While writing for Progressive U in the endless quest to be noticed or get that scholarship, you've certainly asked yourself this pivotal question: What is progressive? How do we achieve progress?
Since I believe we all have our own opinions on this matter, I'll just use my own to demonstrate a point. On my blog, I try to achieve a simple thing: to be taken seriously when I discuss real issues and my opinions. This isn't MySpace. It's not my blog on Blogdrive where I used to try very hard to make others laugh. This isn't Facebook, where I simply have a profile and do no writing whatsoever. This is Progressive U, the blogging community that offers a scholarship in return for the hard working blogger. A site that encourages the freedom of speech, a freedom we often don't use often enough.
I admit, with some of my blogs I can get a little preachy. I might mention being accepting of other people, eliminating racism, or simply being nicer towards others. My big complaint is when people can't see from other points of view.
Talking about something may not do much, and to some it would not seem progressive in any way. It's not like volunteering or donating money or something that requires your physical presence and hard work. Discussion, however, can be a powerful tool to sway opinions or enlighten others. It can get people THINKING, and that is a very important motive.
But now I've come to an unsettling conclusion. This is Progressive U, right? Yes, I've explained that bit already. Communication theory tells us to mind who your audience is. Who IS my audience? My audience is the community of Progressive U (assuming that random people using search engines don't stumble onto my blog as well). For the most part, bloggers here are a bit more insightful than the regular crowd. I feel more comfortable discussing difficult subjects with strangers on this site than with people I know at school.
So technically, I'm preaching to the wrong crowd. ProgressiveUsers (new term here) are not the ones that need their eyes opened. It's the others. It's the racist people, the ignorant ones, the people who are too sheltered to consider other opinions. These are the people we need to reach out to.
Don't take this the wrong way, because I believe what is being done here, except for a few misguided bloggers, is exceptional. We can work on expanding the community and improving blogs. There's just one thing to add after that: the right audience.
Comments, anyone?
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You have begun with the simple, mostly incorrect, assumption that the users here are intellectual, progressively driven, and have an open mind. How naive.
When you look at some users (Supercoolyellowjacket comes to mind) you will find them deep set in their ways, preaching the same dogmatic examples of "proof" that they've been spoon fed since birth. They will never change their mind and they will be forever blind to the overwhelming evidence otherwise. Of course, you have people like me who, quite often, will overlook the facts and make stuff up to change someone's mind. It's good fun. Also, I have some sway either direction for many of my views, but I will always maintain the most basic of them: All people, including myself, are complete idiots. Read any blog by a few three-letter-long users, you'll figure it out.
Then you have the people here to just stir up enough controversy to win the contest. There is one user who, I'm not lying, posted 10 blogs and 200 comments over the span of an hour. The other mods and I spent another 3 days telling her that she needed to not comment on everything, not blog 10 times an hour, and to just relax. Another 2000 points to her for debating it with us.
And lastly, you've got people here who just want the scholarship. They don't care about progress, thought, intellectualism, or idea development. They just want the $1000, and let me tell you: They'll never win it. They lack the dedication and motivation to do what it takes to win the scholarship, and they think it will be easy. Think again, mon ami.
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
It's "naive", Nick....
: )
And the i has two dots, but you don't see me bitching.
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
I was being sarcastic... damn this internet.
I knew you were mocking "the others."
I guess we out sarcasm'd ourselves?
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
Thank you for commenting.
I admit, I took a very narrow look at my audience. I was working with assumptions. Mainly, I said my audience would be the more open-minded people who care about others' opinions. I should have been more specific (though I think I made a brief mention of other bloggers) and pointed out that this particular audience consists more of the people who stay here for the reasons Progressive U is for, not simply for a scholarship.
I'll take this as a hint that I need to proofread my blog entries better.
"10 blogs and 200 comments over the span of an hour"? And I thought I'd seen some bad blogs. This takes the cake.
It was merely an observation after 40 weeks with the site.
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
I wish what you wrote was true.
But so often I find myself reading comments by ProgressiveUsers (love the term, by the way) that are completely ignorant, poorly thought out, or just plain ridiculous. It's painful, to the point where I am embarrassed for them over here on my laptop in NYS.
Yes, some of the users here on ProU are the enlightened ones that don't need to hear it. Some of us are here to debate intelligently, but regardless we can all learn from each other. That's why I have a tendency to frown upon the beat-a-dead-horse topics of oh-racism-is-so-bad or war-is-evil; because we all know these things to be true. It's the bloggers who bring a unique perspective or an interesting debate forth that make a difference.
I think because of what you said I'm going to blog about how stupid our president is.
Just kidding ;)
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this is war. every line is about who i don't wanna write about anymore. [Brand New]
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections
and oh-my-god the war in Iraq is soooooo bad and people are dying... like, totally, war is bad and like the terrorists wouldn't hurt us anyway and like abortion and totally racism is evil too
oh yea and everybody should just have sex because babies are good no matter wehat and poeple should gie their mommies money so they can keep them
How dare you throw sarcasm at my baby's momma? LMFAO.
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
Here I am, considering myself a closed-minded bigot and you just have to ruin the ride with your whole "intellectual " ProgressiveUer ideas.
"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything."
Friedrich Nietzsche
Beyond your first assumption, you make another incorrect assumption. At any given time, there are usually about 20 guests on the site. They are not users. They are guests. And they come from all across the world. Each and every one of the blogs posted on this site gets indexed through Google News and many other sites. Posts get e-mailed to people. Posts are shared on Facebook, DiggIt, del.icio.us, etc. You are not just talking to ProgressiveUsers (I like that, btw). You are talking to people from across the internet. Check out the video on the right side of the home page if you don't believe me.
~C
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I'm glad I did check out the video.
Which still brings me to say I was looking at my audience too narrowly. I was just considering the ProgUsers, but I should have considered how very many guests visit the site. Right now there are 21 members, and 938 guests here. Wow. I should've just looked to the right of the page before I made my audience analysis.
Oh well, there's always other topics to blog about, and this time I'll be a little better with facts.
The video is sweet.
About the guests though... judging by read counts, I have difficultly believing the guest number. Also, that number is nearly the same all the time, even when I wake up early in the morning (5 AM EST), and I doubt so many people are checking out ProU at that time.
Any thoughts?
The number changes. I've seen times when there are only like 200 guests on. It's usually during the off season, though.
~C
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So...where do these guests come from? I realize that some get hear because of search engines and randomly happening upon the site, but it seems a little unlikely that they're ALL random people who stumbled on the site. Are there people who regularly visit the site or read certain blogs?
I think it'd be interesting to have a guest poll for why they're on the site. Of course, you can't exactly get them to comment,....
They used to be able to comment, and even post blogs.
But there are some pretty sketchy comments and blogs from back in the days of the ProU dinosaurs from unregistered guests that probably led to the changes in the policy. I agree with those changes. Registered users are more responsible for their words and actions, and it adds to the general atmosphere of the site in a more positive way.
I'm guessing that a number visit the site regularly just to browse through the content. Some might be glancing at it for the scholarship, and realize it's not worth it to sign up... things of that nature.
~C
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I wonder what my life would be like now if I had been one of those people who just cruised on by...
Well, you'd have more time on your hands, for one thing.
"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything."
Friedrich Nietzsche
You have no idea.