“All he talks about is politics!”

To help Robert I’ll unsubscribe as well, if he doesn’t want us here why have a personal blog?

Scoble,
In your page title you have “Scobleizer – Tech geek blogger”, is “Tech geek blogger” one description or is it “Tech, Geek, Blogger” 3 descriptions?

Maybe that is the confusion? I have always thought your blog was about technology and less “personal”.

Maybe you should update your Title to clear up the confusion

I do agree though, I come to your site for tech news not political news which as far as the blog is concerned the tech part of it is disappearing which is sad cause ‘personally’ I hate following things on FriendFeed, or Twitter, or the like, to much noise for my liking, I like an article and then comments.

Your google feed has become far more interesting than your blog, but it’s not my blog so I can’t complain to much

Cheers.

I think your argument is undeniably weak here, Robert.

The folks before, maybe childishly, proclaimed they were unsubscribing from this blog because it is too political. You point out that that’s not the case because you write about technology elsewhere. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Their point wasn’t the literal one, that you never write about anything but politics… it was that there’s a low tech signal-to-noise ratio lately.

Further, I don’t think “I’m unsubscribing” is an insult… presumably you care who reads your blog and how many of us there are, and also presumably you’d be interested to know what you might be doing that’s causing people to go away (or not go away).

That’s not to say that you’d necessarily change your behavior on account of it, but it’s good information to have. Writing polarizing political pieces like you have been is a sure-fire way to create ill will towards you (both personally and professionally) as well as turning this blog into something of an echo chamber… see, e.g., all of the “OMG REPUBLICANS R SO STUPID” comments above.

I’m not saying that being a liberal is making people hate you, of course, it’s all in the presentation. A good number of your posts have a not-so-subtle undertone of “if you disagree, you’re an idiot, because I’m clearly right about this.” That goes for not just your politics pieces but also your economy pieces of late.

Not that you should change, but you should at least be aware of what kind of community you’re promoting so that you can decide whether it’s the kind you’d like to have. Maybe it is — in which case, carry on (and posts like this are wholly unnecessary).

If, on the other hand, you’re looking for an intelligent, diverse, reasonable, and tolerant community, you should set the tone for that by treating your subjects as though you understand that there is room for people to differ with you.

Why is this even post-worthy? The remaining readers aren’t obsessing about those who’ve left. Why do you feel like you have to respond to their pettiness with name calling? How does this help you/your brand?

Just a suggestion and you can take it for what it is worth. I used to go home so angry about politics and world affairs. One day I decided to download some great books and podcasts on my IPod and listen to them on my drive. Don’t listen to talk radio or the news any more and I am no longer angry at the world. Get my news from blogs and news feeds.

I read your post yesterday and found it fascinating – mainly because I wondered if it was possible to write it from a British perspective. I decided that it would be really hard to do that, because we have a different kind of patriotism.

To illustrate this, i looked at Google mentions for ‘unAmerican’, which game me over 2.5 million responses. ‘UnBritish’, on the other hand, gives me just under 6000 mentions, with UnEnglish only a few 100 more. Weird how the two countries view themselves.

While it is a personal blog…that is a bit of a misnomer because if it were truly intended for a strictly personal audience it would be called a diary and you wouldn’t post it for the masses to see.

Secondarily, I think that while your tech thoughts are very insightful, your political comments are rather shallow, in my humble opinion lowering your overall value/word or value/post value.

Your are definitely entitled to your opinion and this is your personal blog but when you make your contact information available or turn comments on you are inviting feedback. Don’t have a hissy fit when people give you their opinions back.

Its your blog and we are just guests, but I think many of the “disappointed” posts have been trying to explain why your blog seems abit off-kilter recently in case you care of your readers sentiment (not that you have to of course). But claiming that everyone who cares enough to give you an explanation why they are unsubscribing isn’t smart enough to belong here seemed abit harsh and was hard to believe came from you. I still look forward to reading of your travels and the people you meet and wish you the best and thank you again for the services you provie our community.

Robert, calm down!

Like other people have said, you do appear to have a giant chip on your shoulder of late.

I couldn’t care less what you say on your blog. Hell, I enjoy reading whatever you write because I think you’re a smart guy but you really need to learn to accept criticism.

If you can’t handle negative feedback, then don’t blog about topics which are going to get people fired up e.g. politics, religion etc. Alternatively, disable commenting.

It is your blog and you are entitled to write about whatever you want but the same applies to your readers.

Naked conversations and all that jazz…

Peace dude.

Seems like a few subscribers are trying to bully you out of expressing opinions on the political mess this country is in and has been in for the last eight years. If they disagree with your political analysis let them post a reply that addresses their difference of opinion in a logical, non threatening manner. If all they can do is whine about how they don’t want to consider opinions other than those that reflect their own views, they can tune out. It’s not required for viewers to read every one of your posts. Those of us who use RSS readers only have to click on what interests us. I will not be bullied out of expressing my conclusion that Obama/Biden is a much safer choice for America than McCain/Paulin. It doesn’t look like you are to be bullied either.

What disturbs me is the fear of political discussions. Far too many people want to believe that Democrats spend more and do not wish to consider the fact that there was a budget surplus 8 years ago and the fiscal responsibility of Clinton was replaced by fiscal responsibility of Bush. Shouldn’t we discuss such things in a reasonable manner? Are we simply left to robo calls as the mainstay of political discussion. Too bad we can’t unsubscribe to robo calls.

So, Robert, the problem I see with your list of issues is how you define “some” and how you define “rich” ?

And, yes, taxation is physical force. If you don’t pay your taxes what do you think eventually happens? People will come to your door to arrest you and they will have guns and you will have no choice. That is, if you can survive after all your assets have been frozen.

Of course all you talk about is politics, just more of the tech kind, as blogger spaz, conference meet and greets, daily gossip with the insider Twitter clam-chowder soupheads, keeping Dave Winer happy and sane, interviewing lame start-up companies in desperate need of any PR, flippant off-the-deep-end lame attempts to drive up traffic, and always inserting yourself into any major controversy, that’s pure all politics.

Thankfully, it’s extremely isolated, the same group talking to the same circular audiences. 24/7/365 Narcissistic Personality Disorder Social Networking.

Weird how the two countries view themselves.

Yeah, serious differences of opinion, Yorktown proved that well enough.

i think the point is that no one gives a shit about what you have to say about politics… not that “they unsubscribed.”

maybe you should actually listen to some of your readers, i.e. customers.

The “smart” people are the ones who dont want to listen to a TECH BLOGGER preach about POLITICS… you just don’t have the credibility there.

Would you read reviews of start ups on the huffington post??? Exactly…

“Last time I checked this is still my +personal blog+ where I get to write about whatever I am interested in.”

Funny how people sometimes forget that.

I can think of only 3 or 4 posts that robert has done that are political at all and only this one which is a realy political one.

Its surprising that when any tech podcaster/bloger makes even the most mild political comment that would not be at all controversial in any european context they get a few to be frank nut jobs ranting about socialisiam

Yeah, serious differences of opinion, Yorktown proved that well enough.

I presume you’re referring to some US event that everyone else is blissfully ignorant of. After all, I wouldn’t expect just anyone to know about random events in Australia just because I’m Australian.

I keep subscribed to your feed right because you don’t talk only ’bout tech. And I would also if I did not agree to your political views so strongly as I do.

I’m totaly with you on this Robert…

I like the politics…it is that damn tech stuff that pisses me off. When can we discuss religion more in depth?

Hm only interested insmart data Robert?

You know during July I as in the GillMore Gang ustream chat room and was board and the whole gang watched a social experiment unfold where several of us posted rumor son FriendFeed to see who would be very unsmart and take that rumor and not verify it before running with it.

I seem to recall a certain Robert Scoble running full steam with that rumor rather take any time to verify it..

The lesson is not deleting people form your connections..

But verifying information received from connections before relying upon it..

Think back to last Summer where you were reacting on bad data because you refuse to do the work to verfiy it..Pot Calling Kettle Black comes to mind..

Wow, what hypocrisy I’m reading here. But it is typical. on both sides. What is often forgotten by the side that is reacting to being called “un american”, is that their party(yes the party of “inclusion” Dem’s) has said some pretty nasty things about the other party as well. But that is overlooked as being
necessary. The ends justifies the means kind of thing.

There is Acorn for which a specific candidate has worked for and did training for as well, actively “working” to win the election for a specific candidate. Once again, it matters not how they win, just that they win. But that will be overlooked here as well.

Oh and about the surplus. Yes you are correct, there may have been one.
There had been a decline in the economy that had started before GWB took office. But in 2001, we were attacked on our own soil. The president decided that his first responsibility is the protection of the people of this country.
Can any of you remember the when we have been attacked on our own soil since 2001? A strong economy is only good if we are safe as a nation.
I for one thank GWB for this. I hope who ever wins the next election also takes the stance that the protection of our nation comes first.
Cause who cares if the economy is strong, if we are dodging bullets and bombs on the way to the store to buy more stuff?

I think the reason many unsubscribed or (like) me were just highly agitated was not that you were talking about politics really but the tone and way you do it. the words snarky, petty, smug, elitist come to my mind reading this stuff. that and you’re just plain wrong so much
jmo

Never mind them. As Gary Vaynerchuk says (who I found because of one of your posts), execute on being you:

http://garyvaynerchuk.com/2008/09/11/execute-on-being-you/

Robert, you dilute your brand by discussing politics. Whether you like it or not, half of your readers will disagree with you politically. On an emotional, visceral level. You can’t change that.

Start a political blog, announce it here, link to it, whatever. Every time you get the urge to write something political, do it there.

I used to buy into the, “it’s my personal blog and I’ll write what I want, politics and all” view. Then I saw how upset I’d get reading political comments from people I though were otherwise intelligent on other issues. Maybe it’s because the political views were expressed as snarky, gloating, name-calling drivel instead of intellectual discussions. Fine. I found I was writing the same sort of junk, just from the other perspective. So I started a political blog. Problem solved.

In fact, I found I myself like my other blog better now. Go figure…