to find every possible way to squeeze money off their blogs.
I am totally drooling over your “Things to Avoid” series. Hahaha.
Deaf Musician,
Thank you for your comments. I’m glad you enjoyed the series. Hopefully we can have more like these in the future.
Patrick, thanks for the comment.
Ronald, you “have” to drool, yes.
Arpit, good point about “wannabe” people, and about “squeezing” people instead of giving them something useful in return.
Deaf Musician, heh, that’s nice!
I think it is ok to drool over that.
I cannot tell you how happy I am that I found your blog. I have no idea how I even got here, but I love the basic atttiude and outlook it promotes.