This is about as self-centered a post as I'll ever make on this blog so I apologize in advance. That said, I can't help but think its slightly better than all those inane "April 1st gag posts" out there so at least I have that.
A while back I made a post on Loren Feldman and 1938media. When I did I suspected he might see it some day but thought, at most, he'd drop a "shut up, I don't care what you think" in my comments and be done with it. What I got instead was my own personal "Loren Feldman attacks Tom" 1938Media Video.
It was a little harsh but I'm such a fan of the guy that I couldn't help but be more honored than insulted by the whole thing.
Anyway, the video was really just a set up for him to take another shot at Shel Israel (a fact I missed initially because I was a little shell shocked by the whole incident) but it still put a spotlight on me that I wasn't ready for.
That spotlight did give me some interesting insight though both from the comments section of that video and from this video posted on 1938media the day after.
For the comments section's part there were a lot of people who (as you'd expect) took aim at this site in defense of the 1938media site. That made me think a lot about distinctions and how not seeing them can warp your view of the world.
Look...to be blunt…I don’t have the talent for this that Loren has. I’m on him because he has that talent and I think professional presentation would take him further. I can have the most beautiful site in the world and it isn’t going to take me anywhere because I don’t have his talent.
That (rather obvious) distinction is what makes the folks in the comment section so interesting to me. It goes back to a point I've tried to make before on this blog which is there are "professionals" and there are "amateurs". The web can make it easier for amateurs to become professionals and that's great but that doesn't change the fact that there's a distinction. This homogenized view that "we're all equal because we all have a voice" is stupid.
I'm not saying amateur voices aren't valuable, I'm one of them after all. What I'm saying is that professionals are what they are because they have a skill and they've honed it. To think that you are as good as a professional simply because you exist is obnoxiously arrogant.
Back to me, I have no allusions of being a "web personality". I'm a programmer and (sadly) administrative guy who has been fairly successful at that. Because I think I've accomplished a lot I try to share insight I gained along the way in the hopes that others won't have to go through as much as I did to get it.
But I know my place and I'm happy with it. I'm an amateur blogger with a generic blog site and that's all I aspire to be. So advice that would apply to Loren Feldman isn't necessarily going to apply to me.
Distinctions are important in life. Ignore that and you can expect your whole view of the world to be warped because of it.
P.S. For the record, I LIKE the name of this blog. I think its catchy! (for the record its actually a tribute to my favorite web site as a kid which was tomshardware.com)