Wampum

I'm sorry to see you go -- I'll miss your posts on the economy. If you ever feel the need to rant about something, you're welcome to a guest spot at Thudfactor: Where No One Bothers You Because No One Reads You. :-)

I read her. Over the past three years I've worked at two theraputic nursery schools with over a dozen three-to-fives with autism diagnosis. She doesn't write with any sense of actually knowing anything about any spectrum disorder.

She's educated, but she isn't smart, and she sure is mean.

Jeebus, folks with Asperger's sneaking up on a civil rights heroine, blogging her Christian heart out at Starbucks. How could anyone sit still for that kind of silliness?

i am very sad if you really won't be blogging anymore. i will point out that i am probably not your only reader that doesn't know or care that much about the "blogosphere" community - i read a few blogs i have found that are intelligent, insightful, timely, and i feel enrich my understanding of the world. yours has been one of them. i have no interest in the rest of it. i will miss your blog very much.

I remember the original foofaraw and her nauseating and uninformed posts on Asperger's. I'm not shocked, somehow, that it was all some kind of freaky ego trip, though it sure is disappointing. I could just barely see acting out like that if one *had* been stalked, though I'd hope I had the wherewithal to separate the actions of one individual from those of all others w/the disability (as a sidebar, it was offputting to see her still being quoted approvingly at some blogs I otherwise enjoy reading, but I'll assume ignorance).

It's depressing and disgusting. MB, I still think you should keep on keeping on, but you knew I'd say that. :-) You've got a voice, you've got an audience for that voice, and you're an articulate defender of our children, among other important issues.

You know that I support you in your struggles to set the likes of MacDiva and others who use mental/neurological illness as a way to disparage others.

MB, try taking a breather. Don't leave us. No one talks as intelligently about the statistics they throw out at us as you do.

If you need a vacation, you can sleep in our extra bed. Warning: we have two new kittens and they are known to make our guests laugh uncontrollably.

So you quit and she wins? I'm disappointed. I depend on you for information on Maine issues, Howard Dean, and other political insights from the Native American viewpoint. Your opinions are valuable and important. Keep putting them forward for us to read.

Why quit? It makes no sense? Isn't the proper reaction to what you've identified to continue speaking out? Take a week off maybe to chill, but then come back and continue to speak out.

MB, no one should ever be driven out of the blogosphere by hostility from another blogger... and most especially you should not. You are just too valuable, too bright, too decent, to have that happen.

If you decide to leave blogging because it takes so very, very much time and energy... and even my blog, hardly a paragon of good writing and superb thinking as yours has been, takes an inordinate amount of my life energies... I can accept that. There are many wonderful things one can do that do not involve publishing anything on the web. Some of those may be good reasons to put aside your blog. Our loss may well be someone's gain.

But please don't let personal disputes drive you away. I'm keeping my link to you in place, just in case you decide to reconsider. I sincerely hope you do.

Either way, thanks for everything you have written. You've educated and moved me.

I,too,think you shouldn't be the one to quit-your blog has been wonderful and I will miss it

You should leave your blog up, even if you aren't posting regularly. That way it will always be there for you if the mood strikes. (that's what I do!) Just keep it on-line. One day you'll think of something important that you'll want to share. It would be good if you still had a place for it.

I read your blog often, and enjoy it. I am sorry that my first comment could end up being on your last post.

No more pre-digested economics? You expect me to think for myself?

That sucks.

No more lies. That's nice!

I truly appreciate all of your words; leaving at this time was not a decision I made hastily. I don't blog anonymously, and I have been fairly open about my life. Unfortunately, this has certain drawbacks, a few of which I've experienced as of late which lead me to believe that blogging at this time is just not worth any price - in fact, it's not even worth my $.02.

I understand why people blog under pseudonyms, but that's just not me. So perhaps I'll feel comfortable returning when the issue of harassment in my real life due to my online persona has subsided.

I hope you all understand that no matter how much I enjoy you all virtually, real life prevails.

I'm so sorry that this has ended up following you out into the rest of your life. I understand why you want to back off for that reason (you're stronger than letting an online quibble push you away), but I think you know that there are a lot of people who will want you back soonest.

oh dear.

The reason I went into blogging instead of/from online communities (clearly having a life wasn't ever an option) was that I've been so pleased by how the people I read focus on the issues that really matter to them rather than the personalities of the people around them.

(Obviously I don't read too far to the right).

It would make me (and really, what else is it about, really?) feel dreadful if what I've started thinking of as a loose-knit community of common interest broke apart because we don't all take to each other or sometimes we set each other off, and I tend to feel as if that's what's at the root of most of the brushfires that start online.

There are people I read who I would be in a knock-down dragout every five minutes if I knew them in person, because their way of approaching the world makes me feel as if I'm ripping a sweater with my teeth.*

If they hit something good, I link to them, because I honestly believe that it's important that this stuff get out there.

Things get very personal very fast when people feel as if their credibility or their world view or their reputation is at stake. Couldn't we possibly circle the wagons and agree to disagree (or at least multilaterally let it go) at least until after the elections?

I could name you four online communities off the top of my head whose ruling principle is the need for the alpha neurotics to piss on trees (and people). It's out there and it's available and it's a crappy model. As hard as it is (and I was never all that successful at it) it's really freeing to keep the judgments internal or anonymous and focus on what (in this case all three of you) are doing that's valuable and important.

Don't mean to lecture, I just feel really strongly about this and I hate watching real people get hurt by the armor-wielding avatars it's far too easy to deploy online.

Maybe it's something to think about?

*And no, I'm not going to say who they are, although they probably feel pretty much the same way about me.

Earlier today, I'd posted an anonymous version of this comment on a Right wing site that was discussing this very issue. I called myself "A Lefty" for lack of a more creative pseudonym. I've since figured it's sort of ludicrous for me to hide behind faux names, especially in my own blogging community...so, here's the deal...

Mac Diva is a prolific but narcissistic writer who attracts people to her more hateful posts like highway rubberneckers to an accident. As time goes on, and as people see what she is doing, more and more are recognizing her as a disturbed lady with a keyboard, and by her own actions, she is becoming increasingly ignored by the Lefty Blogosphere. Those who still link to her are unaware of her problems. If you run Technorati, you can see that with the exception of a couple who haven't yet "gotten it," most who have been around the Lefty 'Sphere for awhile are having nothing to do with her. We've figured her out without having to consult one another about it or write reams of commentary on the subject.

Listen, it is impolite and the height of insensitivity to bash people for emotional issues, and I'm trying very hard not to go there. Most people who run political blogs talk politics, not interblogging bullshit. Additionally, nobody wants to suffer the public wrath of a troubled person. But be that as it may...something needs to be said, and the truth is, this woman is Out To Lunch.

Most of us in the Blogosphere have a sense of proportion and propriety in this virtual place. We understand the importance of community, and even when we disagree - even when our disagreements are vehemently partisan - they generally don't drop to the occasion of beating up on the disabled or crafting pseudonymous Hate Blogs.

Still, we in the blogging community need to examine a related issue, and that is the driving force for recognition through links. As I've said before, blogging popularity is a fleeting enterprise. One day, you're soaring, the next day, you're flat on your virtual back. My advice to people is simple: write because you're compelled to write, not because of how many people you're going to reach. A blog will never reach as many readers as a well placed article in a mainstream periodical. Second...link to people and the posts they write because they are intriguing and of value to you, your ideology, your core. Don't link to get linked. When we play that game, we create our own monsters.

The best thing the Blogosphere can do about this woman is to summarily ignore her ass.

Well put, Lisa. I agree completely that Mac Diva should be ignored. I've just removed her from my blogroll myself. I'm leaving my link to Wampum, though, because I hope she'll someday return.

Dear MB --

Please don't go -- we need you

Hi MB, add my voice to those taking the time to ask you not to give up on blogging through this discouragement. About 18 so far in this thread? Ampersand also has a post regretting your decision.
I don't know what else to say, except here's hoping you change your mind. And what other blog will tell me about Indian issues? Don't get sucked into a dispute you've stayed above so far.

I had one run-in with MacDiva over at Alas A Blog and I simply ended it by not answering her anymore. It satisfied me to speak my piece once to her and leave her to rant.

Lisa speaks truth: MacDiva is someone most of us figure out is worth ignoring. You don't have to answer her every jibe. It works better, dear MB, when you concentrate on what matters to you about the autism issue and speak to that. Don't get caught up with this person like we got caught up with the Firl back in the mid-1990s.

As for not using pseudonyms, I am with you on that, MB. What does it say about our views if we will not attach our name to them?

Lisa makes another good point when she addresses the issue of links. I've been whittled down many times because of my independent views on many subjects and later I rise again. Still I write, on many topics as they present themselves to me. (And you should see the stuff in my notebooks that doesn't make it to the blog!) You will do a better job of moving the world if you just keep showing that your views are worth having by presenting them for others to see. Silence changes nothing except the noise level.

Maybe I'll blog about this later, but I also wanted to chime in on this. I was unaware both of Mac Diva's propensity for nonlinearity and of the conflict that has caused you to stop blogging. Like you, I don't do anonymity. I find it utterly appalling that an online disagreement resulted in offline trouble for you.

That said, though, I agree with Joel and Lisa that by far the better way to deal with someone like this is to simply ignore them. Without attention, they do go away eventually. I know that you're unhappy with the misrepresentation of Asperger's, but I think that all one can do is present the facts of the matter and leave it at that. Engaging in an argument, particularly one with as little content as this one apparently had, is useless. I speak from long, bitter experience on Usenet.

It took me a while, but I did finally learn not to try to teach pigs to sing.

I think you're doing the right thing, MB. Taking time off is probably the best thing you could do in this case. On the other hand, I would suggest that you not rule out a return to blogging. When you've become sufficiently relaxed, you may find those words come bubbling out again. :-)

I will certainly miss you. I gained a lot of insight into what being American Indian really means from your writing.

Thanks, though, for this addendum. It helps to know just what happened.

I really hate to see you go. There are virtually no Native American voices anywhere. I wish I would have told you how much I've enjoyed your work earlier.

Best wishes.

I'll keep popping in like I just have and hoping you will be back one of these days. I do understand your decision though. When things online threaten your life off line, it is pretty scary. I think that alone is justification for anonymous blogging or posting. Hopefully things will turn around for you and you will feel safe in coming back to us. At least once in awhile...
regards,

This sort of praise always comes too late, eh?
I mean, I could say that I hate to see you go (and I do), but you wouldn't have made this decision if blogging had become so stressful that mere fulsome praise isn't going to help...

Nevertheless, I hope you come back.

Regarding the MacDiva situation, I think you've helped me make the decision to take her off the Prog Gold blogroll. I've noticed her vendetta towards The Watch before, as well as some other behaviour I've been uncomfortable with. Thanks for the kick in the butt I needed.

Please don't leave permanently. I don't know anything about what happened (I'm clueless when it comes to the intra-blogosphere), but I do know that I love to read your writing and you constantly educate me. Your skill and talent is worth sharing, and I consider it a treat to be able to read your writing.

Whatever else is going on, please know that you have avid readers who will deeply miss you if you go.

No no no no no no no! Dont' go!

What Avedon said. Or come back soon, whichever. Or, less prescriptively: you have a unique, cogent, and valuable voice, which will be missed.

I would not like to see you go away just because of the actions of others. Nobody can make you feel the way you do but yourself. Your feelings are your choice.

It would be sad to lose a great blog such as yours. I sincerely hope that you reconsider this decision to make this your last post.

Add my voice to those hoping you'll return. I've been checking in through my link to you at the Lefty Directory, which I intend to leave up in hopes of a change of heart.

The Mac Diva issue is a troubling one. I think a few of us were keeping up links to her in hopes that she would settle in to a more positive groove. There is talent there, and the point of view is under represented in the blogs.

I only caught up on some of the other conflicts with her recently, and on balance, it seems clear to me that there is no reason to hope for a change. If anything, it seems to have gotten worse. The comment about the blogger's Korean wife, and the mental illness stuff literally shocked me, and that's a difficult thing to do.

I'd expect remaining Lefty permalinks to her to begin disappearing rather quickly. Rittenhouse Review dropped her rather publicly in a post today, and I've dropped her from AintNoBadDude and The Lefty Directory. There's always Usenet...

Here's hoping that other bloggers with concern for civil rights and race issues -- but with fewer "issues" -- fill the void.

Also, for the future, I think the policy should be "don't feed the troll".

Be well, MB.

I am very sorry to see you go MB. I haven't read Mac Diva much, and pretty much stopped when her rants against The Watch (and others) started.

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