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Max, 19, hits the road - Guardian UK

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"Meet Max Gogarty - 19, from north London, spends his money on food, booze and skinny jeans, writes for Skins in his spare time..." -
16 years ago, February 20th 2008 No: 1 Msg: #27983  
B Posts: 5,200
On the Guardian website: Max's Travelog - and the point....

If you think some of the comments on your blog are bad - this kid is getting some really priceless ones - so many in fact the editor felt the need to step in and defend him... here - and then deleted around half the comments... and this is some of what is left...

how marvellous i think im going to barf with excitement.



You'll all be eating your words in years to come when Max takes over from Sir Richard to make new documentaries for the BBC. Maybe it could be called "Max Does Thailand: With Scary Snakes & Stuff"



I think Max unfortunately is learning the hard way that no one minds people writing about their travels - but nepotism or the hint of it - brings out the bitterest response from people.

Paul Gogarty is a travel writer for the guardian

Dad's profile
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16 years ago, February 20th 2008 No: 2 Msg: #27985  
B Posts: 5,200

As Andy Pietrasik's blog hasn't mentioned the fact Max won't be writing any more blogs, I thought I'd bring all those heroic internet warriors the good news. Max's trip (which he paid for himself I'm afraid - sorry) has got off to the worst possible start and he's feeling pretty grim so that's double good news for the brave warriors. You may like or dislike the blog but the cruelty is shocking if quintessentially British. Obviously everyone in his family is very hurt for Max so that's a bonus. I won't be reading any more smug clever dick comments but feel free to kick me around the field a bit now - just please leave Max alone. He hasn't actually done anything wrong and you have your wish - he won't be writing any further blogs.

- signed Maxdad - possibly? sounds about right. Reply to this

16 years ago, February 20th 2008 No: 3 Msg: #28019  
Ouch! I just get told to cheer up.

I didn't find his blog particularly bad, just a bit childish and not 'Guardian material'. What's the worst comment your blog has ever received?

J Reply to this

16 years ago, February 20th 2008 No: 4 Msg: #28025  
Nothing to fear in India Max, its on home territory you should be 'shitting yourself'.


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16 years ago, February 20th 2008 No: 5 Msg: #28031  
B Posts: 5,200
Wow - I'm just starting to see the scale of this: 71 reactions to the article in Technorati, 9,820 Google results for "Max Gogarty" - facebook groups and most importantly - a forum topic on the infamous travelblog.org; apparently it went viral - "going viral" is the new measure of success.

Some of the feedback from bloggers - eg. onemanandhisblog.com

A response piece in the Observer

I see a lot of blogs like Max's - mine started out similarly; "middle-class British kid goes to see the world" - maybe Max's blog would have got a lot better - we can only hope - Thailand would have been decadent.

The problem - it was given a high profile spot in a high profile newspaper in the UK - and the only reason for it that people can see is the family connection. It's a shame that so many bile filled comments were posted aimed at Max - but how did the editor not see this coming?
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16 years ago, February 20th 2008 No: 6 Msg: #28038  
I have on occassion received a bashing(verbal) when clumsily trying something new. Because of being double Maxs age I have learned over the years how to take a bit of it. One can only avoid looking silly by never pushing at ones boundaries. If Max was my kid I would say something like that rather than jump in to publicly defend as Maxs Dad did. People can be mean. Maybe the thing to do is to learn how to listen to it while developing a thick skin at the same time.

Nobody has said anything about my blogs yet except a private comment here and there about the Iran one being interesting. I suppose I should count myself lucky. Poor Max.

Mel
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16 years ago, February 21st 2008 No: 7 Msg: #28094  
One of the things I like about travelblog is that this sort of flaming is largely avoided.

Having said that, I have received a couple of comments which didn't make it to the blog because they were either obscene or irrelevant. They were all from people who weren't willing to identify themselves. I don't have much time for trolls who clearly have some sort of life problem.

I notice that some bloggers are more courageous than I am and let the negative comments flow through. I don't have problems with relevant comments, even if I disagree with them, but some things are better not passed on.
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