Good morning! I'm up and writing early today as Nukapai asked if any other bloggers wanted to take part in a joint post on the topic 'Are Bloggers Arrogant?' And I said Yep!

Quote Nukapai: 'many journalists and members of the general public, “literati”; even some of the “blogerati” consider bloggers arrogant by default, it doesn’t necessarily make it TRUE. If that’s your take on it, tell us why. On the other hand, perhaps you agree. If you agree, perhaps you have a take on why arrogance is not a bad quality per se. Or maybe it IS bad and we’re all just deluded egomaniacs? What about the way we interact with our readers; are there, or should there be some hard and fast rules on how we should react when we are criticised by random passers by? After all – as they say - we have chosen to become targets for public critique and even ridicule by having a blog in the first place.'

So here's my two pesatas worth on it.

I started blogging when my friend Mags came over and said "You should get one of these, It's free and it's fun!"
My first post was pretty much the same as anybody else's that either stumbled across blogging by mistake, or just set up an online diary as their lofts were overflowing with thirty-odd years worth of Dear Diaries (hello - I've decided to keep an online diary/journal/space for stuff about me that I can show me mates)
But then, after installing the (obligatory?) site meter, I noticed that people were actually reading what I wrote. Even the waffles about what I'd bought in a charity shop!
Wow and Eeek! I thought. Part of me did a little happy dance as 'People liked what I was writing - hurrah!' but another part of me was thinking 'If I make a wrong move now, I'll scare them off and they'll never come back again...'
I used to run Pubs. I'm not going off on a tangent here, It's my analogy of why I maintain a blog.
When running Pubs, the most important thing for me was to provide a place for folk to drop by, feel comfortable, have a good time, and - most importantly - want to come back. I would plan little events and games when things were dull, start off a lively debate about some bizarre topic, and sometimes just sit and chat with someone who was feeling lonely or needed help.
I don't run pubs anymore, but I do run a blog. I feel the same way about my blog as I did about the pubs. I love it when others drop by, I jump up all excitedly when somebody leaves a comment or stays to chat for a while, and I'm feeling very lucky and happy that I have such pleasant 'regulars' (Thank you all btw x )
Now and again though, a stranger will turn up, insult me or a regular, or try and pick a fight.
I won't be having with that. Especially if they start on one of my readers. They will get the same treatment as an annoyance in a pub, being first a warning glance, then the 'Hehem, would you please stop?', but if they don't notice the first two cards they will be out of the site very quickly and waking up the next day to find a bruise in an unusual place.

And on to the Arrogance bit.

I do not feel arrogant about having a blog that people keep coming back to and other bloggers link to.
Amazement sometimes yes (I'm as insecure and shy as the next person laden with neuroses) and occasionaly a fair bit of Pride that I've done a job that others like, but Arrogance - no.

I've seen arrogance in other blogs though, from the bloggers themselves and the commenteers. I've seen new readers to some blogs get shot down in flames and hurt because they made a 'wrong' comment, and even a new blogger get 'bitch slapped' by a veteran blogger because of a post they wrote on their own blog. Arrogant blogs remind me of the sort of pubs I wouldn't recommend to a new person in town. They can turn nasty if you make a wrong move and you have to be on 'alert' the whole time you're there. Doesn't mean that I won't pop in for a quick one on my evening off though.

Anyway, the bar's clean and the doors are open. Good morning again and what can I get you?

The other people taking part in this joint post are:
The Void Zero
The accidental taorist
Smoochdog
Life without Icka
and of course, Tomorrow could be boring