Where everybody knows your name….Way back when, TWL happily chuntered away, moaning about general fuck-wittery in the tech PR industry. Over time some like minded old codgers and a few bright young sparks joined the ramblings, and we all hung out together in the lower rungs of humour such as sarcasm, irony and innuendo.
Doubtless some pedant will argue the toss, but it was more of a community than a blog and everything felt very special.
The stat counter crept steadily upwards and, suddenly, TWL hit a tipping point. In bell-end curve terms, the early adopters were joined by the early majority. Or, if you’d prefer, the clock struck 11:00pm on a Saturday night and the nice people sat chatting in a decent curry house were suddenly joined by a bunch of gobby pissheads desperate to be heard but with nothing of any value to say.
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We think it started with the RSS feed. Think about RSS. Doesn’t it seem a bit Jabba the Hut? Some fat lazy bastard who simply sets up their PC to suck information into their consume-everything lifestyle. Forget a meander down to the local pub for a chat with some old friends. Give me drip-feed Slug & Lettuce, All Bar One, Rat & Parrot, O’Neill’s and carte blanche to argue. Why have 4% bitter when you can have 6% super lager? Why have a conversation when you can have automated opportunities to spout opinion? Why use subtlety when you can shout?
All too often, in a very English way, we simply find a different local. But this is our pub and we’re going to make a stand.
So don’t be surprised if the RSS feed goes. It seems to have the same effect as bouncers; repelling intelligent people while attracting sink estate vermin donning black slip-on shoes and gelled hair. We’re thinking fuck RSS, fuck Technorati and fuck all those two-bob ‘influence surveys.’ We'd lose points for not having RSS, but perhaps we’ll lose the undesirables too?
To date TWL has only rejected a handful of comments. From now on, in an effort to rid TWL of the Sovereign ring brigade, future comments will be moderated not only for anything approaching libel, but for stupidity and any clear lack of humour. TWL takes up enough time as it is, without having to point out to idiots that they just aren't getting it. It's quicker to hit the 'reject comment' button.
We may end up with a smaller audience, but, it’ll be one with which we're happy to have a conversation...