Remember what you hated about high school? Not the school work or teachers, but the social aspects of school. The hierarchies, bullies, peers who wouldn't let you sit with them, girls who undermined you at every chance, boys who teased you about your appearance, when having big boobs was bad then having small boons was bad. You know the feeling where you just can't win? Nothing you do is good enough for the cool kids. Maybe you don't actually fit in anywhere; you aren't technical enough to be a geek, not smart enough to be a nerd, don't smoke enough to be cool, do too much work to be a slacker, don't care enough to be a perfectionist, don't like drama enough to be a drama queen, you get the picture. Unfortunately that doesn't end in high school. It happens in workplaces and the blogging world is no exception.
When immersed in the blogging community through the social media outlets we all love using (Facebook, twitter, blogs, forums) it can be easy to fall into criticising others especially if some are already doing it. Even more so if the "cool" bloggers are involved. It can be easy to forget that we all began with a sole reader; us, and have grown from there. It's easy to dismiss those "below" us and admire those "above" us but diss them if they ignore us. It's easy to believe the hierarchies and everything that should've been left back in highschool.
Businesses like Nuffnang, PR agencies and big companies don't help disperse the hierarchies either. They have a business to do, they want to reach the largest amount of people in their target audiences and know those who are influential. It's understandable and it's business. Except a lot of bloggers aren't blogging for a business, but rather a creative outlet, a way to interact with a wide community and make friends. Personal blogging is on the rise and the perks can be fantastic, but those perks you are receiving may be the downfall for another blogger.
Jealousy in blogging is rife. It's everywhere. Little snipes here and there. A nasty comment or a hundred from the same IP address on successful blogs. The saying is 'you haven't made it until you've had a nasty comment'. Unfortunately it's true. For some reason fellow bloggers, rather than be supportive prefer to leave cruel comments on certain blogs. Usually the more successful blogs.
Success. It's a word that could mean so much in the blogging universe. Success can be followers, page views, ads, comments, competitions held, events invited to, amount of time blogging and the recognition of other bloggers. Anything one blog has another lacks. Anything that one can be jealous of, also anything that can be found admirable.
We are all different. We all live our lives differently with different circumstances. It's true that we may all not get along, that happens in every aspect of life and it's ok. Suck it up, be polite and move on. Undermining, demeaning, defaming them and acting like a spoiled brat is not ok. Posting cruel comments on other's blogs is not ok. Ignoring them if they say hi at an event is not ok. Posting intentional, passive aggressive statuses is not ok. Treat others how you want to be treated.
We are woman, hear us roar. Together. Let's unite, give credit where it's due, put petty bullshit aside and support each other. Be positive rather than negative. If you have nothing nice to say, don't waste your time and someone else's by saying anything. Most of us have children, lets be a positive role model and show them that it's ok not to agree with someone but it's not ok to be cruel to them. It's ok to have different opinions because the world would be boring if we all agreed.
