Thursday, February 10, 2011

Mystery Petanque Blog Discovered

I was surprised to see this line on the WPA website: "A new Pétanque blog, Petanquestuff has come to our attention. The owner has invited comment on the first posting regarding the Dwindling Entries at tournaments." The owner? Who is the owner of this Blog? Does the WPA webmaster know who the person behind this Blog is? How was this mystery Blog discovered on the WWW? The Blog was born with a first post on the 8th of February and mentioned by the WPA on the 9th of February. Why does this unknown and anonymous Blog deserve a mention on the WPA website?

Did the WPA web-master assume this was a NZ based Blog? Call me old-fashioned, but I believe that if you are running a publication (print or digital) you should provide contact details, name and in the case of the Web, a location (country).

Comments on the Petanquestuff Blog are moderated by the unknown owner/editor (I found this out when I submitted a comment asking who the editor of the Blog is).

8 comments:

NZPC Editor (Tom) said...

Yes, we now know it's a New Zealand based Blog. The second post (10/02/11) mentions PNZ.

NZPC Editor (Tom) said...

I think it's out of character for the webmaster of the WPA website to give a plug for a anonymous and totally unknown Blog. This is especially so considering the blog had only one post and was barely one day old when it received the attention from the WPA webmaster. This makes me think that the identity and purpose of the blog and blogger is known and supported by the webmaster and WPA. It looks like this mystery blog will be used to solicit anonymous opinions on national petanque issues from visitors to that Blog. All very strange. With a blog like "petanquestuff" the editor can write both the topic and the replies, and no one would know.

NZPC Editor (Tom) said...

I do of course not have a problem with printed or digital publications being moderated - it is absolutely essential. What I have a problem with is not knowing who the editor/moderator is. There is something deeply dishonest about moderating contributions without revealing who the moderator is. And why on earth do we need a "safe place" for people to provide comments and ideas? What is so dangerous about simply providing ideas? Could it be that the as yet unknown editor of PetanqueStuff is really the one that needs the "safe place"?

dirk said...

Tom, I have not always agreed with you but you have always had the boules to stand up for what you believe. I admire you for that. I have contributed to the new blog but appear to be the only one, apart from yourself who is prepared to be named.

Many petanque players know who I am and how to contact me and they do. Others choose to use the blog rather than discuss the issues directly. What's with that?

NZPC Editor (Tom) said...

Dirk, sorry it has taken me a while to aswer your question "what's with that?". Things have been a bit difficult in Christchurch lately. I will answer your question now. I firmly believe that if you have a written contribution to make you should have enough courage to sign off with your name. We've seen great human courage in the Middle East, not to mention the great courageous people of Christchurch. These people give or risk their lives in order to help others, but some of our petanque players are only capable of throwing rocks at PNZ from behind a brick wall (a wall provided by an anonymous administrator of a blog promoted on the WPA website!). What a stark contrast of heroes and cowards. Here we have petanque players who shelter behind anonymity and accuse PNZ of being a secret society - is this not extremely hypocritical Dirk? You are of course free to address the faceless mob if you like. I myself do not want to engage or be associated with these people in any way. It is also possible that you simply want use the opportunity the defend and promote your own case - you have done this skillfully Dirk. I find it also interesting that you've already taken to task the anonymous faceless blog owner over moderation issues (where have we seen this before?). What a shambles. This petanquestuff blog is an embarrassment to petanque in New Zealand and to the WPA (the WPA website provides the link).        
Tom van Bodegraven.

Anonymous said...

I think we have hypocrisy flying all over the place here ! take a step back and look over the historic content of your own site Tom. There has been many issues debated and causing raised temperatures, including attacks on PNZ that contained the authors name. Despite this we still have the issue of communication with PNZ going into a black hole unless they deem fit to respond with a haughty dismissal, prize money for nationals as an example.
Lets not do the usual and all get hysterical over this and try to sort things calmly and for the benefit of all, an implosion of PNZ will benefit none of us.

Alan Cockle Bay

NZPC Editor (Tom) said...

Alan, I really do not understand what it is you are talking about, or what it is you are trying to say to me. But I do agree with the need to remain calm. Cheers, Tom.

Tom van B said...

18/03/11 Most unusual, Michael Rocks is now commenting on the mystery site. I say unusual, as Michael never comments on blogs and I would not expect him to comment on a blog of which the owner is unknown. But I suspect that he knows the owner very well. -Tom.