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Logic Makes You THINK, Emotion Makes you ACT

May 30, 2008 - 3:54pm — bex

Every wonder why erroneous loudmouths get more airplay than the rest of us? I'm not talking about radio shock jocks, or political pundits, but technology bloggers as well. When you let your emotions run wild, and make crazy (probably false) posts, you usually get a bigger fan base.

Why the heck would that happen? Why do blogs with valid, rational discourse languish, whereas those who are wrong, wrong, just plain wrong get lots of viewers and comments?

Jeff Atwood over at Coding Horror had a recent epiphany along these lines. His technology blog is a little haphazard, filled with lots of good nuggets -- as well as plenty of corrections in the comments. Jeff conforms to the philosophy of strong opinions, loosely held. He says he's not an "expert," he's an amateur. But since software is such a new industry, pretty much everyone is an amateur... And, unlike most folks in the software industry, he's not afraid to admit it.

I think it goes a bit deeper than that...

When Jeff says something that is just plain wrong, it makes people angry, which makes them do something. They try to be the first to correct him in the comments, or it starts a conversation on other blogs that link back to him. His writing is humorous, and I've linked to some of his more controversial posts (such as Rails Is For Douchebags), but that doesn't mean his opinions are valid...

You don't get a popular blog by being correct: you get it by being wrong in a way that makes people react. If you were right, you'll get a decent reputation, but your zone of influence will be smaller. People easily forgive you for being wrong... but they never forgive you for being right.

Linkbait, flamebait, trollbait, whatever you want to call it... it works wonders to boost popularity.

UPDATE: Just to be clear, I like Coding Horror, and I mentioned in the comments below. I just wanted to make the observation that generating an emotional response seems to be the better path to blog popularity... for what its worth.

Comments

May 31, 2008 - 6:30am — Mihaï (not verified)

think for efficiency, act for efficacy

efficiency and efficacy are as the electric and magnetic fields, they interact and generate each other, together they are the Force

June 1, 2008 - 4:26pm — Visitor (not verified)

No its doesn't!

Bah, your wrong! (just helping boost your popularity)

Interesting question though, why is it that the software community is so vocal about the tools they use? Why do groups of otherwise sensible people argue with each other about which operating system is best, or whether SOAP is better than REST, etc?

Is it just because the internet gives people that soapbox to shout from, or did people previously shout at each other over which printing press was better, or which motor company could be trusted more?

And yet i find myself drawn into that myself, mainly because the barrier to entry is so low (i.e. just adding a comment here).

At the end of the day, is it because arguing is just plain fun?!

June 1, 2008 - 4:44pm — Visitor (not verified)

This post

will generate few comments.

June 1, 2008 - 8:20pm — Tyro (not verified)

Is it beat on Jeff Month or something?

Sorry, your post seems a little ambiguous;
Are you are saying Coding Horror is responsible for "Linkbait, flamebait, trollbait" (and it is a good/bad thing?)
... or Are you acknowledging that it happens in general.

June 1, 2008 - 8:58pm — Pie (not verified)

The Eternal Dilemna

Bex, dead on. Shame that is the case though. Try to put real thought and effort into your blog, you gain little influence, but more respect. The question for bloggers is what do we want?

June 2, 2008 - 7:41am — bex

Re: No its doesn't!

Thanks for the popularity boost ;-)

Why do engineers argue so often? Because they're engineers. They believe in absolute right and wrong for everything, because that's how we're trained. We don't see things from another's perspective: if its not the way I know, then its wrong. Engineers need to learn empathy if they want to get along with normal humans.

Then there's also the compelling math... There's a hundred ways to solve any particular software problem, all of which are considered "wrong" by someone. Now, say a fan of method #99 blogs about how method #98 is the worst idea ever... that will anger fans of #98 into a response... greatly amusing fans methods #1-#97.

See? Big 'ol giant fan base...

There is something to be said about the process of argument. Sometimes its an effective tool to force people to justify their assumptions. Insult their favorite technology saying it sucks because of XYZ, you'll get plenty of responses saying why your test was wrong, or XYZ isn't important.

Plodding ever onwards towards the truth...

June 2, 2008 - 7:48am — bex

Re: Is it beat on Jeff Month or something?

To be clear, I like Coding Horror. I like Jeff's writing style, and his observations. He's not always right, but he's never afraid to take a stab at a tough subject, and be insightful.

I'm just acknowledging that blogs like his generate an emotional response, which is why they are popular.

Whether its linkbait or not depends on his motivation: does he want popularity more than he wants to get people talking? I don't know the guy, so I can't judge his motives... but I hope it the latter more than the former.

June 2, 2008 - 5:40pm — bex

Re: The Eternal Dilemna

True... true... By being correct, you gain influence outside the blogging community... but by being wrong, you gain influence within it.

I go for a little of both, myself. If I waiting until I knew I was correct before blogging, this site would have a lot less content ;-)

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