Category: Other

Popenapping a domain

The new Pope Benedict XVI has already got his domain kidnapped by a Belgian and a blogger in Florida. BenedictusXVI.com and BenedictXVI.com are both taken. As is thepope.com, hisholiness.com, popebenedictxvi.com and josephratzinger.com. Seems like a pop(e)ular guy.

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Me in the leftist establishment?

How kind of Dick Erixon to label me a part of the leftist establishment. I’ve always wanted to be part of an establishment. And the left – that’s really something. He writes, about the Observer report:

”I rapporten framkommer också kritik mot bloggarna, talande nog mest från dem som tillhör etablissemangen på vänsterkanten.”

Well, Erixon misunderstands me entirely and I think we can agree on many things in the report. The report that I’m quoted in says:

För politikerna kan bloggarna bli märkbara. De kommer att granskas i större utsträckning än tidigare. ”Partiledarna kommer att nagelfaras som aldrig förr av sina meningsmotståndare. Meningsmotståndare som inte bryr sig om journalistiska dygder som saklighet, källkritik och opartiskhet”, sager Hans Kullin…

This is not criticism against blogs per se. It was a comment about what politicians probably will have to face in the next election campaign, namely a variety of bloggers ranging from the serious, professional opinion leaders with well-documented texts, references and so on, to the fanatic lunatic fringe on both ends of the political spectrum who stop at nothing to get their opinion out. There are pros and cons with blogs, but the positive effects outnumber the negative many many times.

But I am not as positive as Erixon that I dare say that only the serious ones will have an audience. If Ny Demokrati managed to get into the Swedish Parliament, I’m sure enough moonbats will be online to stir up a debate also on the not-so-nice blogs.

Erixon lists a number of positive effects blogs will have on the election campaign and I agree on all of them.

Norton comes out

Staying anonymous in the blogosphere seems to be a harder task than what some might have expected. The blogger who writes under the nom de plume “Alicio Hernandez” got outed (or did he?) a few weeks back after months and months of speculation. Today, the second pseudonymous blogger, “Norton Tierra” of Stockholm Spectator has decided to uncloak himself after what has probably been an immense pressure. One can only recommend anyone that intends to become an integral part of the blogosphere and still remain anonymous to take into consideration what would happen if their true identity was exposed, and if that risk is worth taking. That said, even though I prefer to know who I am debating with, seems like a more fair game, I don’t approve of people trying to expose anonymous bloggers.