Ok, I'm kind of lost. I somewhat understand not wanting to name names publicly in a rant like this but this rant is confusing without at least a link to see the comments made by this person so the full context can be evaluated (did you misunderstand or misinterpret the comments? Are you downplaying them?) -- or were these comments made privately?

Again, confusion.

I joined the Bumpzee community to support a group of bloggers who said no to rel=nofollow, not out of vanity for the blogs I contribute to. Can't speak for everybody there, but there's my reason for joining.

I didn't see Bumpzee then nor now as some sort of traffic exchange. It's not Blogrush, thank goodness :)

Hi TD

The comments were made publicly on another blog. Perhaps you're right and I should have linked to them, but I don't know the blogger concerned and after raging against people who make generalizations without thinking, I thought that perhaps my "naming names" would be somewhat counter productive, particularly as no specific blogs were named by the commentator in question.

I'm not trying to downplay them and I don't think I have misinterpreted what was said. As a member of the community I feel I am being tarred with the brush, along with numerous others. Maybe some blogs, and I include my own, may fall short of some people's expectations, and I for one don't shy away from honest or open criticism but such sweeping generalizations are unwarranted as well as inaccurate in my view which is why I called him on it, because claiming that "the vast majority" of NoNoFollow blogs are rubbish is hardly true (IMO). I concede he didn't claim "none" of them were worth reading.

However, as you have asked, and respecting your right to decide for yourself, you can read the thread over at Josh Spaulding's blog here

http://ez-onlinemoney.com/b...

Personally think the statements were disrespectful when aimed at the community as a whole.

Apologies I think I messed up that URL....should be OK now

It sounded like you were slamming Bumpzee and then your Bumpzee widget showed up. I don't get it. The sarcasm is lost on me here.

Hi Damien

I wasn't being sarcastic, and I wasn't slamming Bumpzee - I was referring to comments made by another blogger about the quality (or lack of it according to him) in the Bumpzee NoNoFollow community. I thought this was clear, but perhaps it wasn't, having re-read the rant. I've edited my opening paragraph slightly in light of your misunderstanding.

As a member of that community, I felt that this sweeping condemnation of the members and their blogs was unfair and untrue.

Is this the quote that's bugging you, Caymanhost?

"I find that the vast majority of those blogs are just like the vast majority of blogs in general….low-to-zero value. In many cases, they have so little to say that I can’t find a single intelligent post worth commenting on."

I don't see this as all that negative and naturally disagree. Subjective. Personal taste. One person's opinion. I followed the link to his blog and it was more like perusing del.icio.us linkdump content than high signal blog posts -- nothing I'd likely subscribe to or comment on -- but maybe he freely admits his blog isn't the model of value the rest of us should be following?

And on the comment thing, the guy clearly isn't trying very hard. I can find at least one good post worth commenting on every time I go through the most recent Bumpzee pages of posts (and I always go in there with the goal to bump at least one post).

Come to think of it, why isn't he here better explaining his position? Maybe it's because he didn't know it was about his comments (another good reason to mention names, so people know you are talking to/about them).

Remember that blogs can also be conversations, CaymanHost. This guy left a PUBLIC comment. There's no reason not to publically mention his name -- engage him in a comment -- with a quote in a case like this. If it's a private conversation that's a whole different enchilada, but that's not the case here.

Truth is out of the list of blogs at Bumpzee so far I've subscribed to a very small few. Why is that? Probably because very few in our group have shown up to enter into conversations with me. That's not a slam on the members of the community. Heck, I'm not sure how many at the community are reading other blogs in the community, much less commenting because of the interface.

Awhile back I wrote in the Bumpzee forums about the lack of "bumps" and the fact that there is no easy way to add all the blogs in the list to a reading list (OPML file is the most obvious). People are sort of trapped in a slow loading interface, rather than the reader of choice, which makes it a bit laborious to go through the complete list of blogs and subscribe.

As for commenting? If I leave comments for you, that's a sign I'm trying to engage and have a conversation and/or add in some significant way to the conversation.

Let's see where we can take this communication. If I begin to feel like that conversation is mostly one way (in other words, I'm reading and commenting, but the blogger isn't paying much attention to what I'm saying), I'm going to move onto somebody else who is more interested in a conversation. It's like being at a dinner and being the only one saying anything and everybody else is quiet. Uncomfortable. Time to move on.

I like adding other blog reads who want to have conversations, not just provide one-way information flow. How do you show me you're interested in conversations? Show up where I'm at, leave comments on my blogs, reply to comments I leave at your blogs, write springboard posts from comments or posts, etc.

Mainstream media (MSM) typically has higher quality flow, but the problem is it's almost always one way. If blogs just echo what MSM is doing, than it will always be lower quality.

Bottom line: I think the gentleman giving his opinion above is a good thing. He was trying to engage *somebody*. It's too bad this post hasn't been (yet) a conversation with him to find out *why* he feels the way he does. Prompt him to give more specific examples, etc.

Happy blogging to you!

TD, as ever you bring perspective to the issue and you are quite right to point out that this is just one person's opinion. Yes it is a subjective thing, but generalizations always tend to light a bit of a fire under me.......

Perhaps my (over)reaction was unwarranted, and whilst I don't begrudge anyone an opinion, nor the right to express them, I also disagree with the gentleman on this particular subject.

However, I don't think I will try to engage him on this, as my post was maybe a bit harsh too, on reflection, and I have no desire to get into a p****ing contest over it with anybody.

I stand by the Bumpzee community in question and believe that there are plenty of interesting blogs and bloggers within its membership and concur also with your observations of Bumpzee as a whole.

Before I have another rant, maybe I should send it to you for proof reading ;-) That way, I'll at least be able to say I thought, before inserting my own size nine's in my own pie hole. But that's me, and so many of us I suppose, passion before caution and even logic sometimes.

Happy blogging to you too and I apologize for the lag involved n approving and replying to your post, my ISP went AWOL for most of the day today..

Hey Maurice, it looks like I'm a little late chiming in on this one. The commentor, Chuck, is a somewhat regular reader of my blog and he's actually a pretty good guy. I also know you are a reader and a great guy as well so I'm going to try to speak for both parties here :)

First, I agree his comment was a little overboard and I don't blame you at all for calling him on it. I've called many people out on similar posts/comments etc.

However, in a way he has a point. That's not to say Bumpzee isn't valuable, it definitely is!! But if you look through the hundreds of blogs in the nonofollow community many of them are of low quality.

Now don't start looking for my address so you can come teach me a lesson :) It really depends on Chuck's, my, yours anyones perception of low quality. Many would consider a blog with little to no traffic a low quality blog simply because it doesn't really serve a purpose, while others would say as long as it provides good info it's good quality. I for one choose the second. Also as he stated, some claim to use dofollow, but really don't just to try to trick people who do not know any better into commenting.

I'll admit though, if it were anyone else I would probably totally agree with you, but I do know Chuck is a reasonable guy and very professional. I'd imagine he would chalk that comment up as one of those "didn't think before I spoke" moments.

Thanks Josh

On reflection and after yours and TDavid's comments I concede that I probably overreacted a little. I'm sure the gentleman in question is not a bad guy and yes, I agree with your comments on definitions/opinions too.

I thought I should defend the community was all, as it has served me pretty well. I think that most of those who claim to be dofollow usually think they are but some have a plugin conflict or have messed up on the coding side of things. If I notice a problem, I tend to drop the blogger a polite note. They are usually surprised, but with a little help do get things sorted.

Thanks for speaking up on behalf of your readers - I know you're one of the good guys too Josh and so I won't be rushin' off to Indiana totin' my six gun LOL!