Deep Jive Interests

Its the weekend and what better time time to catch up on some comments here at DJI.

Jason Calacanis decided to weigh in on a post I did a few months ago, wherein I took exception to the shrill tone of the anti-PPP rhetoric. I also ranted a little about how A-list bloggers didn’t “get” blue-collar blogging types [which got picked up by Lorelle] I make it a habit of replying back on my blog whenever possible, and comments on my blog or no exception.

This was Jason’s reply:

What a joke… a couple of years ago Scoble, Jarvis, and I were the blue collar bloggers! We were hustling trying to get our vocies heard and a couple of years later–after blogging daily/hourly–the supposed “A List” got some traction and attention.

Here is a tip: THEY EARNED IT!!! They busted their butts for years blogging in an intelligent way. They were not given their seats at the table–they took them!

There is no “A List” — it’s a myth.

There are people who blog every day, have something intelligent to say, and who get linked to more than the folks that are some combination of a) new, b) have little to say, and c)are not hustling.

If you want to be part of the A List you can do it in [the message truncates here]

And this is my opinion:

You know what’s a joke? Being so far removed from ordinary bloggers that you don’t think there is an “A-list”.

Listen, I’m not disparaging the fact that you, Scoble, Jarvis (and a host of others) are not hardworking. Far from it.

But there are intangibles that you all bring to the table that most people don’t have; and I think it speaks to the fact that even though you guys do have the credentials (Jarvis), the connections (Scoble), or the publicity/notoriety (you — from Weblogs) that you *still* have to work so hard says something.

Blogging is damn hard work, and harder still when you have kids to feed and are working lousy hours at work — and you don’t have the connections, notoriety or credentials to fuel your blogs success.

And let’s not discount it. When you have the ability to meet people most people don’t; when you have the inside track before most people do; and when you are actually *creating* news as most of us *can’t*, that’s what really separates “A-listers” from the rest of us.

I’ve come a long way in blogging, but I’m not blind to the fact that the vast majority of bloggers — even those who bring something new, refreshing, and regular to the table — may find barriers to blogging success in spite of hard work or their talent. I’d like to believe in the democracy of blogging, but the fact is that there are certain advantages that some bloggers have that others don’t. Not having them doesn’t mean you can’t be an A-lister, but I have yet to find one that didn’t have any.

The “A-list” exists, and it exists naturally. Do I think some of them “call it in”? Sure. But some of them also continue to blog just as hard as they do when they first started. But to think that a natural stratification doesn’t exist — or if it does, is easy to penetrate if you “are good and work hard” — is quite frankly, blind and a little arrogant.

[Yes, I am referring to your “how-to be an A-list recipe” with regards to Techmeme].

[And yes, I’m also referring to 2007, not 1997, or even 2002 when there were a tenth (hundredth? thousandth?) as many blogs competing]