hahaha.

Read my very short opinion on my self centered blog.

http://artimustard.blogspot.com/2008/10/blog-action-day.html

In any event, I don’t think it’s worthless at all. I used the day to start using Kiva to help small business owners, and after I posted about it I heard from several readers that they were going to do the same. So – I know it had at least SOME effect. Better to do something with good intentions and have a small effect, than none at all, right?

I work in advertising on large brands and see a similar type of struggle. Executives want to know the impact of a campaign (ROI) and that they’re investment is worthy. This can be difficult for campaigns with expressed goals in awareness, PR and social media.

Same with Blog Action Day – we don’t know the impact, participants just trust it will generate awareness, introspection and subsequent goodwill. So while “worthless” is admittedly an emotionally-charged word, the questions merit reflection. What is the impact?

The only anger and division I see are from those that disagree with my view. And instead of politely offering up a differing view — and furthering the discussion — they come in throwing around names and being hateful.

The McCain comment is a perfect example. Is this the middle school lunch room? Is your Mom fat? Oooo…. wait a second. I’m an adult. I don’t need to throw around names to make myself feel better when someone disagrees with my views.

For the record, I am not a McCain supporter. Ron Paul all the way.

@Debi: You didn’t answer the question. Do you think you are the exception or the rule? That is, what percentage of the posts out of all 12,000 were about what someone does on a regular basis for poverty versus what others could do (action vs. informational).

As I pointed out to Josh, the people who disagree can’t seem to keep a cool head. There’s no need to try and insult me by calling my blog an “ad-blog”. If you think this is an ad-blog, that’s your opinion. I would be glad to point you in the direction of some true ad-blogs.

And you are always welcome back if you decide to come back. That’s the key — I’m open to discussion, and I can keep my head on straight. Feel free to disagree on anything I write on my blog.

You accomplished a lot today by calling Blog Action Day “worthless.” For yourself, that is. You garnered more comments for your ad-blog than normal.

I’m outta here.

He talks about the blatant self-promotion, etc., in his post — but that’s exactly what he tricked all of you into doing — reading his blog and firing many of you up to leave comments.

In fact, most of the Blog Action Day posts I’ve read have been very good, inspiring, and even mentioned things that the bloggers have done in their own lives to combat poverty.

Kevin’s post is actually an example of the few that bring discredit to Blog Action Day’s goal because he did nothing more than generate traffic and stir up anger and division instead of passion and unity. He had a chance to write an inspirational post, and he instead tried to make himself look good, smart, etc.

Must be a McCain supporter or something.