A better question is, has this species been seen in the wild? Anywhere? Ever?
But ah hates it when anyone else responds to a yes or no question with something besides "yes" or "no," so I guess I should actually answer the (rhetorical, seems to me) query, "Is civility an endangered species in the blogosphere?"
No.
Was there a follow-up question?
Well, other'n the follow-up questions to the question itself, like how we're defining "civility." Or "blogosphere," for that matter. Do knitting blogs have flame wars? Do I really gotta accept that, say, Instapundit (you don't really need a link to that, right?) is by definition civil because there aren't comments?
I'm also -- ok, not surprised, how about bemused -- bemused at the relative lack of attention given to content (blogs that don't cover politics relentlessly aren't part of the blogosphere, apparently), and gender (which may tie into the previous point, possibly, in the smallest way).
Given that the only times there's been a decided lack of civility around here -- in comments, I'm leaving out the entries themselves, lord knows the stuff, however defined, is generally in short supply there -- has been when one of the A List right-wing blogs decided to explicitly send their readers here. . .
No, that thought isn't going anywhere. Let's just leave it at "no."
Comments
according to wired, despite his lack of comments,
instapundit enjoys talking with his readers...
Posted by: Jason | July 8, 2004 8:07 PM
You know, you're pretty damn handy with that perspective stick. What is that you're using, a 2x4?
Posted by: Kip Manley | July 8, 2004 11:51 PM
Jason, is it just me, or did that story not explicitly mention the whole lack of comments thing?
Kip, I hear you can persuade more people with swear words and a 2x4 than with swear words alone.
I may have heard that wrong, though.
Posted by: Aaron | July 9, 2004 9:24 AM
Yes, occasionally there is drama on the knitblogs. Thankfully there are enough of them that I can avoid the "Feel my pain" ones.
Posted by: Cinnamon | July 9, 2004 5:11 PM