Bad Blogging Jobs
By Brent Diggs on Jun 29, 2007 in Adventures of the Author, Humor
The internet is the great equalizer, making a raging democracy of voices and viewpoints available for the attention of the world. Every person with an opinion and a computer can start a weblog and with comment options turned off, and trackbacks disabled, these same people can even be assured of always being “right.”
However, unless you are the recipient of lottery winnings or perhaps a multi-million dollar out-of-court settlement, you are still going to have to hold some sort of gainful employment.
I recommend holding it loosely, at arms length, to minimize your shame and degradation.
The problem with having a day job, aside from general suckfulness and the and the risk of getting fired for blogging about your boss’s personality quirks, is that not all careers are compatible with blogging. This leaves the would-be blogger in a difficult balancing act between the bill-paying necessity of a real job and glamorous, yet highly-unpaid excitement as an amateur writer.
As part of my ongoing service to the online community, I have taken the liberty of providing a short list of careers to avoid when considering a future in blogging.
Evil Dictator
The ego inflating inherent in this position, combined with the inevitable erosion of patience brought about by unquestioned power, make dictators particularly unsuitable for blogging.
On the other hand, with forced subscriptions and the mandatory readership of a suitably large population , you may actually achieve every blogger’s dream of internet fame.
James Bond Villain
With an audience of passive internet drones numbering in the millions, the temptation to monologue your evil plans would simply be too great. Every conspiracy would be announced and every evil plot given away in longwinded declarations of criminal genius, with devastating results for you and your organization.
However, an intranet blog is a viable option, to keep your minions informed of upcoming dastardly activities and corporate awards such as Henchmen of the Day.
Superhero
long hours, secret identities and vengeful villains combine to make this career a bad fit for blogging. Between saving the world, maintaining a cover job, and the occasional superhero summit, where would you find the time?
Warehouse Manager, Memphis in the Summer Time
Operating out of a lovely suburb of Hades, holders of this position are just too busy, too hot*, and too frustrated for witty repartee and intelligent banter. Sentiments are usually restricted to “Because I said so,” “Let’s keep it moving,” and “When was the last time I fired you?” Blogging, especially with the goal of humor, is simply not an option.
So as we have seen, the joys of blogging are not for everyone. Acquiring the right day job, if not complete financial independence, is critical to your blogging success. You may wonder if there are other keys to weblog domination. There are. The next one is: “Never give up all your secrets at once,” but you’ll have to keep come back another day to get that one.
I have divulged enough for one day.
——-
* Scientists have recently discovered evidence linking profuse sweating with humor erosion. Leading theories purpose that humoron particles literally escape from the body through the sweat glands. In response to these findings, many high profile humorists have accepted lucrative endorsement contracts with bottled water and air conditioning manufacturers.
I am still accepting offers.
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If only that Hitler fellow had written a blog, then maybe the Allied forces would have gotten wind of his terrible plans earlier, and been able to stop World War II.
Having said that, I hear ‘Mein Kampf’ is an awful read, so maybe it is for the best that he never took up full-time writing.
“general suckfulness”
“humor erosion”
I’m thinking of going into professional Blog commenting. I would spend endless hours lurking around blogdom, making random comments that have no point except to cause others to respond to them. This would dramatically increase blogs hits and comments that would falsely put said blogs into the running for blog awards that would otherwise go to higher quality blogs. So Bloggers if you want up your numbers with out actually putting in any extra thought or efforts into it. I’m your man. I could make random personal statements about your frequent commenters that would spark fiery responses and sweeping generalizations about your subject matter the folks would feel the need to correct. I work cheap, so snatch up my services while you can.
Lynn,
Your squirrel in a communist!
(Brent, that ones a freebie, the next one will cost you)
And Chris,
My communist squirrel has run off with the socialist tea cup moose, so watch out for little moorrels.
I hear the independently wealthy bloggers are boring.
The examples in that post were of course fictional but then again….
Hey now Debbie, no need to discriminate. You don’t even know me, but I would definitely say I am not boring!
;)
Jenn is definitely NOT boring. Debbie is definately NOT a discriminate.
Hey where did everybody go? Another country or something?
Lynn,
We went to Micronesia for the squirrel and tea cup moose’s wedding. Get a map and join us. I’ll save you some chocolate!
I had micronesia once, I kept forgeting things but only for about 15 minutes at time.
ouch! my cheeks! my cheeks and my sides!
you know brent, they have shots for that now. you should be careful around the young and the elderly, and for that matter, everyone in between, until you get your shots. it’s about as useful and necessary as the chicken pox vaccine.
Hey Jenn,
I did not know you were independently wealthy (aka…trust fund baby or have enough money that you never have to work again). It’s the struggle (money or otherwise) that can make life interesting or worth living.
Lynn,
Did I miss the wedding? I’m glad they decided to get married before giving birth to the little moorrels.