The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
Since I’ve been reading briefs, I haven’t completed my normal rounds of blog visits today. So it was a bit of a startle to get an email trackback from Wyatt titled Requiem for a Friend. I immediately knew.
As Wyatt mentions, we met the Prof only once, but it was a good few hours of conversation & cheesesteaks. He was a great guy, and he will be missed.
Man, has it really been 3 years? Though, it seems like a long way from where I started out. I wouldn’t have remembered if it wasn’t for the notice that my domain was about to expire. That was even before I met Bitter. I think my motivations for blogging back then were different, and I think this blog has certainly evolved a lot since the beginning.
In the beginning I started to blog just because I had something to say, and Bitter (who I had just started talking to) said I’d be good at it. So I figured I’d try to impress her. Originally I wasn’t much concerned with having my own voice, or writing style, if you will. I wasn’t much concerned with how my blog would fit in with the community. I was interested in attracting the attention of the larger blogs, and getting them to help me grow an audience with links, and I owe a tremendous amount of my success as a gun blog to SayUncle, Instapundit, Tam, Dave Hardy and Bitter (back when she was gun blogging over there instead of here).
After blogging for a while, you kind of get a sense where you fit in to the community, and what your strengths and weaknesses are as a blogger. I think I’ve developed Snowflakes In Hell to the point where it’s a reasonable source of political and legal analysis focused specifically on firearms policy and law, with a bit of a local focus on Pennsylvania issues in particular. This has brought me deeper into this issue than I ever really wanted, or imagined I’d be starting out.
But I also think I’ve made some mistakes in the past three years. A scrappy, confrontational style of debate probably helped me get noticed as an upstart blog, but I don’t think it’s always been an asset as a more established blog. I know I’ve rubbed more than a few people the wrong way when that was not really my intention. I’m also frustrated by how difficult it is to use blogs and forums to coordinate and promote local, targeted, grassroots activism. There are people out there who use new media effectively for this purpose, and it’s something we’ve been experimenting with, and trying to learn what works and what doesn’t. Despite my skepticism of Open Carry as a public relations tool, those guys have a winning formula when it comes to recruiting, keeping and mobilizing a dedicated core set of volunteers. While I’ve often been critical of their methods, I greatly admire what they’ve been able to accomplish in creating an issue identity, and building dedication to it. The Tea Party movement is another phenomena that’s cropped up, which is a great example of a core set of activists being able to mobilize large numbers of people. Something I’ll be thinking in year four of Snowflakes in Hell is how to take the strengths of these movements, and apply them in other contexts. See what works, and what doesn’t. 2010 will be a telling year for freedom advocates, and for gun rights. Let’s hope we’re celebrating after November.
I decided to do a little year-end review of things here at Snowflakes in Hell to see what people liked and who you people are. I don’t know if Sebastian cares or not, but I figured I’d compile the data and let the facts speak for themselves.
First, you guys love a story on crappy history teachers who can’t keep basic facts straight – like who wrote the Bill of Rights (Washington?). It’s the number one post of 2009, followed by the rest of the top 10:
Now as to who you people are, well, you’re a mixed bunch from all over. The top 10 states sending visitors to this site:
Other quick facts:
With that, I’d like to say thanks to all of Sebastian’s readers and the few who have stuck around to read my pathetic attempts at humor and analysis. I think we can all agree it’s been an interesting 2009, and we’re looking forward to 2010.
Looks like it started in October. He’s one of us on the gun rights issues as well. Welcome.
Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association (PAFOA) is looking for volunteers to help run its blog.
Seems lots of bloggers these days are writing books. The latest is from Sensibly Progressive.
Looks like Ted Nugent’s people agreed to settle the copyright dispute with Marko over the unattributed essay that appeared in Nugent’s book.
Looking up some information on various types of Internet Trolls, I think I found this one to be the most useful. Namely the first two posts in this. I’ve seen most of these types out there. This is probably the one most likely to be seen around these parts though:
The Contrarian Troll. A sophisticated breed, Contrarian Trolls frequent boards whose predominant opinions are contrary to their own. A forum dominated by those who support firearms and knife rights, for example, will invariably be visited by Contrarian Trolls espousing their beliefs in the benefits of gun control. It is important to distinguish between dissenters and actual Contrarian Trolls, however; the Contrarian is not categorized as a troll because of his or her dissenting opinions, but due to the manner in which he or she behaves:
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number One: The most important indicator of a poster’s Contrarian Troll status is his constant use of subtle and not-so-subtle insults, a technique intended to make people angry. Contrarians will resist the urge to be insulting at first, but as their post count increases, they become more and more abusive of those with whom they disagree. Most often they initiate the insults in the course of what has been a civil, if heated, debate to that point.
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Two: Constant references to the forum membership as monolithic. “You guys are all just [descriptor].” “You’re a lynch mob.” “You all just want to ridicule anyone who disagrees with you.”
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Three: Intellectual dishonesty. This is only a mild indicator that is not limited to trolls, but Contrarians display it to a high degree. They will lie about things they’ve said, pull posts out of context in a manner that changes their meanings significantly, and generally ignore any points for which they have no ready answers.
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Four: Accusing the accusers. When confronted with their trolling, trolls immediately respond that it is the accusers who are trolls (see Natural Predators below). Often the Contrarian will single out his most vocal opponent and claim that while he can respect his other opponents, this one in particular is beneath his notice.
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Five: Attempts to condescend. The Contrarian will seek refuge in condescending remarks that repeatedly scorn his or her critics as beneath notice – all the while continuing to respond to them.
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Six: One distinctive mark ofContrarian Trolls is that every thread in which they dissent quickly devolves into a debate about who is trolling whom. In the course of such a debate the Contrarian will display many of the other Warning Signs mentioned above.
Sounds familiar, I think. Of course, so does this one:
The Mutt. Alternatively known as Dogs or Yapping Dogs. Mutts are pack animals characterized by their loud barking – vociferous, repetitive, usually ignorant and irrational criticism of anything and anyone they do not like. Mutts frequently become obsessed with a few or even a single poster with whom they disagree, often for purely personal reasons. Like a dog gnawing at a bone, the Mutt will attack the object of its ire over and over again, making a fool of itself in the eyes of those who understand such childish behavior for what it is. Often one Mutt in a group of Yapping Dogs will act as the alpha of the pack, while the others chime in to voice their mindless (but loud) support for their leader’s opinions.
These two as well in our issue, and not just on the internets:
The Honorable Nitwit. Honorable Nitwits absolutely love to speak about honor. This breed invokes the concepts of honor, integrity, humility, and other traits straight from the Boy Scout Oath more often than a Klingon warrior on anti-depressants. Honorable nitwits are convinced that everyone around them suffers from a lack of honor – an idea they thoroughly fail to understand in attempting to use its lack to smear others.
The Old Warrior. The Old Warrior has been there and done that. He has little time to spare for those who have not been there and done that. The Old Warrior has been there and done that to such an extent, in fact, that he is always right. Anyone who disagrees with him, therefore, is wrong by definition and should shut the hell up. Old Warriors place a very high premium on one’s credentials relevant to the subject matter discussed – failing to understand the logical fallacy of appeals to authority.
And who does this sound like?
The Pretend-novice: Has an agenda to push but pretends to not to understand arguments against said agenda in order to push the agenda further. By appearing to be a new user, she can get away with combativeness without appearing aggressive or hostile and can always excuse any poor arguments as ignorance or genuine inquiry. (credit: ays)
There are certainly more types, but I found these to be the most humorous, and the types we seem to mostly normally come across.
I noticed that the NRA Blog is being highlighted over at Ammoland.com, which includes a short interview. I’ll be honest, I’m not really sure what I think about Ammoland.com, but I checked them out when they first got on my radar. It seems to be operated by an Internet marketing and e-commerce company known as Sure Solutions Inc, located in Manasquan, New Jersey.
I’m not against people making a buck, or people commercializing their blogs, by any stretch. But I’m not sure what to think about someone’s who’s primary motivate would seem to be profit. I’m not against profit, we have a lot of folks out there who make a living in the issue, like Jim Shepherd of the Outdoor Wire whose online network includes Rich Grassi at  Tactical Wire, and Tammy Sapp with Women’s Outdoor Wire. Also J.R. Absher of the Outdoor Pressroom, or Michael Bane of Downrange TV. While these are folks who are in the business and making a living, they are also well known within the outdoor and gun rights community, and have long participated in the culture. I know when the Indians come to attack the wagon train, they’ll be fighting right there along side me.
I would not go so far as to say we shouldn’t welcome Ammoland.com into our community, but I question what their interest is in our issue besides making a buck. Our community has been under continuous attack for decades, and when it comes time to circle the wagons, can we depend on people who are just in it for the money?
Fellow blogger Rightwingprof has lung cancer. Thoughts and prayers for him. It’s not an easy thing, but he is a man of strong Catholic faith, so I sincerely hope he pulls through.