I started this blog when dog blogging was in its heyday.
From about 2005 to roughly 2012, there was a raucous online community talking about dogs. There was a huge audience for people who were critical of the modern dog fancy, and I capitalized on this desire for an audience.
I think to a certain extent I was naive. I had no idea what sort of people write about these issues, and because you’re almost always doing this in concert with people you’ve never met, you don’t know who is actually a snake in the grass.
These issues were never vetted in the community as a whole, because the main issue was that modern dog fancy was the problem.
When it turned out that the dog fancy had no good answer for the questions raised, it began to lose the argument online. In North America, arguing about whether the main registries are the best institutions to protect dogs is really a moot point. The vast majority of dogs in the US and Canada are not registered, and thus, there is room to exist outside of the AKC and CKC.
In parts of Europe, I’d say that’s not really the case, but I’m not a European. And the main registries in Europe are actually responding to some the issues that have been raised with the online community and a certain British documentary.
But because this movement has been successful, that’s when the issues of not fully vetting differences came to the fore.
People started fighting over training methods. Then dog food.
Then about how to classify dogs and how dogs were domesticated.
I fought some of those battles myself.
I’ve lost friends and made enemies, and I’ve come to realize something about human psychology.
When you created a community whose main energizing feature is being opposed to something, it can only exist once there is something to oppose.
So with the modern dog fancy pretty much relegated to its corner, we had to find fault with each other and fight and fight and fight.
I’ve seen this exact same thing happen with the atheist community. It’s certainly true that atheists aren’t the majority of the world’s population, but it is true that atheists are more respected in Western countries than they were 10 years ago.
Online, most atheist debates were about debunking creationist twaddle, and when the creationists fell apart in terms of their online presence, the atheists began fighting each other over feminism, libertarianism, and whether Islam is an especially evil religion.
When opposition to something is the animating issue of your community, be prepared for constant conflict once that something begins to falter.
People have a very hard time turning off that venomous aggression drive.
And that, folks, is what killed dog blogging.
There are a few good blogs out there that I subscribe to, but I’ve purged all my links.
I just would rather not write for such a contentious community.
Understood Rman, but I still tend to hope you up a new dog post here and there. The best blogging is not when you write for the contentious community, but when you write for yourself.
And you do oh so fine a job of that.
You made at least one friend here. :)
No two people will agree on everything–guaranteed. And a good, fact-based argument is exhilarating, refreshing and informative (I’ve learned a ton from R-Man on-line discussions). In the best of worlds the two debaters will walk off with a synthesis of ideas that is greater than the sum of their separate arguments–new things and angles to thing about. In any event, the key thing is that when you’re finished the two of you should be able to go off and have a (at least virtual) beer together. If the the exchange becomes vituperative, personally insulting, etc., then it’s best to end it and the connection–forthwith.
Why I use Facebook, that ubiquitous program that is miss-used by so many. I administrate four pages, and two of them are educational. Depending upon how a page is set up, there are tons of controls for keeping obnoxious people from commenting or even banning them from the page. It works.
That’s what I do with my pages on Facebook.
I am a serious banner and blocker. I do it on here too.
I like your blog because of the historical and natural history posts. I never went beyond that to read the blogs you are talking about….maybe if I had a 48 hour day. I have heard that blogs where people argue about sports are the most brutal of all. :)
But you must keep on writing.
If I remember correctly, a few years back you were talking about a book. Maybe that’s a better alternative. I have, over time, much appreciated your deep understanding of retriever breeds and dog history in general. I hope the book is still a possibility. Book readers rarely talk back unless they’re enthusiastic.
As for all the garbage in the blogosphere. I don’t have a blog so I can’t see it from the inside perspective, but from outside, all the stupid contentious ugly garbage is no more than dogs in a dog park pissing on one another’s pee markers. Best ignored.
I stopped looking at your site when you posted a bowing-out message. Good to see you back to doing a bit of talking about dogs.
I don’t know if I’m going to do the book. There are already books coming out that are doing what I’d like to do. Plus, I’m really disillusioned with golden retrievers now. I feel like I’m watching something I love being ruined, and it cannot be stopped.
So I’m looking at other breeds, where performance and temperament are more important.
I suppose whatever muse I had about dogs has either broken or been tarnished. I’ve cut ties with just about everyone with whom I used to tag-team blog. Some of it for personal reasons, some of it for political reasons (as in voting for candidates in the real world, not dog politics.)
I suppose that I’ve outgrown my angry young man phase. I’ve also come to learn that in the world of dogs, snobbery is the way of doing business. It’s not just the show dogs either. There is always someone complaining that you’re doing something wrong to the point that there is no reason to deal with this nonsense.
There are good people in the world of dogs, but when you mix dogs and the online disinhibition effect, it’s a toxic brew.
So I don’t know if I really need to go on about dogs. This blog helped me mourn some dogs. I’ve been able to accept their loss now.
And if that is all it gets me, then it was worth it.