web of trust
Friday, July 25, 2008 | Labels: bloggers |For the post
below this line:
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I thought this a fitting time to revisit something I put up last year. In it, I mentioned that I'd had the good fortune to actually meet quite a few bloggers out there, in person. Some of them, I've even become quite friendly with and will come visit from time to time.
In fact, just last weekend, two of them (Kalvin and JR) came to Provincetown when I decided to visit there myself. And I'm really happy that, by this unusual mode of meeting, I've actually met people about whom I never would have even known if this was 20 years ago.
I should have expected this, but many folks took the post to be some sort of "Hey-ay, I have a hella lotta friends! Whoo-hoo!"
But, no.
If you'll notice, I never mentioned why I was writing about it. I was being cautious.
Well, it's because of repeated events like what's just bubbled up at Joe.My.God:
Remember Cooper [atari's ed: NOT Cooper Lowenthal, btw]? The firefighter gay dad of two adopted boys who pulled his widely-loved blog after an "attack" of malicious comments and emails from the readers of this blog? Causing me to get extremely bent of out shape and offer Cooper a heartfelt (really) public apology? Over the last few days our little blogosphere has retched forth some unpleasant, uncomfortable revelations about Cooper.Read more there. Then read about it from the original figure-it-out-er, Father Tony.
The short version:
He is not a firefighter.
He is not an adoptive father.
He is not gay.
He is not, in fact, a he.
Well, I'd personally been through at least three versions of this type of thing in the past 2.5 years. Some were bloggers, others only by email, but the bottom line was people not being who they said they were.
So startling were the first times, due to my stunning naivete, that I have since then never fully trusted the existence of anyone until I'd at least met them.
And it occurred to me that I had read something previously which addressed this issue very clearly.
I actually got the idea from a recent scifi book that takes place only 20 or so years from now. The world is different than now, but much is inherently similar to the internet and chats, IMs, etc...
This comment happens when a group of known net "chatters" get suspicious about a new anonymous chatter that gives completely unconfirmed identity.
Tommie shook his head. "You could be almost anything. You could be
a committee. When you want to sound like a lit-lover, we get chat
from a member who knows about poetry." Tommie tilted back his chair.
"There's an old saying: the beginning of trust has to be an in-person
contact . I don't see any usable chain of trust in your biography."
-Vernor Vinge, "Rainbows End", paperback p.133
a committee. When you want to sound like a lit-lover, we get chat
from a member who knows about poetry." Tommie tilted back his chair.
"There's an old saying: the beginning of trust has to be an in-person
contact . I don't see any usable chain of trust in your biography."
-Vernor Vinge, "Rainbows End", paperback p.133
Chain of Trust. It's real simple, but solid.
You vouch for someone who vouches for another person who vouches for another, etc etc.
The further away from a person for which you personally can vouch, the less certain you are they are legit. A person completely separate from the chain is inherently a risk for trust.
And, in reality, it's not a chain - it's a web.
(BTW, this is going to become very important in the business world and beyond, I'll bet.)
Back then, I first came up with a list of the bloggers that I had actually met in person up until September 2007 - I need to dig out the list and update it sometime soon.
Then, purely as an inquiry because I was kinda fascinated by webs, I suppose, I asked some other if they didn't mind sharing a list of bloggers they've actually met in person as well. I also said I'd keep it anonymous if desired.
I didn't pursue it long, but I'd gotten 7 others to respond and got this (with all names stripped out).
(Again, this is from 2007)The eight light blue nodes are me and the seven other bloggers (all of whom I knew) who responded to me. The lines connect any of those nodes to individual bloggers whom they have met.
What I called it in my post last year was a "Web of Contact". Which is accurate, as I'm basing this initial form of trust on actual real-life contact.
But what it amounts to is a "Web of Trust".
I kinda feel it's going to come to this for any sense of security in bloggerville.
And when I say "security", I mean some sense that the person to whom you may be investing some emotional investment, the person whom you may be offering words or long emails or phone calls of comfort for some hard time they may have fallen upon, is in fact who they say they are. Or at least are having the problems they say they are.
Because people don't like wasting their emotions on phantoms.
Any other ideas out there?
For the post
above this line:
Where the fuck am I in this trusty web? Huh?
Well, we never got to meet in NY :D Next time, we need to!
Anyway, I tweaked the text to be clearer: It only referred to people I met in person and - for the few who played along - people they met in person.
Also, it was done back a year ago - I imagine if I did the exercise again, it would have more folks on it.
A "Web of Contact" which includes email, phone, etc, would be much larger, to be sure.
Here's my idea: avoid all "serious" blogs like the plague.
I don't want to read about slow cancer death, or aborted children, or fiscal bankruptcy.
Only read blogs that are funny, gossipy, or ubergay.
That should do it.
I feel like a Seanny Come Lately on this, but holy shite! I used to follow Cooper's blog and wondered to where the hell it had disappeared!
At least you know I'm real, though it's been about a hundred years since we last met.
Wow. I needed to read this. Very well stated: "emotional investment." All true.
I am going to think on this subject some more.
I haven't met any other bloggers in person so how would I be trusted? I am real. My story is real. I "know" and have communicated with other bloggers but maybe they aren't real? This reminds me of a Get Smart gadget.
Hell, can it be for sure that we did not meet? I mean, weren't we in SFO together a year ago for Pride? In the bar? In the back corner? Naked? Sweaty? Man, I must be getting old My memory is failing me.
I am so glad we were able to meet in person and i am verifiable in the web... Someday we will all be able to hang out again... at some big gay blogger convention or something...
That is a really interesting concept, and if I may say so, perhaps the next big online service in the making.
cb: Well, that would include mine! (I mean look back at all my "the ex" posts) Waaaaaaaaaaaa!
Sean: You know that's a good point. We should get Will and others to come down to Boston and have a dinner or something!
Michael: Yeah. I mean when I invest my emotions, it's a lot, so I tend to be kinda guarded in giving it out.
Jen: It's just a matter of how much any given person is willing to accept at face value. Getting burned a few times tends to make one cautious.
Lewis: I don't think *we* officially met, but you hung out with Dan and Brett during that weekend, too. That puts you in a chain of trust, btw :)
Kelly: Yeah, we should try DC or something more mid-Atlantic but with affordable hotels.
Erik: Oooooh! Good Point! OK, the Copyright at the bottom of the page is TOTALLY in effect. My Idea!!! All proceeds go to me! Thanks :)
Agreed. Nobody likes wasting emotions on fakes and phonies. I'll let you know when I'm Boston, for the record.