Rant: The Current State of Horror Blogging
I’ll make this short.
Is there a standard to which horror bloggers must live up to, or is it solely about the love of the genre? I admire anyone who can spend countless thankless hours churning out content simply because they love horror films, but at some point it becomes mere muscle memory. My viewpoint is clearly biased, grounded firmly in my academic background and inability to tolerate mediocrity in all its facets. When I started I Love Horror, I was impressed with the sheer quality of many of the horror bloggers out there. They were frequently mentioned and discussed among what was a modest but respectable group of bloggers, but over time, and in spite of churning out quality content on a consistent basis, they have been overshadowed by shock-and-awe marketing campaigns and link whoring. As it stands, I’ve become utterly sickened at what has come to pass for respectable writing.
Sucking the SEO Dick
Horror blogging has become nothing more than a loose collection of sycophantic link whores. The love and appreciation for the craft of writing is mostly gone. In its place a giant self-congratulatory circle jerk, the credo of which has become “quantity over quality,” with a number of so-called writers churning out post after post of laughably bad content in order to reach the top of a largely worthless rating system. Content designed to draw readers has been replaced by quick updates featuring the most banal of material, lacking anything that can be considered depth or intelligence. Quickie top ten lists, interviews with other bloggers and the like are nothing more than excuses to churn out a new post every day at the expense of quality.
Of course, not every site does this. The sites I love and respect are still there, creating great content, and there are a handful of new sites out there that have impressed me with their ability to remain consistent without sacrificing quality. But those guilty of such indiscretions do it egregiously and without shame, thinking that this is expected of them. In the end, they receive the recognition while good, honest writers get left in the dust. Yes, they are not entirely free of blame. You can’t be seen unless you do a modicum of self-promotion, but there has been a marked difference in the level of exposure these blogs have seen since I first started blogging and now. I refuse to believe this is a coincidence. As a result, these newer bloggers are missing out on some top quality writing.
You Scratch My Back, I’ll Scratch Yours
One of things I love(d) most about horror blogging was the sense of community. When someone wrote a piece worthy of mention, others picked up on it, promoted it, showcased it, and even provided rebuttals to it. These days are mostly gone now, replaced by fucking STUPID awards created ex nihilo simply for the sake of receiving a fucking link. The awards, which are seemingly created every other fucking week, are almost always given to the same set of sites, with bloggers truly deserving of recognition being left in the dust for whichever blogs are sucking the most dick. Recently I was given an award by Max the Drunken Severed Head, and while I appreciate the gesture good sir, I refused to follow suit. Yes, I’ll mention it, and I’ll give my thanks, but that’s about it.
Much of the inspiration for this article has to do with this. I don’t give a shit if you’re nominated for an award. Stop pandering for votes and write. Write because you love to write, not because you feel it’s expected of you because you have a blog. Therein lies the problem. Blogging is nothing more than an outlet for creative expressionism, and you’re fucking diluting this by spewing out shit on a daily basis as if you have a quota to make. Fucking stop it.
Will this piss people off? Well, if it doesn’t then either more people agreed with me than I thought or I did something wrong. Do I care? Fuck no. You know why? Because I write for no one else but me.
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Thank you for your candor on this. I think the blogosphere thrives on quantity, and some of us in horror blogging have bought into this. Now I won’t feel so bad if I don’t hit a personal quantity goal but continue to maintain a high quality of posts.
“…they have been overshadowed by shock-and-awe marketing campaigns and link whoring. As it stands, I’ve become utterly sickened at what has come to pass for respectable writing.”
Hear, fucking, hear. Good post.
You’re famed for telling it like it is.
Name names.
Can I carry your children?
Because this makes me want to bear your spawn.
John, I can only hope to one day be on par with your abilities as a writer. Keep up the good work.
Nice rant dude, and well said. I was following a huge chunk of the horror blogosphere but after all those empty “awards” and the sub-par writing that filled up my Google Reader, I’m down to following about five including yours. I sound like a douchebag “oh I am the all-important audience!” but man…I don’t wanna jump onto my computer every day just to find a bunch of people patting each other on the back for nothing at all.
You’re a true straight-shooter, Brad, and I respect the hell out of you for that. I’ve also noticed quite a change in the landscape since I first started blogging, no doubt about it. I think the main thing we can do is continue to keep striving to put out good stuff, and never forget that we’re doing this as a form of creative expression. I always try to keep the reader in mind and give him/her something they might want to check out, which is why I very rarely make it about myself. I think that’s an important rule to follow.
Sometimes I find myself wondering if I should post more and I always decide no, I post enough. I love the actual writing process too much. I love thinking up stuff and moving words around to get it just right. I wouldn’t sacrifice that to churn out a couple posts a day. Or maybe I just write slowly? Whatever the case, I’m at least proud of what I produce and I wonder if, at the end of the day, everyone can say the same.
The Lottd is guilty of the behavior you ranted about.
Explain.
I think I can agree with you here. I am on average, a 2 posts a day person but mostly because I naturally write and form thoughts quickly. I don’t post everyday because I have a quota but rather because I love to write and share my thoughts. But what exactly people post is their thing I supopse. A blog is a personal endeavor to the point of creative freedom- but it shouldn’t ever be a live journal.
The award thing I will say did get a little out of hand but I haven’t seen any in a while so I thought it was over. Until…..next year! Ha.
As honored as I am to be a member of the LoTTD, you have to realize that in the grand scheme of things it’s largely ceremonial, and wholly worthless. It does, however, contain published authors, brilliant writers, and a fucking professor of religious studies. Self-promotion and link sharing is primarily limited to sidebars and the banner.
Do some of the members engage in the behavior I outlined above? Of course. shit, we’re all guilty of it in some capacity. But the people I refer to (and they know who they are), do it egregiously and without forethought.
Andre: I like your blog. You’re a competent writer, and you’re not a fucking pandering cock sucker.
The guy from Vault of Horror says “I very rarely make it about myself.” He’s one of the main offenders of the annoying self-promotion that goes on among horror bloggers.
Much of Brian’s promotion has become automated. Facebook, Twitter, etc. The unnamed offenders jam their half-assed shit down our throats on a daily basis, and rarely, if ever, is it something anyone gives a shit about. The key difference between him and most of the bloggers I’m indirectly referring to is that Brian can actually write.
Hmmm I guess I’ll need to check out my blogger handbook on how to do things…
Oh wait..there isn’t one.
I guess I’m have to just wait until you write one Brad.
I wasn’t aware one needed a handbook to not be an idiot.
Oh that’s an easy one, just don’t do what you do and they’ll be fine.
No, UR DUMB!
See, I can do it, too.
i agree with everything said here, but i think it runs the risk of throwing out the baby with the bath water. not all top ten lists, interviews with other bloggers, blog memes or more formal awards are banal and pointless. i will grant, however, that the majority probably are.
but that’s true of all creative content — the minority is either of incredibly high or low quality, while the majority is mostly unremarkable.
that said, i hope what you’ve written here will get through to the more egregious offenders of the trends you cite, at least to some degree. for the blogging community at large, i hope it will remind us where to keep our focus. on the quality of our content and that of our little horror blogging community.
People have been making it a point to single out lists or something. I love lists. I just made one. The thing is, I want GOOD lists. I know it’s purely subjective, but I’m clearly referencing the crap thrown together for the sake of a post. Put some fucking thought into it.
Thank you for writing this. I’m new to reading horror blogs and one of the main things that turns me off from a lot of them were laid out very nicely in your article. It seems like a lot of the blogs I’ve checked out are written for their blogger friends, not for actual fans of horror. I don’t care about the “politics” and “drama” going on with all the stupid awards. I don’t care which bloggers are friends with each other. It annoys me to no end to be reading a blog I enjoy and have a side panel filled with four miles of links and pictures/awards. It’s not fun to look at, keep all of that on a separate page. I’m not here to read about awards and links. If I want to see what other blogs is suggested by a blogger I like, I would like to be able to look at a different page for that, not be hit over the head with it. I don’t need to read posts complaining about the Mrs Horror Blogosphere contest. I don’t care about that.
Bloggers should be more worried about people actually wanting to read their blogs.
Good points made here. While I’m not part of the blogging scene (technically), the site I contribute to is still pretty much part of the same community. We put a lot of effort into our reviews, and it certainly is a labor of love. We think it’s all about the horror, not the personalities writing the reviews (hence why there’s really nothing about US on the site).
Well said Brad. I admit to participating in some of these awards and I do feel that they’ve lost meaning to them when they continue to be blasted out, ad infinitum. I appreciate the recognition but the continued passing on and naming of additional blogs just kind of feels cheap and it makes you feel obligated to participate. And it reeks of keeping up with the Joneses (AKA Horror Blips rankings).
Instead, we’ve recently started to post about stuff we’ve been reading and encouraging our readers to take note or give them a shot.
And Brian’s promotions have ALWAYS been in support of others, never about himself.
And Todd, the format of Blogger pages does not allow you to put links on different pages (unless you are handy with HTML and I am not). Yeah its a pain in the ass to scroll through miles of stuff (believe me, I work as a marketing consultant) but thats just the way it is. I wouldn’t forego the aesthetic in lieu of not posting links to my favorite reads (some of which are ‘friends’, some of which are not).
Cortez: Blogger blows. Wordpress rules. Make the transition, thank me later.
I’m sick of the awards crap too. Let’s take a break from them.
As for lists, these have always been the easy microwavable dinner of the horror blogosphere. They don’t take much thought at times and you can churn one out with ease.
But your right, even lists have to be thought out and some effort put in.
We should all take pride in what we write and hope that fans and fellow bloggers get something out of reading your blog.
I’ve been sitting on a list idea for five months now. I’m taking my time with it because I’m making sure I exhaust every possible movie that could fit in the list.
I’ve created a monster.
I like this post so much I’m going to include it in my next round of awards.
Conga Rats, Brad.
Peter, you have created a GOD!!!!!!!
While I wholly agree with this post and thank you for writing it, it reminds me of a comment I nearly posted a month or so ago on your blog, regarding “Ringing the New Year in with Praise” mainly because it seemed quite out of character for you.
That said, I wish there were more considered posts in the blogosphere, that contain proper analysis of these films we enjoy.
To many people knock out empty review after empty review with no insight, are painful to read and don’t seem to have much purpose beyond self aggrandisement.
I felt similarly about the whole Total Film debacle, what were all these up in arms bloggers pissed about? Being overlooked? Perhaps it was with good reason. Which then leads one to wonder what they are writing for in the first place.
Anyway, this is one of the few blogs I read with regularity, keep it up, nothing wrong with academia in horror, there’s plenty to work with here.
I’m not a writer/blogger, just a consumer, but it always seemed to me that the point of a blog was that it was primarily an outlet for an individual to exercise their need to write, and the knock on effect of this would be that it’s in the hope others will enjoy it. Of course this is my way of looking at it, and I understand others may not see it that way.
I do agree wholeheartedly with the original post, but there is the consideration that some people just really don’t write that well, and I still believe in their right to keep a blog despite not being the most accomplished of writers. But I do believe some people seem to have gained a following due to over whoring and back slapping from other mediocre bloggers.
The “interviewing other bloggers” thing is something that I find such a pointless endeavour. It really seems like people *playing* journalist because they don’t have the contacts to interview real celebrities/writers/directors – it’s like a three year old girl wearing mommy’s high heeled shoes.
I must admit I read one of these “blogger interviews” recently from a blogger I find particularly mediocre, but incredibly active in whoring their posts on twitter and encouraging others to whore their posts too.
Now this may be a separate issue but, yes I found the interview pointless, but what I found particularly distasteful apart from the banality of the interview, is that the blogger had somehow incorporated pop up advertisements on their blog. Now I don’t mind someone putting a banner up or something to try and raise a few dollars for their domain name fees or whatever, but to put something as annoying as pop ups on a blog seems to be really against what I consider a blog to be about. To me its punk rock journalism, taking back the right to be published from those who hold the power to publish. It would appear though that some are seduced by the minor celebrity status they get from being a mildly successful mediocre/poor blog.
Hi, Brad. You make some great points.
Regarding what you wrote about me:
I want to be clear that I specifically state, when someone gives my a blog a compliment with one of these “chain letter”-type awards (or “awards” if you prefer,) that anyone I pass the thing onto doesn’t have to do anything at all to note they got it or to display the photo that goes with it. I always state how uncomfortable it makes me to obligate anyone, and that if someone deserves recognition, they deserve it unconditionally. I do try to be easy-going and play along when I get these blog honors from other bloggers, so I go ahead and say who else deserves a similar compliment– but specifically state WHY. I’m not just trying to be nice to a friend– in fact, I know none of the “awarders” or awardees personally, and am always amazed when someone gives TDSH a pat on the back.
I wasn’t intending to fellate you virtually for some expected compliment or link, and I hope that was clear.
You’d have to take me out for dinner and a movie first…
Heh. None of this was actually directed toward you, I simply wanted to use an example, and yours was the first to come to my mind. If in any way it offended you, or was interpreted as an insult, I apologize. I’m very well aware you didn’t expect anything back, I was simply trying to convey, admittedly now in a pretty terrible way, that most of these awards serve as nothing more than an excuse to receive a link in return.
Can we spoon afterward?
Heck yeah.
But no forking.
Thanks for clearing that up for me; the shout-out at me came within a paragraph that was pretty heated. Call me insecure, but I just wanted to get clarity.
Again, thanks very much. And at the risk of sounding like a sycophant, I think you wield a mean pen– or keyboard, as the case may be.
Cheers!
Well Brad – unlike the forty other commenters that came before me I’m going to disagree with you, but only because I really like and respect you.
And here’s why…
Who really gives a flying fuck? So what if a bunch of bloggers want to post fluff and make cute little contests? They could be doing a hell of a lot worse things with their time. It’s different strokes for different folks. Most bloggers and internet surfers don’t have an attention span that exceeds a 500 word post at max.
The great thing is you don’t have to read them and I imagine you don’t. For those who enjoy more substance in their online reading they know where to turn, and to that point there are plenty of places to turn.
I guess I could sum up my opinion by quoting the great Pink Floyd “Leave them kids alone”.
I give a flying fuck because from what I have directly observed, these sites have come to represent horror blogging to outside individuals, taking the focus away from genuinely good writers and casting this largely under-appreciated hobby in a negative light.
Yeah, but they’re not going away, and they certainly aren’t going to improve on what they do. So I guess that’s my point. Why waste the time and energy raging against that machine? Like you said – just write for yourself and I’d add to that, fuck the rest.
When it comes down to it (for me) – those folks you have linked to on your side bar? Most of them are must reads for me. Maybe not everyday, but for many I never miss a post. Those are the ones that represent horror blogging. And of course with my site I’ve tried to move in a direction that is fewer posts, more commentary with substance. There’s the tendency for up and coming sites to try and get out there and compete with the Bloody-Disgusting’s of the world and I know that’s just not in the cards, and I’m cool with it. But I do hope the folks that stop by my little corner find a unique voice, and that’s the tough part simply because so many other people are out there talking about the same things. And to that end, yeah I too wish folks would take more time to think before they talk.
Anyhoo – I did enjoy the brutally honest post, but as per usual had to play the devil’s advocate.
Hey, I appreciate the criticism, good or bad. One of the driving forces behind the post was seeing all these little bloggers whose writing, I feel, is utterly laughable, appearing everywhere, while bloggers I feel are genuinely good writers are getting shafted. These shitty bloggers exchange links like it’s an obligation. That’s why i have very few links. I tend to only want to promote the blogs I feel are worth a damn. In fact, the only reason it’s not longer is because I’ve been lazy as shit.
Todd raises a good point, and one I’ve always tried to cling to: Namely, that the majority of the people reading what we write don’t really give a crap about who we are. This is something I learned while writing for WWE. It’s the content they care about, which is why I try to focus on what they really come to read about: horror.
It’s important to remember that all the other drama and intrigue and inter-communication between bloggers appeals to only a small portion of those reading–the silent majority has no idea what it’s about, nor do they care to learn. They want to read about horror.
This is what I mean when I say I try not to make it about myself. In reference to Takashi’s comments, it’s important to remember that there’s a difference between writing about myself, and actively promoting my blog. Yes, I do make an effort to promote my blog, because I want it to get out there and be read by as many folks as possible, because I’m proud of what I put out there. That’s not everyone’s approach, but “marketing” what I write has always been important to me. All the more reason why I try my very best to make it something people will want to give their time to read.
This is also why I enjoy doing things that promote other people’s blogs–not for the sake of just appealing to an insulated blogging community, but rather because I honestly enjoy sharing with my readers blogs that I think they will enjoy, and perhaps turning them on to some other blogs in the process.
Again, let me stress that the approach I take toward blogging is not for everyone. But it is the approach I choose to take.