Monday, May 14, 2007

In which I discuss our rustiness and violetude

OR In which I always get chocolate stains on my pants

Over in some of the nerdlier corners of the internest, there's some silliness going on about pseudonymity. Naturally, this is an issue close to my (our?) heart(s?) so maybe it's worth at least a couple of disjointed paragraphs in our "pages", right?

So! I guess some old-style (not the good kind) curmudgeonly types in their fancy ivory towers are less than pleased about anonymous and pseudonymous criticism they keep receiving from our mysterious series of tubes.

ASIDE: you know what? I keep trying to write the long posts and I just get exhausted and I feel like the lady who wrote Seabiscuit* and I save it to a draft and say fuckitall! and post 10cc videos or whatever. BUT I WILL SOLDIER ON (so be warned)

etc etc... where was I?

As is often the case, Matt "Don't you know there's a war on" Yglesias says most of what needs to be said:
On the internet, everyone gets a chance to speak, but there's no guarantee you'll be listened to. If people are "amplifying" anticrat424's thoughts by linking to them, quoting him, etc., that's going to be either because he's saying things that people think make sense. People might quote anticrat424 for the purpose of refuting him but that, again, presupposes that some people are taking him seriously. And, of course, over time your handle gets a reputation -- good, bad, or mixed -- just like a name in real life.


So what does that mean vis-a-vis your "friends" Rusty & Violet?

a) I (we?) say (or don't say) plenty of things. And almost nobody cares what we have to say (until we get famous). Of course, What Matt Says means:

b) We're gonna have to work and say things people give a shit about one way or another in order to get famous. Which basically goes against everything I (we?) want to believe, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt because he is more famous than us, for instance: he has been on television.

c) At present, nearly everyone reading this probably knows exactly who VB and/or I are. So this is all just some kind of stupid costume party. WHICH IS A LOT OF FUN I GOTTA SAY.

d) The last item probably means we need a blogroll of some sort. But this creates much anxiety!

e) on the last of many hands, I don't think anyone out there is gonna hate my work as much as I hate my work. I hope I end up with a good reputation, but I would settle for a Bad Reputation as long as it's the good kind.

and... Scene. I'm pretty tired.

*not to dminish the seriousness of chronic fatigue syndrome butyouknowwhatimean

UPDATED! because, among other things, I made the whole blog really small.

3 comments:

Violet said...

"nearly everyone" /= Seth Stevenson.

Anyway, this isn't even my real pseudonym.

Rusty B. Schwartz said...

mine neither.

Rusty B. Schwartz said...

hi seth!