Back when my e-mail address was 210021@compuserve.com, I belonged to an online communicators' forum called, just as sexily, PRSIG. (That was somehow short for "PR + Markting Forum.")
As I remember it, PRSIG was created by a mild-mannered Internet geek named Ron something—I'll think of it—and its various chat areas were hosted by people called "sysops," which was short for "system operators," which really just meant that they guarded the forums against full-scale riots.
Solberg, that was it! Ron Solberg! Hell of a nice guy—unlike many of the rest of us, who were just discovering the joys of online truculence. (I'm not sure I've ever gotten over it.)
Mad debates took place—over everything from how employees prefer to get their corporate news, to whether Maya Angelou was or wasn't a proper choice to keynote the IABC conference—and many characters emerged. All the characters could be split into one of two basic groups, though: You were either a provocateur, or you were an ameliorator.
I still know some of these people today—Shel Holtz, Brian Kilgore, Sue Johnston, Craig Jolley, Charles Pizzo, Sheri Rosen come immediately to mind, but there are many other PRSIG alumni who are still in the business—and they still basically fit into their groups.
But now everything's different. The provocateurs all have their own goddamn blogs. In fact, so do many of the ameliorators. (The provocateurs' blogs are more fun IMNSHO—in my not-so-humble opinion, a phrase I believe we invented at PRSIG.) But the problem is, the people who spent huge chunks of their days debating communication issues at PRSIG (and their younger ilk) are still the handful of crackpots and cranks, thinkers and visionaries who you probably want debating the issues.
But speaking for myself: Every time I get caught up in a discussion on somebody else's blog these days, I soon have a better idea. If it's a good discussion, it ought to be taking place on my goddamn blog. So I write my own item linking to the other blog, and try to wave everybody over to my place, to talk over my point of view on the thing.
I waste too much time writing my blog to waste any time contributing to the discussion on your blog.
And vice versa, I've noticed.
So now, we have all the professional talkers talking to our own readers, but rarely debating with one another. Which is a shame, because those conversations were interesting. Often obnoxious, overwrought and silly—but interesting nevertheless.
Shel Holtz, I'd love to make a sincere offer to give up my blog and return, if you'll do the same, to those halcyon days of Ron Solberg's Communication Tavern.
But I'll never give up my blog, Shel. And either will you.
Will you?
Dave Winer, the inventor of blogs, didn’t accept comments on his blog for quite some time. When asked about this, his answer was something like, “If you have something to say about what I wrote on my blog, say it on YOUR blog.”
Still, comment threads often can add insight or additional information, and sometimes are better even than the original post. I guess it depends on a few different things: the topic of the post, whether the comments are conversational or just a bunch of separate, isolated comments, and whether the comment discussion is adding any value.
By the way, I miss PRSIG. Having everybody in one place made it an amazing place compared to the fragmented landscape we have today.
Remember Marty Winston? He was a force of nature on PRSIG.
I do remember Marty, Shel. Yes, he was great out there. Everybody kept everybody else sharp out there, and it was kick-ass.
Obviously, I like blogs too; but I do wish there were still a central watering hole in the business, a blog EVERYBODY read, a place everyone went to talk important issues over.
But there ain’t.
Shoot. I was hoping my blog was that place. But I see from my dashboard stats that it’s not.
I agree, those conversations were something special. They challenged me, caused me to carefully examine my views on things, often caused me to change them, and kept me on my toes at all times. Plus, I met a lot of the superstars of our industry on PRSIG and still know many of them today. Reading and commenting on PRSIG could take a lot of time, but it was time well spent.
By the way, PRSIG stood for PR Special Interest Group.