I eagerly await the unveiling of the new NIT, but in the meantime I have to wonder: Is William even trying to find stuff to write about Nashville? Does he even read other Nashville blogs? Or has he simply turned NIT into a personal blog about politics? I’m thinking the answer is the latter of these. Why, I wonder, are they letting him do that?
I agree with William on many things, but not about how that site should be run. There are so many blogs writing about Bush, the war and the upcoming presidential election. Why would NIT cover that, without at least linking locally to other blogs? Was the goal of the site all along not readily apparent?
I guess I don’t understand it. I don’t understand why Volunteer Voters has gone to a “question only, I give no opinion” format, yet NIT has become a personal sounding board for one very partisan blogger. What is that about? I love the people at WKRN to this day, but they really need to get on the ball with this NIT 2.0. They are, at this pace, destroying what was once a great thing.
UPDATE: Comments on this thread have been closed. It devolved into “fuck you”s and some of the worst grammar I’ve ever encountered. Got a comment? Send me an email or post it on your own blog. Start a blog if need be.
74 comments ↓
Yes, after day #21 of William and his political views, I removed NiT from my feedreader. I would have preferred no posts at all compared to the partisan griping.
[…] Brittney shares a few thoughts about her former workplace I guess I don’t understand it. I don’t understand why Volunteer Voters has gone to a “question only, I give no opinion” format, yet NIT has become a personal sounding board for one very partisan blogger. What is that about? I love the people at WKRN to this day, but they really need to get on the ball with this NIT 2.0. They are, at this pace, destroying what was once a great thing. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
More to the point, why did WKRN tell AC to become an aggregator and then let that dude run free on NIT?
oops, read whole post before commenting.
I quit posting a few weeks ago for to not be lumped in with “that”. I enjoyed posting there, but it was getting out of control.
As I have said before, I’m just doing NiT til someone pulls the plug, and it will be soon. I’ve enjoyed stimulating debate as I do not have the time, desire or am compensated to be a blog community leader. If WKRN wanted another Brittney, why didn’t they go out and buy one? I am not a professional blogger, just a guitar player. I have no stake in NiT’s future or any say in how it’s run.
Yes, I’ve been posting what interests me but what I do post - politics, stories of National interest - do affect us all. (i.e. the war has cost every living person in this state about $1500). It’s not like I’m posting personal stories of my boating, hiking or motorcycle adventures.
I do see commercial ads on the site… so somebody is making $. And since I was told that the recent post on Ron Paul generated more than 10,000 hits in a few hours, overwhelmed the server shutting it down, and 84 comments… I think this site is still viable. Nashville IS certainly talking about some of these things and if you have an opinion, I’d love to hear it.
Brittney, I would be happy to post about the smell of your hand soap and your conversations with the boyfriend if someone would pay me, otherwise, hang on, NiT 2.0 is almost here. And, I’m sure you can post on NiT if you ask Christian for a key. Others have.
And since I was told that the recent post on Ron Paul generated more than 10,000 hits in a few hours, overwhelmed the server shutting it down, and 84 comments…
You could get the same kind of traffic abberation by posting a shot of Brittney Spears’ labia.
Not the same thing as building community.
William, I don’t think you understand that people (well, most people) are not upset that you are posting liberal rantings. Most are upset that you are treating NiT as your personal blog. I agree w/ Kat: It doesn’t matter if NiT got 20 bajillion hits in 20 minutes because you posted about the price of rice in China—NiT has still gone down the tubes, and you are largely responsible for it.
Don’t act like you’re “just doing your job,” because if you really cared about what Nashville was talking about, you’d link to local blogs.
I would be happy to post about the smell of your hand soap and your conversations with the boyfriend if someone would pay me, otherwise, hang on, NiT 2.0 is almost here.
Oh, hold on just an effing minute.
I have to respond to this.
I mean, I don’t know what to say to this other than “Oh gosh, you ARE freaking kidding me, right?”
Just because you aren’t getting paid is no reason to do a self-absorbed, alienating, pedantic and shrill job. It’s that kind of statement that says to me just EXACTLY how frakking much WKRN/Grantham are valuing this community right now.
Because they will allow someone–anyone–to come in and do a shitty job just because they don’t want to pay someone to do the job and do it well. Or take five freaking damn minutes a day and make sure that the volunteers they do have aren’t hijacking the plane.
That speaks volumes to me about the “community”. Frakking PLEASE, William. Just please.
I’m so frakking sick of this whole “well you too could come over here and be a jerk” free-range attitude the station has taken toward that blog. Not that it matters to me, I suppose. It’s just galling in principle. (principal? Where is Bob Krumm?)
I mean, I moderate an all-volunteer community site. But we don’t go around with the attitude of “I know you don’t like what I write, and I know that I’m not writing anything close to the mission statement we have here, and I know that I’m getting on your nerves, but I aint gettin’ paid, so SUCK IT!” I spend at least 3 hours A DAY combing through blogs to post things of interest from as many POVs as I can find. And we’ve got other people on board to make sure that the representation is as fair as possible.
What the hell? I mean, seriously. What the hell?!? So you don’t like Iraq. So you hate the president. Get in line behind the other 80 kajillion netroot schmoes who have the exact same frakking blog. It’s shitty behaviour of you to take the keys to the family car that was NIT and wrap it around the tree of your choosing, all the while shrilling at people ‘YOU F—-S COULD HAVE DRIVEN, TOO!!!!’ ”
Many of us DID volunteer. Because of my respect for WKRN’s behaviour in the past, Brittney Gilbert, Mike Sechrist and Terry Heaton do I refrain from saying why I no longer volunteer. But trust me. I would not have quit had it not been fully warranted.
Yet I feel as if I should have stayed there if only to amelioriate the deleterious effects of your daily doses of agitprop that masquerade as “Community Blogging”.
That whole “Why don’t you volunteer” statement bespeaks utter contempt for your readers and the community you’ve incinerated that makes me irate almost beyond comprehension.
NIT stank before, it stinks now. But, personally, I’d rather read about people’s opinions on the war than read about a bunch of fat broads roasting marshmellows.
But that’s just me.
Sorry you’re so bitter that you didn’t get Brittney’s job Katherine.
Oh, Good Lord.
All that ^ needs is a, “Neener neener neener”, to make it complete.
Grow the hell up, the last two of ya’.
Sorry you’re so bitter that you didn’t get Brittney’s job Katherine.
I didn’t want Brittney’s job, William. I NEVER did.
I have a job already.
I realise that’s a common misperception out there, but that is not at all the case now, nor has it ever been.
I’m just sorry you are unable to realise that integrity can exist apart from a paycheck.
Ironic that you complain so much about that vis a vis the Bush administration but can’t see the same failing within yourself–that belief that people can do well out of a desire to be of service to the community of friends they’ve built–not just for flash and cash.
“not upset that you are posting liberal rantings”
Well, I am. It’s one thing to be liberal (I read a few liberal blogs). It’s another to be captain coo coo banana.
I’m just sorry you are unable to realise that integrity can exist apart from a paycheck.
Amen.
WTF is integrity? Posting stuff you’re interested in and agree with? Making you feel important by highlighting the fact you have a migrane? Sorry, I’m not a part of the clique.
Again, I am not a human aggregator. I like to stimulate discussion and that is what I have done. I invite everyone to participate and contribute.
I will not talk of trivial matters regarding my personal life because it IS NOT my personal blog, despite your accusations to that effect.
However, I will tell you what intergrity is not -
I didn’t want Brittney’s job, William. I NEVER did.
Dude, no one’s asking you to post about your own life. What is so hard to understand about NiT not being your own personal blog? We don’t want to hear all about your personal politics just like we don’t want to hear all about your shaving habits. What we do want, and what apparently you are unable to comprehend, is for you to link to blogs written/maintained by people living in or around the Nashville area about things relevant to their lives. If all you can handle is going on and on about how George Bush sucks ass (which I totally agree that he does), then fine, go for it. But link to a few local blogs to help make your point, at least. Or get the f off NiT and create your own personal blog.
Megan,
Please contact Christian at WKRN, you could do a local blogger roundup with links. Sounds like a great idea!!
“…than read about a bunch of fat broads roasting marshmellows. ”
Just damn.
I’ve recently been trying to learn everything I can about building an online community. It’s HARD. It takes a special attention and care, and sometimes doing things counterintuitively. It takes long-term thinking.
This week, I did something I can only hope pays off down the road: I gave a competitor a scoop. Scoops are HUGE in entertainment blogging. My editor probably wasn’t very happy about it, but this blogger and I are building a working relationship. When I took the UBN gig, the first thing I did was try to find a community to latch onto. There was none, so I have to build it from scratch. If it pays off, it will do so down the road.
This is why I have to admire what Brittney did, and what Kat and Ivy are doing. Generating hits, on a short-term basis is easy. But one has to build a community to make it sustainable. It takes a level of maturity that, frankly, most bloggers don’t have. This is advice I’ve been given by bloggers who would not be impressed with your 11,000 hits.
It’s my understanding WKRN is not going to follow this model, when NiT 2.0 is launched, they will primarily be an aggregator, with a “hook” of some video razzle dazzle. THAT is actually worse than what’s there now.
And for what it’s worth, at least posts about fat broads roasting marshmallows come from original thought.
That was just a damned mean, petty thing to say. Not exactly the best way to build a community.
However, I will tell you what intergrity is not -
I didn’t want Brittney’s job, William. I NEVER did.
I don’t know what information you’re working from.
I would submit that you have conversations with Kate O’Neill, Lesley, Malia, Ginger, Ivy, John H., Aunt B…..
Oh god. The list is so long.
I never ever wanted Brittney’s job. These people were all told that and told so immediately and repeatedly.
Riiight, William. Like I would wait for your invitation to do that. Nice cop-out. You really just don’t get it. And I feel sorry for you.
Making you feel important by highlighting the fact you have a migrane?
It doesn’t make me feel important. It lets people know that there’s a reason content may be slow. It also lets our community of volunteers know that there are content-ad spaces available.
It’s one of those things that happens in a community.
Megan,
If you won’t do it, what gives you the right to complain about me not doing it?
Kat,
Sorry, I just get a little tired of the complaints and people like Megan not lifting a finger to help.
Oh, I’m lifting a finger. Right now, in fact. ;)
Sorry, I didn’t hear your excuse for why you can’t do what you’re suggesting I should be doing.
Look, William, I don’t give a good goddamn what you do with NiT, but I will not have you accusing Kat of things that are patently untrue. Kat didn’t want Brittney’s job, she was trying to keep the community alive. A community that has helped many of us in tons of ways. I’d go on, but I, too, have a migraine. Must be something in the MCB water.
Oh, sorry, it must be hard to hear over all that lute playing. ;)
1. Already have a job
2. NiT doesn’t pay
3. Much better as a personal blogger (aka I know my strengths/weaknesses)
4. Would rather sit around w/ fat broads and roast marshmallows
William,
What other people should or shouldn’t, or want or don’t want, to be doing for NiT is hardly the point. The point is that you’ve been getting the same feedback for two months - please highlight local bloggers and the Nashville community, as the site is intended to do - and you haven’t done that. You don’t even seem to recognize the problem when a site that is intended to do that is instead turned into to your own little political rant space and fails to be in any way integrative or community-building. Instead, you hurl petty insults at Kat, and Brittney, and Megan. None of them owe you an explanation for what they are or are not doing, and are simply expressing that what they once valued now has little to no value due to the turn the site has taken.
a bunch of fat broads roasting marshmellows.
I’d like to know where this blog is, because I’d TOTALLY read it.
Similarly, I used to read a religious blog for someone who practiced a different faith than I. At first it was an enlightening exploration into a different world view, about growing in one’s spirituality and all other sorts of good and expanding stuff.
Since about six months ago, though, the blog has basically been about how evil liberals and secularists are and how Bush has ruined conservatism in America. There’s also lots of stuff about how Muslims are doomed to burn in the lake of eternal fire and somesuch.
It’s really turned me off to what was originally and great read.
Rachel,
I agree. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to do the job that Brittney did so well. I think your suggestion of highlighting local bloggers and the Nashville community is excellent. Please contact Christian at WKRN and he’ll allow you to do that for NiT.
William, again, if I personally wanted to “do that for NiT,” after the bad faith they displayed with the last of the supposed-to-get-paid guest bloggers, the lack of any kind of acknowledgement/send-off for Brittney, lack of communication in general, etc., I would contact Christian myself, without your permission or suggestion, but it’s not as though any of us need to outline all of those reasons for you. It’s not that Megan and I are making a novel suggestion, or that what we’re suggesting is something you are incapable of doing yourself - it’s what was being done all along, until recently.
As you may remember back in July, I was doing a blog roundup series I was calling “Morning Tea”… look back at some of these posts. Imagine the time and all the reading i had to do to put together some of these posts. Hours.
Here’s an example.
Notice that almost none of these posts generated any discussion.
Compare that to this post right around the same time.
Look at the discussion.
See what I’m getting at here?
Maybe I can put this in terms you understand.
You are a guitar player. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you were the best classical guitarist in the universe. You can play the entirety of Dvoråk’s New World Symphony on the guitar. You give command performances of that symphony to crowned heads of state.
Then you hear about an annual week-long bluegrass festival in East Noplace whose entire lineup of performers was killed in a fiery plane crash. You know that the festival’s money to pay performers burned up in the fiery plane, and so you volunteer to play for them.
You show up to this festival which has been going on once a year for the last, I dunno, say 100, years. And you start playing Dvoråk.
Bless you, it’s the best damned Dvoråk ever picked on a stringed instrument. Luthiers around the world have begged to craft instruments for your touch. But the crowd wants bluegrass. They’ve been holding this bluegrass festival forever. That’s why they show up. The music and the funnel cakes.
Every night the crowd shows up expecting bluegrass. You could play bluegrass, but man, that isn’t you’re thing. You’re the Dvoråk guy. Yet the crowd keeps yelling for bluegrass music at their bluegrass festival.
By the third night of the festival there’s maybe 8 people there where there used to be 10,000. As he’s closing up his tent the funnel cake guy suggests to you that you maybe should be playing bluegrass.
It looks kind of odd for you to say “I don’t dig on Bluegrass. I’m the Dvoråk guy.”
It looks even odder for you to say “Hey, funnel cake man! If you don’t like how I ran off all your customers, you get up here and play.”
The point isn’t that others could play. The point is that you said YOU would play the bluegrass festival, and in so doing the entire audience assumed they’d get bluegrass music.
WILL YOU FUCKING DROP THE “WHY DON’T YOU VOLUNTEER?” ROUTINE?
You know damn well what NiT purpose is/was.
Why don’t you contact Christian to NOT volunteer if that’s a problem?
My version of this comment with links is awaiting moderation, so i’ll skip the wait and say:
As you may remember back in July, I was doing a blog roundup series I was calling “Morning Tea”… look back at some of these posts. Imagine the time and all the reading i had to do to put together some of these posts. Hours.
Notice that almost none of these posts generated any discussion. 1 or 3 comments maybe if any.
Compare that to this post right around the same time:
“What it means to be under oath.” A purely political post.
result - 55 comments
See what I’m getting at here?
It sounds like no one will volunteer to make NiT a better place because people are pissed at Christian, it doesn’t pay and they don’t have the time. Is that what I’m hearing?
No, what you’re hearing is exactly what Kat just illustrated for you, in detail.
Kat’s is right on. William, if you want to tell all your critics that they should sign up and volunteer, fine. Maybe they should. But you also need to think about what you have volunteered for. By volunteering to write for NIT, you have volunteered to contribute to a blog whose sole purpose was/should be/is supposed to be drawing attention to Nashville bloggers. By telling Megan that she should volunteer to “do a local blogger roundup with links,” you illustrate the extent to which you have hijacked NIT. Nashville Is Talking was created to be a local blogger roundup.
I just don’t understand why you’ve volunteered to blog for NIT if you aren’t going to make any effort to adhere to the blog’s mission and purpose. Kat really nailed it with the bluegrass analogy.
Also, there are plenty of ways to create provocative posts and still link to other bloggers. Brittney did it all the time. It’s not hard to find Nashville bloggers who have interesting and controversial things to say. Instead of just mentioning these bloggers in a daily roundup, you might actually dedicate an entire post to what one of these bloggers has to say.
As you may remember back in July, I was doing a blog roundup series I was calling “Morning Tea”… look back at some of these posts. Imagine the time and all the reading i had to do to put together some of these posts. Hours.
Notice that almost none of these posts generated any discussion. 1 or 3 comments maybe if any.
Okay. Some advice. And it’s free, so it’s probably worth about what you paid. I was out of town for a lot of that time when “Morning Tea” first hit the front pages, and I wasn’t paying a lot of attention. But if you’d asked me then I would have said:
1. Don’t do them all in one post. That’s Blog information overload. Again with the music analogy: People read ag-blogs like they listen to pop music. Quick, fast beat, easy to dance to.
2. Don’t expect comments on your posts, and don’t use comments as a way to measure your success. Community blogs are about building community. People feel good (or they used to) when NiT would link their stuff. It’s like validation. So you may not get comments, but we all remember the link love. It’s called “link love” for a reason. Again with the music analogy: sometimes you give a live performance, and sometimes you make a record. Consider the comment-less posts like the recorded performances. You don’t feel the applause but you know people are digesting them on their own.
None of them owe you an explanation for what they are or are not doing, and are simply expressing that what they once valued now has little to no value due to the turn the site has taken. -Rachel
By volunteering to write for NIT, you have volunteered to contribute to a blog whose sole purpose was/should be/is supposed to be drawing attention to Nashville bloggers. -Josh
Per Rachel, why does this coterie of blogger-cliquesters feel that William owes them an explanation for anything he does at Nashville is Talking or anywhere else?
Per Josh, Nashville is Talking, as it currently exists, has no “sole purpose.”
Hallmarks of a clique (besides it being depressingly juvenile in form and function) include a gang mentality and a requisite “out group.” What have we here?
Hi, Kevin! Coffee house open late?
::sigh::
I guess the UnClique is too busy brushing off hisher Psychology Today article about the nature of Cliques to have read the NiT “about” page where it says….
“As the name suggests, Nashville Is Talking is a blog devoted to the daily conversation that takes place in and around the Greater Nashville community. If it’s being discussed in Music City, we hope you’ll find it here.”
That would be the answer to the UnClique’s question.
Per Josh, Nashville is Talking, as it currently exists, has no “sole purpose.”
That is so unintentionally hilarious I have no idea how to address it without first saying
hahahahahahahaha
Basically, the enterprise had a stated mission on it’s ‘About’ page (which is generally where one goes on the Internet to find out ‘About’ a website’s “sole purpose”). That stated mission has been whittled away into the near-equivalent of GET RX FROM CANADA!!!! VIAGRA!!!VIOXX!!! placeholders which occupy other dormant domains.
The customers of the product which the television station is ostensibly selling according the ‘About’ page are merely stating their desire to see their product returned to them. Or not bastardised.
It is so freaking hysterical to see someone say “We pissed on the About statement a long time ago so why do you care?!?”
a blog whose sole purpose was/should be/is supposed to be drawing attention to Nashville bloggers
It just goes to show ya: Without leadership, and without Brittney, WKRN was free to do with it as they wished. That’s what they did, and that’s what you have. Were WKRN clueless? Maybe. But to expect volunteers to continue to do the job Brittney did? Beyond ridiculous.
WKRN doesn’t owe any of you (except the guest bloggers who got stiffed out of their $100 for the weekend gig) a GOTdamned thang.
KatCo and Ivy — not content to whine about what they thought NiT owed them — did the right thang.
The rest just got whiny and sentimental.
.
.
If NiT is dead to you, prove it to youself: Don’t go back. There are other places to gather, online.
Done!
.
WKRN doesn’t owe any of you (except the guest bloggers who got stiffed out of their $100 for the weekend gig) a GOTdamned thang.
But…from a marketing perspective….which is how Brittney titled this post…
We can all marvel at how a lack of oversight has cost the company valuable consumer goodwill and squandered most of its initial investment.
I’ll always scratch my head over that.
We can all marvel at how a lack of oversight has cost the company valuable consumer goodwill and squandered most of its initial investment.
That’s very true. It’ll take them a long time to build it back, if they ever even try. I’m fairly amazed they didn’t shut the entire online enterprise down within a week of Brittney’s departure, honestly. From what I understand, it never had any positive effect on the bottom line, so I can see why their vision has been filtered through that lens.
But it’s too late to try to cultivate the same audience (that didn’t translate to more money in Young Broadcasting’s pocket) they had with NiT, before. They’ve dicked around far too long (hell, a week on the Internet might as well be a year), so I really don’t see any point. It’s like a TV station (to use an analogy they might understand) that was running like any TV station might, and then one day, they were only on-air for one random hour a day, and you’d either have Bill Moyers’ Journal or I Love Lucy suddenly beaming out of the tower.
They’ll have to have a completely new concept for NiT to have further value to us or to them.
But I have to commend you and Ivy for what you’re trying to do with MCB. You’ve inherited the community, certainly.
.
But I have to commend you and Ivy for what you’re trying to do with MCB. You’ve inherited the community, certainly.
Well, thanks. But it really wasn’t our HOPE to “inherit” it, because we didn’t want to see NiT die. We hoped to continue to grow it in a more consumer-driven direction. And it’s still early days on that.
And, as i just said to Ivy in an email
“I’m just trying to give back to a group who has helped me get through countless piles of shit over the last two years”
If nothing else, I have a huge karmic debt over the whole JLK thing.
Hallmarks of a clique (besides it being depressingly juvenile in form and function) include a gang mentality and a requisite “out group.” What have we here?
Normally I don’t make too many comments, but it’s Friday and I’ve had a couple cocktails, so what the hell?
Dear “Un-Clique”,
What is this clique to which you refer? This criticism has been lobbed around before, but in my estimation the people doing the lobbing either a) don’t understand the meaning of the word, or b) look for ostracism where there isn’t any. There have been several “blogger” (oof, I hate that word) functions which have been all-inclusive and widely publicized. The aggregate blogs in question have highlighted (up until lately at NiT) a wide variety of different subjects and viewpoints.
I have never met any of the local bloggers in person (to my knowledge, anyway) with the exception of Kathy T., who was taking care of a stray cat that I ended up adopting. I don’t attend any functions. I don’t socialize with any of these folks. I don’t “suck up.” If there were an “out group” as you contend, I would be a perfect candidate for it. Yet I still feel like an appreciated, valued member of a little community.
I can’t speak for anyone else’s experience, but mine has been decidedly clique-free. Your comments smack of bitterness, immaturity, and petulance. Perhaps that is part of the problem.
I’m done now. Apologies to Brittney for spouting off in her comments.
Kristina, thank you for that comment. It made my day in ways you will never know.
When I was in junior high there most definitely was a clique and I most definitely was NOT allowed to be in it. I was made fun of every single day of 7th and 8th grade because of how “strange” I was and, oddly enough, because I wasn’t “white enough”. I can’t even begin to tell you how hard this really was for me.
So here I am, an adult, and have spent most of my life eschewing cliques, only to be a part of this community and be continually accused of being in a clique. It is really the one thing people can say about MCB that pisses me off.
So when you make a comment like yours, it makes me feel a hell of a lot better. Thanks, man.
Hey, I’ve been in SF all day! Sorry I wasn’t around to comment, but I had to get it off my chest. Thanks for the great discussion everyone.
Brittney, while you’re there, try to get some photos of fat chicks roasting marshmallows, OK?
i stopped in to say that i totally agree with ya brittney. little did i know i’d enter a bee hive.
not being the most active person within the nashville blogging community, and nit included in that. i don’t have the same hurt feelings many have. still, is there a space for conversing that doesn’t take on so much aggression? it’s just plain crazy
I don’t normally weigh in on the frey, but after reading the original post and the several dozen comments, I am in:
1. For better (or worse) things have changed at WKRN and at NiT. New management looked at NiT and probably decided that community goodwill doesn’t add to the bottom line. I view that as a realistic assessment albeit shortsighted.
2. The mission and vision of NiT appears to be changing as well. From William’s comments (see above), it sounds like the objective of the blog is to generate traffic…any kind of traffic. After all, when one goes to sell ad space on a blog, traffic is a key selling point. If that is the case and if that works to improve the bottom line at WKRN, then I would expect to see more of what we are seeing now.
3. The current name, Nashville is Talking, at least within the core (clique?) group of community bloggers should perhaps be changed to Nashville Bloggers are Talking About What ‘Nashville is Talling’ Isn’t Talking About. I’m guessing that WKRN probably has forgotten that first, Saturday morning gathering at the station where a dozen or so Nashville bloggers gathered to hear about this new venture…and how that blossomed to well over 100 bloggers on a problematic aggregator. The station drew focus on the local ‘blogger’. NiT featured local ‘bloggers’. And the links and resulting trackbacks associated with Nashville is Talking were more symbiotic, each benefiting from the other’s readership…at least the bloggers benefited, the station was probably expecting revenue as a benefit(see item 2 - traffic). From my understanding of what is to become of the blogs at WKRN, NiT is evolving into “WKRN is Talking” and will focus on what the paid employee (bloggers) at WKRN have to say. It is a way to control (i.e. harness) the content and avoid the risk of offending the sensitivities of advertisers…apparently something that became an issue during BG’s last days.
4. I will admit to grieving over the changes at NiT. For me, that is exactly what it is, ‘grief’. There was a ‘blog divorce’ and it affected me as a ‘blog family’ member (I prefer that to ‘clique’). I have been disappointed at the lack of originality and lack of unique focus on Nashville (and Nashville bloggers)from NiT. I am still hopeful, that WKRN will find a model that works well for Nashville and makes the station a ton of money. Unfortunately (IMHO), what we are witnessing is a ‘revolution’ instead of an ‘evolution’ at NiT…and to make this venture work, the station is faced with starting from scratch.
5. No offense, William, but I prefer to read political and news commentary from sources other than opinionated musicians who do not see the need to take time to link to opposing views within their own community. It takes me less than a minute to scan NiT now and I am gone elsewhere to feed my news addiction. As long as there is the perception that NiT is some sort of ‘bully pulpit’, I doubt that any amount of whining with attract volunteer contributors.
I’m done now.
Katherine, I found your resume online and you have your current job listed as:
Interim Moderator
Nashville Is Talking
(Writing and Editing industry)
June 2007 – Present ( 4 months)
Is that correct? I thought you posted that you “resigned” but volunteers don’t “resign.” I guess I’m confused. If WKRN gave you that job title, why didn’t they hire you?
A) That’s not my resume. That’s “LinkedIn”.
B) Volunteers DO “resign” all the time. You DO know that “resign” is another word for “quit”, right?
C) I never expected them to hire me, because I didn’t even offer myself as a candidate for any job should one have existed. I wouldn’t have done, because I have a job already that doesn’t require me to get out of bed at dawn and drive to WKRN’s offices to work on one of their PCs. I made it clear that I was happy to help for a few days. Those “few days” turned into several weeks.
When they didn’t pay me for past service they had agreed to pay me for and some other things happened as well, I resigned/quit/stopped working for them/turned in my notice/walked away.
D) My guess was that the “title” was to make advertisers happy, and to feel like what they’d spent their ad dollars on was still the same commodity they were receiving.
Oh and, thanks for the reminder. I had to fix a couple of things on LinkedIn, including changing the descriptions and dates on my own business.
I update my resume every 90 days. I consider LinkedIn to be some Internet thing that gives the chance to be “Linked IN” with other people. I update that when I’m bored filling in cryptograms and playing with apps on FaceBook.
The kerning is off on that LinkedIN thang.
:lol:
.
Kat wrote:
I’m just now catching up on this thread. I don’t know how much anyone cares about my thoughts on this, but I will certainly make myself available to anyone who would like my take on the matter.
Brittney, I hope you’re having a great time in SF. But not too great, if you know what I mean. :)
D) My guess was that the “title” was to make advertisers happy, and to feel like what they’d spent their ad dollars on was still the same commodity they were receiving.
Katherine, did WKRN give you the title “Interim Moderator” or did you give yourself that title?
I’m curious because: 1) if WKRN gave that title to you then it sounds like they want to hire some one. That would be super but why wouldn’t it have been you? 2) If you gave your self that title and listed it on your resume with other job experiences it does look a lot like you wanted the job.
When they didn’t pay me for past service they had agreed to pay me for and some other things happened as well, I resigned/quit/stopped working for them/turned in my notice/walked away.
Katherine, those are some serious charges to put in writting. Did they not pay you for past service they agreed to pay you for? Who did you speak with about these payments? This might be worth sharing with local media if it’s true.
The more I think about it, Katherine, the more I think this might be worth sharing even if it’s not true. Either WKRN isn’t paying local bloggers what the agreed to pay them, or a local blogger is publishing false accusations about WKRN on local blogs. Both possibilities give the Nashville Is Talking saga a whole new angle.
It was $50. I blogged over Memorial Day weekend, which was the next-to-last weekend they agreed to pay someone (the following weekend Emily of “for the love” did it, also for pay.)
I blogged for 3 days. My understanding was that I should have been paid $150. I was paid $100. I talked about it with Grantham. He seemed skeptical that the station would pay me $150 for 3 days, when the price had been “$100 for Guest Weekend blogger”, although when I had blogged a 3-day weekend before I had then been paid $150.
But I really am not grooving on making a federal case out of $50, especially where I can see their side of the argument. (I disagree with it, but I wasn’t smart enough to have anything in writing during the management transition. And it’s $50.) Not enough to make a big deal over, but enough to sour my take on things from a willingness-to-volunteer-unpaid-time perspective.
wrto this title thing you seem so hung up on…
A reporter called me during the first few days after Brittney quit, at the direction of CG. That reporter was looking for a quote on the Sopranos Season Finale and what my role was @ NiT. I told her that I was an interim guest blogger (the word “interim” means that I’m filling in for the time being.)
The subsequent article said “Coble, who moderates a blog called Nashville is Talking” etc.
So I liked the word “moderate” because it sounded more substantial than ‘guest blogger’. So that’s how “Interim Moderator” came to be.
And it’s NOT on my resumé. Once again, “LinkedIN” is not my “resumé”.
Hi, Kevin! Coffee house open late? - Katherine Coble
Thank you for proving my point, Katherine. I suppose your reference to “Kevin” denotes Kevin Barbieux, the self-proclaimed “Homeless Guy” of Nashville? Kevin has, by his own admission, authored blog posts from free Wi-Fi hotspots such as local coffee houses.
First of all, I am not Kevin Barbieux. Second of all, what would possess you to say such a petty, mean-spirited thing in the first place?
Another defining element of the clique that I forgot to mention earlier is the notion of the “Queen Bee” (more about the concept here).
Moreover, you will observer that members of a clique tend to get awfully ornery whenever an “outsider” dissents with the clique’s groupthink. What you find is a sort of “piling on,” one person after another.
Does any of this sound vaguely familiar?
Sending out blanket invitations to blogger meet-ups does not equal inclusive community.
Neither does mocking the opinions of dissenting voices.
“The lady doth protest to much.”
I’m really glad someone else noticed the “coffeehouse” remark before I did. What a shitty, petty thing to say – and with no real provocation other than that an articulate homeless person who isn’t an addict is a challenge to a libertarian’s belief that everything shakes out in a free market.
KatCo = Hall Monitor
I don’t speak for Kat, but I’m guessing she assumed it was Kevin due to his repeated past mentions of a supposed “clique.”
Suppsosed clique? That’s funny. The word “clique” has some unsavory connotations that I’m sure some would like to avoid, so perhaps the term “social network (containing individuals with strong ties in a certain millieu centering around a specific activity)” works better? Or perhaps just preface everything with “I’m not calling you ‘elitist,’ but . . .’?”
I would be really interested in learning more about the presence of a “clique” as it relates to blogs… Are “clique” members the dominant voices or are they somehow preventing someone from being included in the conversation (which sounds a little odd considering the medium involved)?
If “clique” refers to the 10% of participants in a blogging community who do perhaps 90% of the posting, then “clique” (in this particular instance) is a misnomer. A core group of leaders in many organizations comprise a small percentage of the group yet extend far more than the majority of the effort. Help me out here, ok?
BG, My apology for hijacking this post, I am off the topic reservation considerably.
I have been paid to blog at NiT. I have also volunteered my time at NiT after Brittney left.
I want that said as I’ve been on both sides of it. So William, there are some of us who did volunteer. I also read your stuff, and to be honest, most times I agree with it but it’s really not about Nashville. It’s more of an Eschaton sort of thing, which I also have no problem with, and I did read Morning Tea (which I liked and wish you would resume.)
But the roasting marshmallow comment was petty and out of line. Come on, man. Not cool.
With all of that said, here’s the thing as I see it:
There would not be this kind of outcry for and against NiT if it hadn’t hit a nerve. I have written several times on my blog about that the community was grieving not only the loss as Brittney as moderator but the loss of that community as it was.
And sites like NiT are about just that. A hyper-local community is supposed to spotlight the joys of why we choose to participate, from mommy bloggers, local thoughts on politics or even some of the bizarre, all of which are part of what makes a community.
It was almost like the community center burned down in our neighborhood and the owners never even mentioned it was gone.
Now, a couple of people start another blog to do what NiT isn’t doing. And it creates a rift. The clique debate was a thread that happened when BG ran NiT and is now coming from a few people who want to create a negative vibe at MCB.
Anybody could be a part of NiT. Anybody can be a part of MCB. Hell, people can come over to my blog and be part of the community of it.
It is disheartening when people are trying to build a community and other people feel left out because they are not.
With that said, if those people who feel left out don’t participate and then gripe about how it should be better, it can’t be changed. It is what it is.
Anytime someone is in the public eye, BG, Kat Coble, William, others, there will be criticism for a variety of reasons, but mainly for the fact that they are in the public eye and that gives others a sense of ownership that includes praise heaped up with some negative.
It’s honestly why I don’t explain my actions very much to anyone. People either like me, or they don’t.
And, the other thing is, sometimes the criticism is constructive and we can all benefit.
But when the name-calling starts, all bets are off because although we live in this virtual world, we are all still human beings who get feelings hurt.
And that includes everyone, not matter what side of the issue they are on.
I wish NiT well. I wish MCB well.
There is room for everyone.
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