Gizmodo - You're Grounded! Bloggers - You're Not.

I just finished giving Gizmodo a time out, when I found out that blogger who played the prank is grounded from attending future CES events. Webware is calling this episode "Gizmodogate" and posted a reply from CEA explaining their position.

But what is disturbing is the discussion that is taking place... Bloggers who say "have a sense of humor" etc... And even blogs from my list of favorites like CrunchGear - who have valid points such as unless bloggers "are ready to act their age and use their skills, energy, and position to help consumers and not piss of PR folks, they’re also sunk." - then put a picture of a womans "douche" in the post... Yeah, really funny - I get it... And mention that "....these sophomoric shenanigans — along with rumors, rants, and fanboyism — are sadly the bread and butter of blogging".

As a mom of three boys, past technical project manager and geek I feel able to provide some motherly-geeky words to put things in perspective:

1. THE BREAD AND BUTTER OF BLOGGING?  It is true that no one does a rant better then bloggers. But isn't the "bread and butter of blogging" fresh opinions and discussions?

2. BLOGGERS ARE ALL KIDS OUT OF COLLEGE? While many bloggers are youngins out of college that have not lost their "fratboy" mentality, what about the "mature" side of that includes hobby bloggers, mom bloggers, dad bloggers, political bloggers, business bloggers, media bloggers, tech bloggers with industry experience and on and on?  Oh, and by the way, what about all of the mainstream media journalists that are jumping on the blogging band wagon? Even Walt Mossberg and David Pogue, who were mentioned in the Crunchgrear post as people who would not pull a prank like that, do pull some amazing blog posts (and are on the list of my blog favorites).

3. HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR?: Believe me being a mom requires a strong sense of humor, where just the mention of a body part sets off potty talk rants. We spend lots of time reminding our kids about manners. But get a bunch of mom bloggers at a conference together and there are lots of drunkin fun going on... The difference is that it happens AT THE PARTIES AFTER THE CONFERENCE... So, lets all have a sense of humor - but take it off the conference floor.. No matter how gimmicky they think the show is..

This single event should just be considered a prank, not a reflection of bloggers - who have earned a permanent place at events like CES.

Update:

• Valleywag posted a commenter's suggestions for more sanctions against the prankster.
• The most interesting comments on the topic were after the Vallewag post by Owen Thomas, who said that the Gizmodo blogger was at CES with a full fledged press pass instead of a blogger pass. And he happens to be selling that press pass, with a (scary) picture that shows him posing him as a booth babe wannabe...

Comments

[greg]

eh. yeah, they shouldn't have screwed with the motorola presentation. but other than that, everyone is over-reacting. including you. honestly, the chuckle i got from watching a wall of tvs turn off far outweighs any sense of sympathy for whichever peon never thought to cover the IR ports. so the tvs went off and they had to turn them all back on. it's not like they sat there doing it all day. it was funny. get over your sense of well-behaved propriety already.

[mlankton]

I started an audiophile and home theater news portal in August. It started as a Wordpress blog. Since then I have taken steps to get it headed in a little different direction.

I plan to attend every CES and CEDIA starting with CEDIA 2008. These two trade shows are already huge for my site. Being there and being able to generate content that isn't press-release dependent will be a big deal for my site.

The individual at Gizmodo who did this is an idiot, and I can't even begin to tell you how much this pisses me off. If this impacts my ability to gain access at tradeshows I will pay to have a voodoo curse placed on Brian Lam. Gizmodo has harmed everyone who has a legitimate interest in covering this industry. Blogs and news sites that aren't established, old-school trade media have gained a lot more credibility in the last few years. Their act may have undone those strides.

[Beth B.]

Good luck with your site - it looks interesting:
http://aventhusiast.com/

I will add it to my list of review blogs.. I also plan to attend CES next year to share the latest and greatest with the parent audience. I think you had a great point about generating content that isn't press release dependent - that is why people read blogs.... I am enjoying reading all the blogs perspectives on CES.