Good morning, readers!
And ... yet ... sigh.
It's never been truer that we, culturally, lose a little something something with each passing generation, you know? I don't say that as an insult: rather, it's just an honest observation made by a fellow such as myself in response to watching our society grow and change across a generation or two. My contemporaries were brought up understanding 'history' or 'facts' to be certain nuggets of acquired knowledge, and they weren't open to opinions or interpretations. What we knew we knew ... and what we have proven through the establishment of standards never changed.
But today's young'uns do look for a bit more ... erm ... flexibility, I guess would be the right word.
Back when blogs were first made into a thing on the Information Superhighway, they were about allowing the voice of a single person being heard in this public square; however, I've been informed by a "Millennial" that (cough cough) blogs stopped being that about a decade ago and now they're meant to be centers for the open exchange of ideas, opinions, preferences, whatnot, etc.
While I still argue that's nonsense -- if you want to voice your opinion, then go and start your own blog -- I'm not above giving fans who are interested the opportunity to share and share alike, but there still has to be reasonable parameters. Message boards (yes, I'm that old) are set up for that kinda web-based dialogue -- not blogs, at least not so far as I'm concerned -- but I do agree that reader opinions have merits when and if they're substantiated by authentic journalism.
Wow. I'm really a dinosaur, no?
In any event, I'm going to cater to a suggestion I received in the way I see fit, not the way it was entirely offered. Here's the thing: on July 17th, the phenomenal Science Fiction classic RoboCop turns an incredible 35 years young. To celebrate, I've just begun -- behind the scenes -- to put together some trivia announcements and the like -- I'm looking at possibly doing a thirty-days-of-posts kinda thing -- so I'm inviting anyone interested in offering up his or her or it or they's (geesh) opinion of the seminal film alongside mine in these posts. If you want to get in on the affair, then here are my requirements:
First, you must be a real person. I'm not getting into allowing others to broadcast their fictional identity (unless it's already established AND proven) as little is truly gained by that. If you're willing to have your name attached to your opinion of RoboCop (the first film, the franchise, etc.), then I'm willing to look at what you have to say and include it in an article or blog post or whatever.
Second, you must be alright with some editorialization. Here, I'm talking about the obvious, folks: language. If you're only interested in stringing along a series of F-bombs and some otherwise colorful metaphors, then I'm going to EDIT your opinion so that's it's usable. I have a reputation to protect in this space, so be prepared for me to make editorial changes. (I'm not changing your opinion; I'm just making sure it's been expressed in such a way as it makes both of us look like we know what we're doing.)
Third, you can send me said opinion -- preferably in 100 words or less (unless, of course, you and I agree otherwise) -- in an email (not attachments) to editor@SciFiHistory.Net. I'm willing to read, review, and respond to anyone wishing to get in on this small affair. My only wish is that we keep it to 100 words or less because posts have a way of growing untenable otherwise.
This way, I'm giving truly interested readers who want to participate a bit more in my blog space with the opportunity to do so. Should the responses demonstrate to me that folks are legitimately fascinated with such input, then yes I'm willing to do more of it. As I tried to be clear above, that's really what message boards are for -- not traditional blogs -- but I can certainly understand and appreciate anyone who wishes to up the ante a bit. I just have to have some control over it as I've seen all too well the kinds of spam I have to navigate if I don't.
So there.
I'm meeting interested parties halfway.
Put up or shut up.
And, yes, I'd love to see folks put up. I've always believed this space could be so much more than what it is conventionally; I've just never had readers reach out enough to warrant doing more. Now that I've invited it, let's see what happens.
As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
And ... yet ... sigh.
It's never been truer that we, culturally, lose a little something something with each passing generation, you know? I don't say that as an insult: rather, it's just an honest observation made by a fellow such as myself in response to watching our society grow and change across a generation or two. My contemporaries were brought up understanding 'history' or 'facts' to be certain nuggets of acquired knowledge, and they weren't open to opinions or interpretations. What we knew we knew ... and what we have proven through the establishment of standards never changed.
But today's young'uns do look for a bit more ... erm ... flexibility, I guess would be the right word.
Back when blogs were first made into a thing on the Information Superhighway, they were about allowing the voice of a single person being heard in this public square; however, I've been informed by a "Millennial" that (cough cough) blogs stopped being that about a decade ago and now they're meant to be centers for the open exchange of ideas, opinions, preferences, whatnot, etc.
While I still argue that's nonsense -- if you want to voice your opinion, then go and start your own blog -- I'm not above giving fans who are interested the opportunity to share and share alike, but there still has to be reasonable parameters. Message boards (yes, I'm that old) are set up for that kinda web-based dialogue -- not blogs, at least not so far as I'm concerned -- but I do agree that reader opinions have merits when and if they're substantiated by authentic journalism.
Wow. I'm really a dinosaur, no?
In any event, I'm going to cater to a suggestion I received in the way I see fit, not the way it was entirely offered. Here's the thing: on July 17th, the phenomenal Science Fiction classic RoboCop turns an incredible 35 years young. To celebrate, I've just begun -- behind the scenes -- to put together some trivia announcements and the like -- I'm looking at possibly doing a thirty-days-of-posts kinda thing -- so I'm inviting anyone interested in offering up his or her or it or they's (geesh) opinion of the seminal film alongside mine in these posts. If you want to get in on the affair, then here are my requirements:
First, you must be a real person. I'm not getting into allowing others to broadcast their fictional identity (unless it's already established AND proven) as little is truly gained by that. If you're willing to have your name attached to your opinion of RoboCop (the first film, the franchise, etc.), then I'm willing to look at what you have to say and include it in an article or blog post or whatever.
Second, you must be alright with some editorialization. Here, I'm talking about the obvious, folks: language. If you're only interested in stringing along a series of F-bombs and some otherwise colorful metaphors, then I'm going to EDIT your opinion so that's it's usable. I have a reputation to protect in this space, so be prepared for me to make editorial changes. (I'm not changing your opinion; I'm just making sure it's been expressed in such a way as it makes both of us look like we know what we're doing.)
Third, you can send me said opinion -- preferably in 100 words or less (unless, of course, you and I agree otherwise) -- in an email (not attachments) to editor@SciFiHistory.Net. I'm willing to read, review, and respond to anyone wishing to get in on this small affair. My only wish is that we keep it to 100 words or less because posts have a way of growing untenable otherwise.
This way, I'm giving truly interested readers who want to participate a bit more in my blog space with the opportunity to do so. Should the responses demonstrate to me that folks are legitimately fascinated with such input, then yes I'm willing to do more of it. As I tried to be clear above, that's really what message boards are for -- not traditional blogs -- but I can certainly understand and appreciate anyone who wishes to up the ante a bit. I just have to have some control over it as I've seen all too well the kinds of spam I have to navigate if I don't.
So there.
I'm meeting interested parties halfway.
Put up or shut up.
And, yes, I'd love to see folks put up. I've always believed this space could be so much more than what it is conventionally; I've just never had readers reach out enough to warrant doing more. Now that I've invited it, let's see what happens.
As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
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