Comments on: On being a contrarian

By: Colin Campbell

Colin Campbell — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:10:01 +0000

Nah. Lets focus on the boring, the derivative, the repetitive, the dull…

Very good points Duncan. The great thing about blogging is that there is virtually no barrier to entry and consumers can find what they like and ignore that which they do not.

There are plenty of blogs out there that have virtually no debate or argument and are just fun and friendly. Not my kind of blog, but you are always one click away from being ignored as a blogger.

By: a very public sociologist

a very public sociologist — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:24:44 +0000

In case anyone's in the mood for some more thoughts on blogging, here are a few from a leftwing perspective.

By: Scottish Unionist

Scottish Unionist — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:58:52 +0000

Another great post, Duncan – confirming that the testimonial was richly deserved.

By: Focus on Fife - Scottish Roundup

Focus on Fife - Scottish Roundup — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:44:07 +0000

[...] finally, Duncan discusses being a contrarian, and concludes that it’s dangerous for everyone to agree. [...]

By: Will P

Will P — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 10:37:19 +0000

Let’s have more contrariness?

I agree!

By: jack stephen

jack stephen — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:45:32 +0000

Arguing for positions you don’t agree with, Duncan?
Careful. It makes you sound like a politician.

By: Ideas of Civilisation

Ideas of Civilisation — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:02:46 +0000

Fishing? I fail to see anything controversial about that.

By: doctorvee

doctorvee — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:01:33 +0000

There is a fine definition of Fisking on Wikipedia. I think it’s fair to say that if it didn’t have a certain resemblance to another word beginning with ‘F’ it wouldn’t be so common a word.

I do hope there is a ‘rematch’ and that we can meet in October. Sounds fantastic.

By: Ideas of Civilisation

Ideas of Civilisation — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:37:53 +0000

First things first, what exactly is ‘fisking’? It doesn’t sound at all pleasant.

Anyway no surprise that I agree with you (not least because you were nice about me!) that the point of blogging should be to say something which provokes debate.

I have a large list of blogs on the right of my page, all of which I read at some point, but only a few which I look at daily. And those are the ones where I think I’ll get to read something interesting or enlightening.

I know that the internet is a political tool so I’ve no problem with parties using it. But I never understand why some people just write blogs that only ever reiterate their party’s latest press release (whether this is praising themselves or criticising their opponents). Surely a link to their party’s website would suffice?

I suppose at the end of the day successful blogging is like the free market. Those that say something worth reading will hopefully get an audience; those that don’t, won’t.

p.s. Hope last night was good. Jeff was talking about a rematch come October which I’d love to try and get to.