blogging-hypothetical-question Archives

Bloggy Question 56: Get Your Own Network!

July 8, 2007 by Liz 14 Comments

Leave the Computer!

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life question. . . .

A few months ago a blogger named, Evan, showed up on your radar. He’s a guy who went to your high school. You didn’t know him then. You figured that you know more about him — where he lives, what he looks like, who he used to hang out with — than you did when you met the blogger friends that you know now. So you befriended him.

You’ve been showing Evan around, helping him with his HTML, introducing him to people. When he’s asked for help, you’ve been there. That’s what bloggers do.

Lately, though, your friends have started complaining about him. They say Evan’s been trying to use them to milk their networks. He keeps asking Your friends to introduce him. Your friends hardly know Evan and don’t want to recommend someone they don’t know.

You heard yesterday that Evan lobbied to have you not invited to a party given by good friend of yours — one you introduced him to.

It’s a touchy situation. The friend throwing the party doesn’t know that you you’ve heard. His girlfriend told you about Evan’s duplicity. BUT the girlfriend is possessive, doesn’t like Evan, and has made up stories about you.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Bloggy Question 55: It's My Vacation!

July 1, 2007 by Liz 30 Comments

Leave the Computer!

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life question. . . .

You’re about to go on a road trip with three non-blogging buddies. It’s a same sex group of friends that you’ve known since college. You’re headed up to a small hotel in wine country. The hotel has all of the amenenties — nice restaurant that seats about 20, television, wireless, gorgeous views, horseback riding, hiking, canoeing. At times you and your friends probably won’t leave the property for days.

Your friends are bringing the trappings of their hobbies. One is a musician and will be bringing a guitar and a harmonica. Another is a runner and is bringing all of that gear. You just watched your closest friend pack a sketchpad, charcoals, an easel, and a complete store of oils and canvas into the car. Just as you are about to put your laptop and accessories in next to the rest. Someone stops you.

You hear, “You can’t take that. We agreed no work on these trips.” You explain that blogging is your passion just as they have theirs. Neither your argument nor the idea seems to convince them.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Bloggy Question 54: This Conversation Is NOT Bloggable

June 24, 2007 by Liz Leave a Comment

Can’t I Talk to Bloggers Anymore?

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life question. . . .

You travel a lot and occasionally meet up with a blogger in the city where you are. The conversation and the company are always worth what little it might take to get across town to get together.

Last night was an event. This time you met not one, but three bloggers you read. Dinner was at a beautiful restaurant. Everyone sure hit it off. The conversation went from mutual blogging friends to ideas about what folks might do to improve their blogging style.

As always, pictures were taken and blogger hugs given. It seemed a perfect evening complete with the champagne toast at the end. You wrote up your experience and uploaded two photographs. Then you did some work and went to sleep before an early client meeting.

You didn’t get a chance to read the blogs of the folks you dined with until after 5pm the next day. The first was a great reminder of the fun, as was the second. The third, however, was a critique of the entire dinner. That blogger trashed the restaurant, the service, the food, you and your other new-found blogger friends. Exact quotes, taken out of context, had been and used in the blog post. The quotes were word-for-word accurate, but as they stood they sounded mean and petty, not they way they were said or intended.

The blogger who wrote the critique says that the event was fun and funny. But the remarks he makes are snarky — fully at your expense and that of the other two at dinner. You’ve never seen this sort of behavior before . . . from him or from anyone.

The post has been up for 8 hours and there are no comments.

You check your own post. Some cold “thank yous” are there — from folks not mentioned in your post, but mentioned in the quotes taken out of context in the other blogger’s recap.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Bloggy Question 53: What Kind of Home Is One Blog You Read?

June 21, 2007 by Liz Leave a Comment

Blog, Sweet, Blog

Choose a blog you read. Imagine it as a home. What kind of home would it be?

I’ll go first.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Bloggy Question 52: They Read My Diary!

June 17, 2007 by Liz Leave a Comment

The Family Business on the News

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life question. . . .

Someone you know has blogged for about two years. She uses her blog as an online diary. Most days what she writes is fairly harmless. She’s gotten savvy about writing her thoughts in ways that don’t reflect unkindly on people that she loves, but it’s too late for what she wrote in the early days.

Last night your blogger friend emailed you. Her family is hurt and angry. It seems her older sister did an ego search. Your friend’s blog came up. The sister landed on an archive post in which your blogger friend said hurtful things about her entire family.

The older sister read a while. Then she called their brother.

The entire family now has read the entire blog. Some neighbors have also been dragged into the story. Every person mentioned on her blog has heard about it and read as much as they wanted. The town is openly debating the situation. The blog has never had this kind of traffic.

Your blogger friend feels violated.

Her family feels the same way.

Her friends have disappeared.

She called you for advice.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Bloggy Question 51: I Gave Him that Idea

June 10, 2007 by Liz Leave a Comment

His Success Really Belongs to Me

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life question. . . .

Marty and Steve were best friends since childhood. They started their first business at age 8 — it was a lemonade stand. By the time they graduated from college, they owned two bicycle shops — a thriving business in the city.

Marty is out front, the cheerful guy that everyone loves . . . he handles sales, marketing, and vendor relations. Steve takes care of the back office, the guy who handles repairs, fulfillment, and the paperwork.

Steve, a certified CPA, has a side business as an accountant. His latest outstanding effort for that business was a marketing program. An image of an accountant on a bicycle made unnanounced appearances on blogs. He gave free tax advice to that blog’s readers for an entire day. The campaign was a hit and an immediate traffic bonus for the blogs that were visited by “Steve’s SuperCyberCycling Tax Man.”

With that win, you thought that everything was booming and wonderful for Marty and Steve.

Today you found out that Marty and Steve have ended their business relationship. Marty is running the bicycle shops. Steve is staying with his accounting practice.

Yesterday in a conversation with you, Marty called Steve a jerk and made sure you understood that the “SuperCyberCycling Tax Man” campaign was Marty’s idea, not Steve’s. It was obvious that Marty was unhappy that he given Steve the benefit of his thoughts and that he wished Steve had not had success in his accounting business.

This was a side of Marty you had never seen. Marty said he was going to blog about his part in making Steve a “cycling success.”

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss