Re: The 4 Worst Things About Writing for the Internet

Hey everybody. This is Charles once again getting it in. I was satisfying another Facebook addiction phase when I came upon this article at http://cracked.com . While I am a fan of Cracked, Daniel O' Brian wrote a article that would probably get under a lot of writers skin. First off, if you are writing on the internet trying to just make ends meet doing articles about blogs, your not really going to get anywhere. Trust me, I didn't start making any money off of blogs. Because if I did, I would starve to death. That's the truth.

If you expect to make ant money on there internet, two of the simplest ways is A) having a marketable product and B) having a huge fanbase prior to making something. For example, celebrities are already successful, so when they make blogs they are instant hits. They already have the following and they already have their target audience. My blog probably only has around a few hundred followers and just so we're clear out of those followers only 2% of them will leave actual comments. The other 98% will either tell me in person, not tell me, or are bots trying to spam me. And... that's just what it is.

Now the whole thing about his articles being ripped off also touched a nerve with me. I have been doing this as a hobby for years. I tried to do on a pro level, but without a blogging army or team, competition is really cut-throat. I was making articles with Blogger News Network before this. My job was to comment on news paper articles and review different products. However, I searched my own articles to discover that  on of them was stolen by another website called Sheeple (probably changed the content around and threw dirt on my craft). I wasn't getting paid enough for the amount of effort I was putting out so I decided not to do it anymore. What Daniel O' Brian is talking about here makes a lot of sense from a writer's perspective. The only way bloggers can come up really is with viral content from a large fanbase. No one these days really is knee deep into frugality and I have way more popularity on my Korean blog because I use comedy and target a wider audience. Plus I have loyal fan base through Facebook. That being said, the best way to come up on writing skills is to network with writers and target a large fan base.

It's an unfortunate reaction to have, but it's true. Publishing on the Internet means you run the risk of having your work seen but also stolen by millions and millions of people, all the time, every day, forever. Even if we got this guy's blog shut down, I guarantee you three more blogs would take its place, all of them piloted by writers who have no problem stealing other peoples' material, because starting a blog and stealing are two very easy things to do. To a lot of folks, the Internet is still just the Wild West, lawless and open, and full of shockingly filthy people. There are no rules, and if anyone's caught doing something wrong, the go-to excuse of "Relax, man, it's just the Internet" isn't stale enough yet that people won't still casually throw it around. And maybe the Internet will always be this way, with fickle audiences, impossible-to-please commenters, distractingly endless $%^&**#$, and shameless plagiarists. - Daniel O' Brian: Cracked Comedy Writer


 

And that was more eloquetly phrased than I could have put it. Please remember that this is the truth about blogging in general. There are plenty of people that want to rip off your ideas. One so called friend took it upon himself to write a book copying many of the ideas on this blog. In hip hop, the person who steals someone else's rhyme structure and flow is known as a "biter". I would like to dub these people who do the same thing with blogs as "writer biters."

That being said, Daniel O' Brian claims that the pros outweigh the cons. If you are persistent and find a responsive audience; they do. If you can get thousands of people to read just your blog out of the billions of other blogs; they do. I think I have been lucky to get the hundred or so people to keep reading per month. I think it is that alone that keeps me writing. It is a passion that only grows everyday. I have written work in a lot of different genres. Fiction, Non-fiction, poerty, you name it. As I near my 200th post I have noticed my style has evolved with the times and has continued to stay fresh. Being creative and innovative is what keeps a blog alive. Also putting in the time to write good material is key to consistently creating success for you and your blog. 

That was my reply. I'm out! CB

A typical boring day at Sam's Club: and What I Do About It

Sam's club is a really good place to work if you just got out of school or are in school. It is a place where you can thrive as a worker ant, going from hour to hour making due, serving the member. But there are times when you get really slow traffic and it becomes outright boring. When this happens what do I do? How do I go on in total boredom. Or what seems like customer service frozen in time.

1. I find random stuff to do. I mean really random stuff. The first thing I do is look for someone in charge. If there is someone, I pester them for something random to do. If that does not work I read whatever is on the Wal-Mart Wire. If I feel that it is too boring to hear what Lee had to say or I cannot find anyone who pretends to be in charge, I zone--basically I grab a bunch of card board out of my aisles and throw it in the bailer, which usually is full and needs to be bailed. Then I wait for something random to come up on the radio and then I do whatever I need to do. However, on Sundays all times stands still. Everything moves at the speed of snails and it get so bad that I can clock the rate people chew their food in the cafe.

2. I push carts. Though I hate doing this, when I get really bored, it is a good time killer. Sam's Club is doing mediocre in sales and it is mainly due to the fact that Cost Co has three stores surrounding Sam's club and they are the competition. So when I push carts, I basically want to have a to do list before I leave.

3. Electronics needs cover because their is a lot of thievery that goes on over there. In actuality there is nothing we really can do about this except notifty Management that there is someone 'supicious' in the electronics department. I usually have fun with this and scare the bejesus out of theives by getting on the intercom and prompt "Scan and record electronics". In actuality I do not even think all the cameras work except for the ones near the cash registers.

4. I rip on members in the break room. Everyone has their own story. Like today, there was this one member that tried to run over my pallet jack and say I "was moving" when I was stationary. Then to add icing to the cake they tell me, "Members have the right of way". There was another case last week when this lady asked for a mixer when I was covering electronics. Now mind you, mixers are in a different department. She wanted an egg beater. I told her over the phone to give me a minute to walk over to the mixers because I had to cover electronics. She then began to yell at me saying that "no I should know the prices right now; do not give me excuses". Now at this point I was trying to tell her the prices and describe her the mixers and she just started to yell at me some more while I was trying to get her the price for the item. First I mentioned the Magic Bullet Tm blender, but she just kept yelling and she knew what she wanted from the beginning but did not say anything.

For more info on what antics go on in retail stores, see "Pretending You Care" by Norm Feuti. This is a definative book on what retail employees and sales associates go through at department stores.

5. I wander around the store when it is really, really slow. I have to say this is something we are all guilty of at some point. Even some managers do it. Afterall, during a recession, who wants their hours cut? Unless you are totally bored and stuck in the tobacco cage where all time stands still, the answer should be no.

6. I cover other positions. I have done a variety of positions at Sam's club. I have done Night Merchandising, Center Section, Recieving, Hard Lines (My normal section) Electronics, Marketing, Tire Center, Greeter, Cart Pusher, and Demos just to name a few. When Membership does not know what position I am pretending to be that day, they just call me by my first name. :p

Well I will wrap it up here for now. We have a lot of positions at Sam's Club and I will probably do some more in the future. Time will only tell.