So, give us a laugh then.

Yeah, I have received comments like that too Ellen. I think we all get them. 😉 Reply to this

if you want to be a successful travel photojournalist, do your homework before you leave home. Get an education before you start making assumptions about an entire culture. Your article was painful to read... because your snide, bratty, and pompous air was written between every line.

I don't know how this commenter got so many things right about me? - probably an ex. 😉

We're all in good company 😉 Reply to this

Ha - gold! All that comment does is make me want to read the blog! This just adds to my theory that anything remotely controversial or personal has the potential to make a fabulous tale.



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I read a couple of Alis blogs. There is nothing undiplomatic about them, yet there are some pretty nasty comments. I think being the owner of this site gives him a high profile which attracts more attention in general.

Unfortunately, if you stick your head up on the internet you not only meet wonderful fun people but you become a troll magnet too.

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I wonder if a comment I once got, which I also deleted, was from the same guy as yours (I am not talking about the Iran one), this guy was just ranting and not only at me, but also at the moderators of travelblog... And that I shouldn't be kissing your asses or something... And of course how terribly ignorant and arrogant I was... Since it had nothing to do with the blog, I too deleted it... Reply to this

...also at the moderators of travelblog... And that I shouldn't be kissing your asses or something...

I think it is about time members started kissing our asses! :D Reply to this

The least polite comment that I've received is "You're such a talentless tasteless son of the b...... !"

He put the dots in himself, bless him. Reply to this

Some bloggers seems to always have something to complain about. They go to poverty stricken places and complain how decrepit and filthy the place is. They stay at the red-light district of the country and complain how seedy the area is. They try to spend less money as they could and expect first class service.

Maybe they are describing rather than complaining?

I think some people interpret anything less than a glosssy tourist brochure description of any part of their native country as a personal affront. It is as if they expect tourists to only visit the wealthier and fancier and shinier and richer parts of the countries and describe only those parts? I have seen numerous passionate patriotic outbursts on travel sites which seem to be provoked by just about anything from somebody giving safety advise, to a description of the quality of the public transport to anything except a glowing report of how everything always looks and works perfectly in that country. These outbursts often unfortunately include personal opinions about people from the West being immoral, dirty, greedy, uncultured...... And also comments about how little or how much money Westerners are spending as if how much money they spend or dont spend somehow has something to do with how much respect Westerners deserve. In the same breath Westerners are sometimes called rascist or prejudiced. I have to ask who is in fact prejudiced. Are people ashamed of the reality in their countries and is that why they dont like it to be doccumented in blogs?

Having said all that, I am sure there are actually occassionally some genuinely offensive blogs and of course they should not be allowed on any travel site.
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For me there is no problem with somebody criticising my blogs, I do on the other hand have a problem with people who make it personal and insist on insulting the blogger for writing what he or she did. I leave comments that criticise my blog even if in that same comment they might also sneer at me and my supposed prejudice or ignorance. As long as there is something in it that relates to the blog and isn't just about how stupid I am for writing the blog I will accept the comment. There are unfortunately also many people whose only purpose is to insult the writer in whatever way they can, most of these people will also do it anonymously.

I don't see the use of having to insult the blogger for his or her opinions, even if they seem distasteful to me or I don't agree with the description at all. You don't need to insult somebody to make a point, you can argue with a person without having to insult the person. Insulting somebody else doesn't make you right or your point any stronger, it just shows your own weakness.

There is another thing, blog are not written for the general public, they are written for friends and family. They are not written to convince us of that person's view, but to relate to those friends and family back home what the blogger is experiencing. There might be bloggers who really hate the place they have been to, hate the people, feel themselves and their own culture superior to the one they are writing about and it will result in an offensive blog for us, but it wasn't meant for us. It might be sad for the friends and family because they will get a very skewed image, then again maybe they have the same convictions anyway and if they don't, they have the option of commenting on the blog. I think many people don't know or don't realise that their blog is available for everybody to see. I don't agree with the tenants of National Socialism, so I would never go to a meeting of neo Nazi's. If I happened, by accident, to walk in on one of their meetings I would leave because I know I would get highly excited, insulted, angry, physically sick and generally depressed by the fact that there are still people who do actually agree with Nazism. Alternatively I would, if possible, try to convince them of their wrong without criticising their intelligence but focussing on the subject. The same is with a blog, if I would happen to find a blog that I find repulsive, I would either close it or if I really felt strongly about it, leave a comment about the blog, but not the person.

The point is, a travel blog is not an opinion piece in a newspaper, it is a blog meant for a specific group of people written by somebody with certain ideas, opinions, feelings and upbringing which will relate in the way it is written and the views expressed by that person. Those for who the blog is written will know the person and will know about his ideas, opinions and all that, so they will get what they expect to a certain extent. A blog doesn't have to be true, honest, unbiased, tasteful, respectful, educational or anything. This is not the BBC (and even they are not totally unbiased, that would also be impossible, but they will try at least). If you want an honest account of a country it is best to look at very many different sources, a blog might be one of the sources, but it certainly shouldn't be taken for anything more than it is.
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This is supposed to be a "give us a laugh" topic, let's keep it to naming and shaming the people who leave bad comments.... Reply to this