Enthusiasms

I’ll be much briefer. Laura Brown responds to my post about attribution on the web:

tl;dr. This is tumblr, not a scholarly journal or even a platform for mediocre art blogs. It’s something different entirely whose users aim at a different goal. There seems to be a lack of understanding here of how internet culture and specifically tumblr culture functions. flickr and tumblr are apples and oranges. That being said, I do find the “via” terminology and the absence of links or attributions annoying and inconvenient, simply because sometimes I want to see a source out of curiosity. But cool it with the criticism of writing and citing on the web! It is how it is even if it’s not correct! There are plenty of (properly cited, well-worded, grammatically correct) essays on the topic which offer a much more thought-provoking and deeper analysis of the internet’s impact on culture, language and cognition.

If you didn’t read it, you have no business commenting on it. If you did read it, it’s not tl;dr. One sign that maybe it really was too long would be the reading comprehension failure evidenced here: responding to a post in which two of three concrete examples didn’t involve Tumblr at all, you go essentially “you don’t understand Tumblr!”

As for Tumblr culture, whatever that is, let me offer you this: the US government is on Tumblr. The New Yorker and The Economist are on Tumblr. Along with all the Indonesian teenagers and shitty art blogs, there are many prestigious and respected institutions on the blogging platform. Is it alright for these institutions to slack off with their journalistic or political integrity because they’re on Tumblr? Of course not. Tumblr is a blogging platform, just like Wordpress, Blogger, and all the others. As such, it is capable of hosting a wide range of expression (and actually does), from serious newspapers and journals to private diaries. There’s no single, unitary “culture” that stems from such a diverse platform, and your choice of blogging platform is no excuse for lack of integrity or basic respect.

I don’t expect or demand the same integrity from casual bloggers as I do from the New York Times. I expect basic decency and respect for the people whose creative works are the foundation of your blogs. “It is how it is even if it’s not correct!” is not an argument. Many things are how they are, even if they aren’t correct. That’s not an excuse for not doing something about it. Need I really point out the slippery slope here?

As for “the internet’s impact on culture, language and cognition,” well, you got me. I never intended to say anything about those (except for a very tiny portion of culture). I’m sorry if your incomplete reading of a text too long to read (but not too long to respond to, apparently) left you with the wrong impression.

No, wait. I’m not sorry at all. Internet Asshole and Yr. Hmbl. Moralist, Simen, signing off.