Blog War!
Shelton Bumgarner
Last few months, I have been "guest blogging" for one of the best expat
blogs in Korea, The Marmot's Hole (http://blog.marmot.cc).
Any number of individuals who frequent the site have bitched and moaned
about me not writing the way they want and I've honestly tried to
change my writing to fit their needs and expectations. But there is one
guy, a westerner who goes by the Korean name of "Kushibo-e Kibun," who
seems to not just dislike my writing but hate my guts, personally.
I made a lot of mistakes when I first started writing at The Marmot's
Hole because I didn't stake the joint out before I started writing In
hindsight I couldn't really help the situation too much 'cause that's
just my personality. And I hadn't written any "mass media" writing in
about a year and I seriously needed a fix. So I just went in without
thinking about it and ended up pissing a lot of people off 'cause I
didn't understand the audience well enough yet.
For that, I'm sorry.
But I can't really go back and change things. I have to deal with the
situation at hand, not another, better situation that might have
happened.
Things came to a head in the last few days when Kushibo and I went at
it in personal flame war in the message board associated with a post I
made. I've not seen such a heated, vicious attacks since the Great ARK
Flame War of about 10 years ago between myself and Net.Legend,
Wednesday. It appears Kushibo has been (momentarily?) "banned" from
posting and now he's fuming and writing nasty things about me on HIS
blog.
I have decidedly mixed feelings about this.
Part of me is pleased because what he was saying was just so rude
and...and...irrational that something had to be done. At one point, he
called me a "failed journalist" and I feel that's just going a little
too far. I may not currently be the most "successful" journalist of all
times right now, but I'm still young and it's possible things might
pickup in the future. "While there's life there's hope," as John Lennon
would say.
Another part of me thinks all of this is so silly that I want to go to
his blog -- where he is currently bitching a moaning about being
"banned" from The Marmot's Hole, and post something wry there which
would end with the words, "Remember, I don't care what you say about me
as long you spell my name right. By the way, it's 'B-u-m-g-a-r-n-e-r'"
But that would probably just stir things up even more. Although there
is a point to that saying -- by causing a stink about me and my
writing, he's probably only increased my profile in the local expat
community. Everybody likes a good egghead fight and while this is not
really the most equal of fights -- Kushibo is probably a lot smart than
I am and he knows a lot more about Korea than I do -- I'm not so sure
it's a fight he's really going to win if he simply wants everyone to
ignore me.
I am quite open with the fact that as a writer I have my weaknesses,
but I try to fix them as best I can once I become aware of them.
The fact that he's now bitching a moaning about being banned from The
Marmot's Hole on HIS blog only compounds the situation. I mean, Jee-Bas
H. Christ man, grow up. I mused on what my response to his childish
behavior should be and rather than post something to Ahssa!
(http://ahssa.blogspot.com) or Migukin (http://www.migukin.com) I
decided to post here where I get the best of both worlds -- an audience
of some sort, but an audience out of the noticable blogosphere of
Korean expats.
I just want everyone to be happy. I want to be able to write at The
Marmot's Hole in peace, I want Kushibo to be able to accept me writing
there and I want to serve the audience of The Marmot's Hole in away
that *allows* everyone to be pleased. I'm sure banning Kushibo -- even
for a little while -- is only going to make matters worse, but no
matter what, just remember, it's "B-u-m-g-a-r-n-e-r."