Being new to the blogosphere myself, I never realized the kind of comments I would receive by linking to certain items and topics. After receiving my first string of hate comments, I have come to the realization that it is unavoidable. If you have opinions/beliefs that you stand firm on, there will always be a group of opposing people ready to bash you. I am now cool with that. I can’t say I agree with all of your posts, but I am a repeat reader because you keep it real and that is hard to come by these days.
Don’t change a thing…

Anyway, some of the posts about that Mr. Blake aren’t of interest of me either, but many of your articles are. You are doing fine, good job.

On the topic of the self proclaimed ‘wordpress rockstars’ , i must laugh, are these ‘rockstars’ world famous and earning 10′s of millions of dollars, appearing in Nike campaigns and on the covers of Time magazine, not likely, perhaps ‘wordpress experts’ or ‘wordpress professionals’ would be better suited.

Wesley – With respect, the point you are missing is that I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions and forming my own opinions. I can link to whatever I please. Upstart Blogger is independent and always will be. Some people will always disagree but at least everyone knows that I am speaking directly and with candor.

Controversy, whether in content or link form is, in my opinion, a good thing. It promotes discussion and debate. Furthermore, linking to something does not necessarily mean that I support it or condone it. I’m simply drawing attention to it.

As a musician with my own record label I have plenty of CDs under my belt and piracy is one of those things that can’t be avoided. However, I am fortunate enough to have a quality product and a quality audience. A high enough proportion of that audience are happy to pay a fair price for my work, even though they could download it for free if they wanted to with a little effort. I firmly believe that if a product is good enough it will still be paid for even after it has been discovered, or even downloaded, for free. For instance, I collect Miles Davis recordings. I buy everything that is released. But, due to the time it sometimes takes for new re-mastered editions to get released, I often download digital versions from Bit Torrent sites since they almost always get leaked months in advance. I still buy the official product once it is officially released.

I suppose that puts me in an interesting legal position but to me this is no different to downloading a software demo and then purchasing a serial number. Furthermore, everything I own is legally paid for.

In all honesty, had I downloaded the Tim Ferris book from a Bit Torrent site I would not have then gone on to pay for it. I would have deleted it. And I have already deleted the free copy I got from Audible.

It’s not jealousy. I’ll admit that they make me a little angry, especially since I feel that Ferriss, Chow, and others like them take advantage of the gullible and uneducated. But genuinely, with a beautiful family, a dream career as a jazz musician and a growing income from blogging I have absolutely nothing to be jealous about!

One more thing. I’m not poking fun at your grammar. I am aware of your linguistic position and respect it. The Anon email was, I’m pretty certain, from someone whose first language is English. That fact, combined with his aggressive attitude, was enough to justify my critical response.

Christopher – Yes indeed, my opinion has certainly rattled a few cages. And thanks for the compliment, it means a lot.

Wangjel – I agree. The racist comment from Anon is disappointing and unacceptable. It amazes me that such destructive attitudes still exist.

Thanks a lot
Wangjel

Keep up the good work, I look forward to your posts daily.

I can just imagine how angry you would be if someone illegally copied your music CD or what not.. (if you have one that is)

I think part of it is jealousy. You see these people are successfull, and you think they do not deserve it. Still does not give you the right to do what you did.

PS, don’t diss on my spelling/grammar as English is my third language. You always assume that everyone’s primary language is English? Bad form.

Get back to doing what you do best, (writing insightful posts) and stop linking to or condoning illegal activities and I assure you, your blog will be better because of it. Bringing up controversial issues on a blog is always asking for trouble.

PS: That email did not come from me, just to clarify.

Your success seems to have brought out the green monster in a few people. That’s sad, given the fact that there seems to be enough of the blogosphere to go around.

Keep up the good work, and keep the delete button handy for the wack-jobs who have nothing constructive to contribute.