June 27, 2013
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Professional Trolling (It's not what you think)
Professional Trolling
WARNING: You may not like what I'm about to say. And while I won't apologize for it, I will say that you are more than welcome to voice your dissent, as long as it remains respectful.
I usually don't bother much with Xanga's Spin-Off sites, those we affectionately (debatable, I know) call the -ISH sites. I may occasionally add a comment or two to a post that catches my eye. But for the most part, even when things get somewhat heated over there, I usually choose to observe from a comfortable distance. However, I must say that I found a particular post on Momaroo the other day to be, how should I put it... full of revelation.
How so? Well, let's look at a post that has since been deleted... (don't you just love the ability to take screenshots? lol)
Okay, after I had a chance to recover from the absurdity of the pictures and the question prompt....
...to actually read this post, and the comments that followed which captured my attention...
...there were a couple things I was able to immediately discern...
1) Momaroo must really believe that posts which focus on controversial topics or borderline offensive content will help drive traffic (have you read the post about Paula Deen? I suppose it's relevant to Momaroo because, um... uh... wait, wait... give me a minute... erm... Oh, I got it! Because she has children?
), and2) although the tag line for the site says "Real Moms, Real Blogs" the administration over there apparently doesn't like "Real Comments" from "Real Readers".
While I won't post a screenshot of any particular exchange (I assure you it's nothing a quick browse of the site couldn't confirm), suffice it to say that those who comment are often sometimes berated for their opinions. This seems rather strange considering the fact that it's the readers who contribute to the site's success. So to insult your readers would seem counter-productive to me. But hey, this isn't my ball of yarn...
I mean, let's look at it for what it is... a public site with publicly posted blog entries designed to entice and entertain the general public. Should you not expect to have a certain number of people who disagree with you publicly? That's a given for any site that regularly posts publicly in regard to personal opinions. And guess what? You don't even have to defend yourself! Just put it out there and let it run its course.
As a content writer for other printed and online publications, one of the first things they taught me was to not take things personally. If you want the traffic, accept the criticism that comes with it. Otherwise, make it a members-only site where only pre-screened, non-combative readers are allowed. If you don't, you'll paint yourself as the professional who trolls their own audience.
Of course, this is just one man's opinion. I welcome you to decide for yourself and voice your support or disdain in my comments.
Comments (27)
Yikes. :s
I commented on that post. I missed all that. But I took screen shots and showed random people just the "kid friendly" cakes to see what they saw. Ya know... thinking that maybe I only saw penis because I knew that they were once... and yeah. All saw penis. So I'd say those definitely aren't kid friendly. Lol
That's not professional trolling
@Fairywife - Maybe Momaroos next post can be about the most effective method for teaching your kids how to light firecrackers. lol
@Cearce - I'm not sure I understand your statement. What specifically are you referring to?
@Cearce - Would it matter to you that in the first page of comments (because this was page 2) the editor, Mandi, told another reader who wondered at the relevance of the content, "don't like it, don't read it. Simple concept"? Put all together, the atmosphere is situated in a pyramid. And when I was an assistant editor there, she regularly told me how little she cared if people didn't like the content. "As long as it gets clicks."
Yeah, but, that's still not professional trolling. If you can't be more interesting or clever than a room full of 4chan babies, you don't get to be considered a professional troll. (Attention whore maybe. I will also accept fox newscaster.) But more thought than a roomful of reddit, for cakedick? . . . newp.
@Cearce - Oh, now I see what you were saying. Yeah, I'm NOT saying they are "Professional Trolls", I'm saying they are professionals (those who get paid to run the site) who are trolling their audience by berating them in the comments of their own posts.
I've honestly been pretty turned off by how often they berate people who comment over there. I don't know why I even stop in every now and then. This last post with the dick pans took the cake (no pun intended...maybe...)
Momaroo isn't a very nice place
Like you, I seldom bother with the -ish sites. Knowing about that post and how critical commenters were treated will likely make my visits even less common.
@firetyger - It's rather sad IMO. I would think that a site about Moms/Motherhood would have an infinite number of topics to discuss and articles/sites from which to spark ideas. I mean, I could go on Pinterest right now and think of at least 2 dozen things relevant to motherhood to write about. So I'm not sure about the point of some of the current articles they're posted. It seems rather arbitrary.
@lonelywanderer2 - It's like a bizarre dysfunctional family over there. People are more than welcome to visit the strange looking house (Momaroo), as long as you don't insult or otherwise make fun of the furniture (blog posts) or point out the baby whose diaper obviously needs to be changed (authors). Unfortunately, that's not how the world works.
frankly, i think that xanga as a whole has gone this route. when i first started here as ionekoa there were people who would write about their lives, their thoughts, their ideas and they would discuss those things with one another, even before the reply button(and in those days making a well thought out comment on someone's blog was a good way to drive traffic to your own because it was the only way to reply to you, hmmm. i just thought of that.. ironic).
i've seen excellent writers and wonderful people leave because of the atmosphere of xanga, the hateful comments and nastiness and cliquishness, still other's i've seen devolve and lower themselves to fit in. these days xanga seems to be driven by drama, controversy and foolishness; if i hadn't started when i did and seen what i did then, frankly i wouldn't be around today.
They should change their name to Momornazi. What they want is for everyone to agree with every post they write like ever and a lot of evers.
Yeah, I agree with you.
@MyxlDove - hahaha. Momaroo used to be a cute site with cute stories about people's children. I even contributed a few times! But now..I mean...I don't need to know what to do with that type of cake pan. If I had one, I'd have thrown it out. My youngest plays with the pots and pans. I wouldn't want her to walk around holding that particular one. Lol.
Probably relevant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9ysyZF-DZFY
I remember back when mamaroo started it was all about motherhood and moms stuff. I believe I have an account there and the people then were friendly....note I don't really check out anymore...so I am shocked to see this happening though!
I am guessing that momaroo does not exist six months after xanga switches over. She is trying to indicate that the majority of her traffic does not come from xanga. The reality is that xanga built that site and put it on its front page for years. That caused it to gain subscribers and some of those subscribers hooked it to their twitter page and facebook. Plus it is getting some google searches. So she may argue that the traffic does not come from xanga but take the link off the front page of xanga or a greatly reduced version of xanga and the sky will fall and so will the traffic. Xanga will cut it the second it is not making money. That will happen within six months of the switch over to wordpress.
Silly woman does not see it coming.
great post
Wow... I haven't been to Momaroo in a very long time. It looks like it's trying to become a distaff Mancouch, which makes no sense at all because look what happened to Mancouch.
Hate "ish" sites...the suck....uh...penis cake
Mandi and whoever that other woman is annoy the shit out of me... Jessica. They constantly whine about stupid shit and then whine more when you tell them to stop whining. If Momaroo was smart they'd ditch them as soon as possible. Mandi is rude and her self esteem issues make her controlling. I've seen tons of times where she's threatened to block people because they've spoke up about issues in a respectable, non threatening way. I recently questioned why she allowed Jessica to use the word "fuck", but wouldn't let anyone else, she of course had some excuse as to why it was okay.
There is a certain... eh hem... SOMEONE on this site that I could never get into and one of the reasons was that they voiced their opinions with such "GODLIKE" quality, and then essentially pissed on anyone who disagreed with them, that I really began to wonder why on earth they had the "traffic" and were so "popular..." (Not to mention that they were fairly young, and tended to act like they knew everything even though they WERE young)
Then I realized that one of the reasons is because of the drama. People say that they hate drama, but in reality, they love it... They gather information by observing it, and they use it to their own advantages...
Sometimes I think that's what's going on with momaroo.
I commented on this post too. In fact what I wrote was ... ??? The entire topic post has MYSTERIOUSLY vanished, how about that ! 😏 [Link]. BTW, this was originally yanked from here: [Link].
Great Post!!!
Zoe
I approve this post. Still go over there all the time, because if one can fly under the radar of Mandi/Jessica, one can sometimes get some good conversations going with other readers.
But I will not lie- while I hate being part of drama, I get a big kick out of seeing them called out. It's probably best that you didn't post the particular exchanges... I'd be way more interested in them than I should be.
But gosh darn it, they annoy me.
I have a couple of posts on momaroo that were suggested by others... I just went along for the ride and let them put up my posts. I really didn't even keep up with the comments because the questions at the end made it seem like I was seeking advice. I really wasn't. They were more of a vent/what would you do type of posts. I know the questions at the end are there to spur discussion, but it just rubbed me the wrong way.
That aside, I can't get over how that supposed tree cake looks like a black man's penis with stubble on the balls...lol!
@MomWithoutaMinivan - Oh my gosh, it so does! Lol. I'm thinking... at least level off the ridge, you know? Hehehe.