Bloggers Who Live by the Golden Rule
Posted by Connie Reece on June 3, 2020 at 1:31 am
Two stories circulating last week demonstrate that most denizens of the blogosphere live by the age-old admonition of the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
When I was a kid, we used drive to nearby Wimberley, Texas, every summer, where one of our favorite activites was visiting Pioneer Town at the 7A Ranch Resort and attending the melodrama at the Opera House. The audience booed the villain and cheered the hero, who always managed to untie the heroine, lashed to the railroad tracks, just before the locomotive arrived. An alternate plot involved rescuing the property of the damsel in distress from the evil banker about to foreclose on her property.
Such was the news in the blogosphere last week. I learned of PR measurement guru K.D. Paine’s predicament from some of my blogger heroes, Joe Thornley, Shel Israel and Eric Eggertson. Her property, the historic Shankhassic Farm in Durham, NH, had been listed for auction by the mortgagee. A disastrous fire, a zoning dispute and a battle with cancer had caused Paine to fall behind in property taxes.
A word-of-mouth campaign, led by Paine’s many friends in PR and a number of notable bloggers, resulted in an outpouring of donations. Reports today are that the farm has been saved. **wild applause and cheers for the good guys**
Robert Scoble brought another situation to my attention when he described the troubles bombarding the photo-sharing site Zooomr. Eqiupment failure brought the service down, and 19-year-old founder Kristopher Tate started working around the clock to reinstate the service, which had no backup servers.
To explain the lack of service to users, Kris started ustreaming the crisis 24/7. Competitor Flickr sent over pizzas one day. And as the week bore on, the Scobleizer reported, several companies came to the start-up’s aid, including Zoho, Dell and Sun Microsystems. “Sometimes Silicon Valley bums me out,” Scoble said, “with all the greed and talk about getting great valuations and all that. It’s nice to see companies help get customer data back up and live.” **more wild applause and cheers for the heroes**
The next time you hear that tired accusation that bloggers are just a bunch of mean-spirited miscreants, remember that those “bad apples” are the exception, not the rule. The blogosphere is populated with quite a few Dudley Do-Rights and millions of everyday people who exhibit a spirit of generosity.
So, tell me. Have you experienced the generosity of a particular blogger? Who was it? How did they help you? Give them a shout-out here.
Category: In the News, Bloggers
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Comment by shel israel
Made June 3, 2020 at 3:23 pm
Thanks for the kind words, Connie. I think the Blogosphere is filled with the same mix of humanity that you would find at any social gathering. The important part is that it is filled with humanity, both good and bad.
Comment by Kami Huyse
Made June 3, 2020 at 4:49 pm
Yes, I agree. I talked with Katie on Friday, and she was stunned by the response of everyone.
There is also a cool story about Rob LaGesse who is mentoring Yuvi Panda, the amazing kid from India. Last week, his analysis on Engadget shut down his server and Rob migrated his blog to his own server. Out of this, Rob wants to start some sort of mentoring Wen 2.0 site that would assist others like Yuvi.
An interesting idea to be sure.
Comment by Joseph Thornley
Made June 3, 2020 at 8:13 pm
Connie, thanks for putting this into context. It is about community and the spirit of generosity.
Comment by Connie Reece
Made June 3, 2020 at 10:25 pm
Wow, I hit the comments jackpot — three of my favorite bloggers stopping by to add their voices to the conversation. Thanks!
Kami, please keep us updated on Yuvi and on Rob’s mentoring project. That sounds like a terrific idea, and one that many generous bloggers would support.
Comment by Drew McLellan
Made June 3, 2020 at 11:28 pm
Connie,
As you know, CK lost her mom a couple months ago. A group of her blogging friends wanted to make a difference and I think that was accomplished.
http://www.ck-blog.com/cks_blog/2007/05/speechless_and_.html
You’re right…it’s a wonderful place to be.
Drew
Comment by Connie Reece
Made June 3, 2020 at 11:37 pm
Drew, thanks for the reminder about CK and adding the link. What you and others did for her was truly amazing. Her blog post today was also great — about building relationships through blogging. Everyone, go visit CK’s blog!
Comment by Toby
Made June 7, 2020 at 8:57 pm
A dear friend’s 10-year old daughter needs a liver transplant. Out of pocket costs will run $185k. I posted on Diva Marketing with a call out to Atlanta bloggers. http://tinyurl.com/2rafue My surprise was kindness of Lew Green who lives in CT. Yes, bloggers have big hearts.
Comment by Connie Reece
Made June 8, 2020 at 3:35 pm
Toby, that’s great news that bloggers have stepped up to help Olivia. Even when insurance covers a transplant, the out-of-pocket costs are horrendous.
Comment by Eric Eggertson
Made June 20, 2020 at 1:43 pm
Connie: You did a good job of tying together several related events. I think sometimes people overestimate what can be done through blogging. Sometimes it’s the person-to-person stuff that makes an even bigger difference, but blogging can be what brings those people together.
Comment by Connie Reece
Made June 20, 2020 at 7:32 pm
Thanks, Eric. Blogging does have a great potential for bringing people together. And sometimes, as with K.D. Paine, the outcome is simply amazing.
Comment by Nathan Pannbacker
Made June 27, 2020 at 10:25 am
I can’t say I’ve experienced a lot of generosity, but I will say I’ve met tons of very intelligent people. Even the ones I disagree with most strongly are usually willing to be calm and reasonable. (At least as long as I am myself! I do my best to be.)
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