I’m not plugged into the gun blogger conspiracy, but I haven’t heard of any blacklist for other blogs, nor TTAG, either. I think I’ve linked a few of their stories. But I’m mostly in SayUncle’s boat, in that I’m not a regular reader. They do produce some quality material, but I have to sift through a lot of SEO fodder to get to the good stuff. It’s been a long time since I’ve added a blog to my regular reading list. Most of those that are on there have been in the RSS feed since before I was blogging, and even those I don’t always hit every day, if I’m busy. Others I hit occasionally, and, to be completely honest, a lot of them get “mark all items as read” if I don’t see anything in the first few posts.” It’s nothing personal, and I do that to some blogs that generate good content, but reading for link fodder isn’t the same as reading because you like blogs, and when you blog yourself, you’re generally looking for link worthy material, on some topic you feel you can add to the conversation. I only tend to read thoroughly when I have time, and that’s not often. Even in unemployment, I’ve been keeping busy bringing all my skills up a few notches, and revisiting some topics I haven’t touched in a while.
So I don’t think it’s any big conspiracy, or even an unspoken agreement, not to link to certain blogs. It’s tough to get links from me these days, because as traffic goes up, so does the noise. You get a lot more false link backs appearing in Google, and you get a lot of junk e-mail to the e-mail box. In addition to that, I get e-mailed every comment that comes through, because I like to stay on top of those. You take time to comment, I should take time to respond if I have something to say. The best way to get my attention these days, is if you add something to the conversation, paste a link in the comments. If the spam filter grabs it, let me know. I do read links people give me.
UPDATE: Kevin heralds the arrival of a beast the gun blogging community is all too familiar with. And PDB takes a considerably less kind take on the matter. I’ve tried to avoid the drama llama these days, so this is going to be all I have to say on the matter.
UPDATE: OK, maybe a little more. 3 Boxes of BS has more, as does SayUncle. Yeah, I wouldn’t say this community is that organized, or of a single mind either. But there are certain unwritten rules, and navigating them can be difficult. The trick to getting noticed in any community is to insert yourself into the conversation, even if you wantonly go about slaying sacred cows. I actually like it when someone links to me respectfully disagreeing with something I wrote, because it could start a back and forth that generates a lot of material without having to go digging. That kind of thing can often bring the drama llama, but it’s a sad fact that the drama llama is generally good for traffic.
I’m with SayUncle. I used to read TTAG. But, they were always posting what seemed to be the same thing as other people, only a day later. I value my time more than that.
Let me see if I understand his arguments in the original post.
TTAG links anti-gunners to foster discussion because they like the First Amendment. Those who don’t link or read TTAG are doing so because they don’t like these links. Therefore, people who read/write other blogs and don’t read/link TTAG hate the First Amendment. And, of course, he doesn’t dare provide proof or links to said bloggers leading this blacklist effort because he doesn’t want to hurt the feelings of those anti-First Amendment folks.
I’m pretty sure the argument that anyone who doesn’t link you is un-American is a very fast way to have people stop taking you seriously. The fact that there’s no proof of any such efforts – organized or not – is just icing on the cake.
Farago’s latest claim is that he wants to earn money to pay his writers.
Most publications pay by the word; is he going to pay by the “ctrl+c”?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx6TBrfCW54
Oh, dear! Farago is right. There is a gun blogger backlink blacklist conspiracy! I can’t find a link to my site from anywhere on TTAG.
That’s because you don’t love the First Amendment as much as he does, Capitalist Pig! :)
I guess I need to read up on that whole freedom of association / freedom of expression thing. Maybe I should also change the name of the blog, to make it less offensive to evangelicals, radical islamikazes, satanists, and militant atheists.
Do you think that will show enough love for the First Amendment? ;)
In my personal experience, Robert Farago has demonstrated ill behavior. For example, see his post at http://thetruthaboutguns.com/2011/07/robert-farago/more-palm-pistol-trials-and-tribulations/
Mr. Farago simultaneously laments and attacks me for not granting him special priviledge access to the single existing Palm Pistol working prototype and implies that I am determined not to let the “press” (him) get hold of it for testing. His logic is I will not let him examine the prototype therefore I must be guilty of subterfuge.
The prototype is the culmination of six years of effort and six figure financial investment. Its design represents the sum total of my intellectual property and cost over $10K to build. Only a very small number of people have seen the actual firearm. It is more likely that the person to see the first production model will be the customer who placed the first deposit.
The prototype is currently at the ATF Technology Branch who is conducting a determination of the blank “as cast” receiver to rule whether it will be classified as a non-firearm and thus capable of being manufactured by an unlicensed entity. It is therefore unavailable even to me! Mr. Farago simply makes accusations without justification, not even bothering to call or email me to get “the truth about guns.”
And the above example is not the first time. Back in 2008, he also implied I was fraudulently collecting $25 deposits for Palm Pistol reservations when in fact those deposits were placed, and remain untouched, in a separate escrow account. To his credit however, he did post an email I sent him which expressed my concerns.
Given the above, I respectfully recommend more introspection than accusation.