Having now participated in this Blogging for Progress Scholarship twice, I'm beginning to wonder: What are our motives? There's a good number of people on this site simply here to win that scholarship. They might not be interested in blogging at all. They might not really care about their comments, they just want that extra ten points. They might "fluff" up their blog with nonsense posts, hoping to gain the necessary pointage to reach the goal of recieving that scholarship.
I ask you, is this "progressive" behavior?
Don't get me wrong, I am not speaking for everyone and anyone on this site, I am merely pointing out some observations. But what it seems to come down to is this: greed. Yeah, I want that scholarship too, but I'm working towards it with what I hope are relevant blog posts and what I hope are interesting and insightful comments. I really do want to make a difference. Do you?
There are some incredibly blogs on this site. You've probably stumbled across a few. There are some who specialize in ranting about the government or their own religious beliefs and opinions. There are others who comment on random news-related topics. These people are obviously trying. It's almost as if the scholarship were meaningless to them. Just the satisfaction of seeing their own ideas being read by others is a reward in itself. It's enough to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Now that is progressive behavior. People talking about real issues and voicing their own opinions--either to get that topic out there or to share their own ideas and critisizms. They are making a difference.
But there are others. Others who don't seem to mind those little things called "rules" and continue to try to blog simply for the points involved. I remember seeing a comment to a blog entry that said something about Mexicans being great. I don't believe the entry had anything to do with mexicans, and therefore the comment was virtually useless. I happened to find a blog yesterday that was pretty much garbage. There were only a couple of actually "good" blog entries. Everything else seemed to be re-written music lyrics belonging to popular bands. I wasn't happy with this. In fact, I breifly considered making a list for people illustrating whose blogs they should not visit. But that kind of black listing is quite mean and unfair. I can't tell people to not go to someone's blog simply because I have the hunch that this blogger is cheating.
So with this little rant now done, I must point out the obvious in order to hope that I'm making a contribution with this entry. Consider the name of the scholarship contest: Blogging for Progress. If what you're doing only involves progressing you towards a thousand bucks, then you're a bit misled in what "progressive" means. Your blog should, I hope, make some sort of difference. People should comment because they respect your ideas or are genuinely interested in whatever topic you've presented. Don't merely copy&paste some news story from an internet site (this has happened before) and leave no substantial comments of your own. Try to SAY something of meaning, and you may progress.
Yeah, in a perfect world such a thing could exist. But for many the offer of cash is all they see. . .
I'm not hatin'and I really like this blog but I also really need the money so I understand how people can do what they do.
I enjoyed your rant on the lack of progressiveness happening here. I also find that with my own posts: I tend to be more on the negative side of the issues rather than on what we can do to change it. SOmetimes you need to get it off your chest but sometimes it might be self-defeating.
Fahima ( she who understands( in Swahili))
Yes, there are a number of us that blog just for the sake of blogging, because we honestly realize that there's no possible way that we can actually get the points necessary to win the contest. At the end of the last contest, we even had a large discussion on how to make the contest favor 'quality' over 'quantity' because there were so many useless blogs posted.
~C
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I was amazed when I seen this scholarship. It has people blogging ofr money. I love to read what people write. I love to write and have people voice their opinions on things I think about--to know im not the only one that thinks that way. It is something I am good at. I can write. You might not think that, but if i wanted to I really could. To do something I love and work toward a scholarship is a dream come true. I live with a poor single parent. I dont have the money to pay for college. I know i'll get something through basketball but that's not going to pay for 8 years at OSU. I enjoy this. I enjoy your rant. I think this is a great scholarship.
Eight years? For what?
~C
Visit my blog.
Yes I agree, it wasn't so bad though when I first joined (In Feb) but lately it's been getting sort of out of hand. People have to realize this isn't myspace. :/
"Education...is our best protection against
unreasoning prejudice and panic-making fear."
~President Franklin D. Roosevelt
!Jyazzi!
yea, i agree with what your saying and im glad there's actually people who are passionate about progressing. i enjoy reading meaningful articles, even though i don't write very many blogs.....
well if this is such a big issue, how do we all propose to get people to be more "progressive"?
so far, the more you post, the more points you get. you need votes. you need reads. the only way to win is politics, really. not insight.
if you want to be progressive, make a new point system
Come up with one then. We've seen the points. Those that put effort into their blogs and debate intellectually get the most points. That's all there is to it. Those that put effort into their blogs are more likely to show up on search engines. That gets reads from all over the place.
If you don't like the point system, suggest a new one instead of complaining about the one we have in place.
~C
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For me personally I joined just for the blogging, but then the chance at winning a scholarship is an amazing bonus. If I win the scholarship, then yay me, if I don't then oh well, at least I have a place to post my own thoughts, have others reply, and look at other people's opinions
It's difficult to say how we can keep focused on only posting progressive blogs. Unprogressive blogs could always be deleted by ProU staff, but then how would progress be defined? Who's to say what's progressive in the blogger's eyes and what isn't?
If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, why can't progress be? You make a good point.
You'll also have to consider that this blog was written a while ago and there was a huge run of bad blogs. People were literally posting the lyrics to songs and that was it. Or, they'd copy & paste an article without citing the source or even including some thoughts of their own. I believe this current contest has shown some more honest bloggers, but there's always a few bad apples in the bunch.
~ *~
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Comments are always appreciated! :)