The Frisch attack on Goldstein – the latest news, along with other misc. blog notes

Here’s a refresher on what happened last week when a University of Arizona professor viciously attacked blogger Jeff Goldstein and his two year old son. If his site isn’t down from another Denial of Service attack, you should be able to read it.

Today, Jeff responded to an Inside Higher Ed piece that distorted what was actually said and made Frisch look a lot less nutty than she actually was and made conservative bloggers look like vicious cut throats. Anyone who has kept a close eye on the back and forth between Goldstein and Frisch knows that he’s actually shown remarkable restraint over the matter, all things considered. What he hasn’t done, that the Higher Ed piece seems to wish he had, was let Frisch off the hook. She posted some of the nastiest, vile things I’ve ever seen posted towards a blogger and their children and quite frankly did not deserve to be let off the hook.

This unfortunate incident has spurred a renewed debate in the blogosphere about blogger ethics. ST reader Dana R. Pico examines CyberJournalist.net’s Blogger Code of Ethics, and finds it lacking – in turn, he suggests a few of his own to add to the list to make it a bit more comprehensive.

Related: Patterico takes note of a prominent liberal blogger who has defended Frisch and slammed Goldstein. I wish I could say I was amazed at the lack of significant liberal condemnation (with a couple of exceptions) from the higher ups on the left hand side of the blogosphere over Frisch’s harassment of Goldstein but, sadly, I’m not.

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From time to time bloggers who are just starting out will email me to ask for advice on how to succeed in blogging. I posted this (hopefully helpful) tip sheet last September for any newbies out there looking for hints on how to succeed in the blogosphere. I’m no Malkin of course (not even close) but I’ve been around the block in the blogworld, and have learned more than a few things along the way (I’m still learning). I would like to repeat something from that blog tips post that I believe is especially important:

Even if you never generate the amount of traffic you want, the main thing is that you stay true to the issues that are important to you. Enjoy what you do. Big traffic or not, you’ll be happier at the end of the day.

Sure it’s very frustrating to post what you think should get the blog equivalent of the Pulitizer (ok, I’m exagerating a bit, but you know what I mean) and to have absolutely no one take notice of it – but the thing is, you have to remember that in the end, you have to blog for yourself. Whether or not one of the “biggies” sees it should be secondary to the enjoyment you get out of writing and posting it. Also, have a style that is unique to you. Don’t try and be like other bloggers. Your uniqueness is part of what will keep readers coming back to you.

Also remember this: A lot of linkage in the blogosphere happens by sheer luck: your trackback at another blog may get noticed, one of the bigs may stumble upon your blog by accident, Google may pick up the keywords in the title of your post and you get mega-hits from story searches, you may have placed an ad on a site that gets modest traffic that got lucky one day and was the recipient of an Instalanche – of which you will, in turn, benefit as well – but it takes more than just luck to keep readers coming back. It takes consistency. That’s something I learned about a year and a half into blogging. Just keep plugging away and your readership will grow. But again, make sure you enjoy what you’re doing.

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Speaking of Instalanches, the one year anniversary of my one and only Instalanche is August 6th

Tue AM Update: And hello to my second Instalanche!

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A big thank you to those of you who have contributed to my Amazon tip jar (see the left column) – I’m still learning how the Amazon tip jar works, but one thing I do know is that it does not tell me who has made the contribution so I can’t send a personal thank you. From that I assume it’s set up for anonymous contributions, which is fine – so I wanted to post a thank you here to those who have donated to the ST blog so far. Nothing yet on Paypal and I’m beginning to wonder whether or not I set the danged thing up right! LOL. I’m considering a possible new layout for the site in the next couple of months, adding more storage for photos and audio, and the domain renewal is coming up as well, so any support readers can give will be much appreciated.

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Are you a blogger or commenter who is “comment shy” at other blogs? I didn’t used to be that way – but noticed something about myself this past weekend: I’m reluctant to post comments on other blogs. I do sometimes, but it’s rare. I’m going to have to work on getting over my reluctance. It’s just that a lot of blogs just have their own clique of sorts, and you almost feel like you’re ‘intruding’ on it when you comment. No one has ever made me feel that way, it’s just the way I view it. Is it just me?

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Happy 6 year radio anniversary (and 24 year wedding anniversary) to Hugh Hewitt