Last night I dropped into a blogging event sponsored by Povo, who I thought deserved a plug for their efforts.  The main draw for me was that Adam Gaffin, of Universal Hub, was on the discussion panel, and Adam sightings in the real world are as rare as encounters with Sulawesi Flying Foxes in Dot.  I was pretty sure that since he was sitting on the panel he would actually show up, too.  And as luck would have it, he did.

The discussion was ably moderated by Sam Baltrusis of Loaded Gun, a site that seeks to bring a little bit of the clamor and glamour of New York and Hollywood to the so-called Hub. His slogan, "Pop. Culture. Controversy. Boston." reads like a round of "which one of these things is not like the other," but it's worth a try.  Baltrusis has been in the thick of media culture for years, and we should all be grateful he's making such a brave and valiant effort to bring a little excitement to our shores.

The folks from Povo, many of whom were surprisingly attractive, articulate, and not socially retarded (it was a blog event, after all) were offering free Heineken.  And since, as many of you know, blogging doesn't pay much, free beer's a big draw. 

I hadn't heard much about Povo, and would like to have heard more, actually.  The site's not very elegantly laid out, but I like the idea of it.  The panel discussion ran a little long, and was hijacked early on by one over-enthusiastic panelist who held us all hostage for long-winded monologs on topics as varied and scintillating as "to twitter or not to twitter? That is the question," and "shouldn't 'Site Engine Optimization' be abbreviated 'S.E. Optimization,' instead of 'SEO,' since you're always tempted to say 'SEO Optimization,' kind of like 'ATM Machine,' which is obviously redundant?" 

Of all the panelists, I'd say Carol O'Connor, of Table Critic, was the most inspiring.  Fiercely intelligent, engaging and dead sexy, unfortunately like most of the other panelists she could hardly get a word in edgewise.  but she was basically living the dream.  She had managed to turn blogging into regular free meals.  But she's also used it to engage with her community, and facilitate and organize real-life gatherings that bring people together for a good cause.   

While the panel was packed with successful bloggers and the discussion, when it wasn't being monopolized by the renegade panalist, was lively, a little more schmoozing, maybe a game of Twister and a Slip-n-Slide would have done wonders for my mood.  Navel shots with the bear cub in the corner, or the hot redhead to my right (yes, I'm the one who posted that drunken Missed Connections on Craig's List last night) would have been even better.  Even some nap mats and a break at the 45-minute mark would have helped.  The panel discussion — without questions from the rabble — ran over an hour and a half, which is a long time for a blogger to refrain from commenting, as anybody knows. 

When the questions came, they were mostly about time-management and monetizing, which is fine, but as Sam said at the outset, no one's going to get rich off of Google Ads.  The one question from the audience I found pertinent to my own experience as a blogger came from a very pretty young woman from Roslindale, who's been blogging about her adventures as a stay-at-home mom for about half a year.  She had been getting blogstalked, and a lot of vicious comments to her blog, and wanted to know (a) should she feel bad about blocking them?  And (b) should she and her family go into hiding?

I found it heartening that all of the bloggers on the panel had had some experience of this.  So it's not just me.  And I was also encouraged that there was no agonizing on the panel about hitting the delete button on those informative comments like "you're a douchebag," or on little electronic love-notes like: "I know where you live — in fact I'm standing outside with a machete."  Should I post that comment before or after I call the cops? Decisions, decisions.

Of course, it's a slippery slope, innit? Pretty soon you're only letting through the ones that praise your natural beauty and marvel at your brilliance (which is probably why my comments threads are not exactly Byzantine). But the truth is, the fewer of the drive-by slurs you let through, the fewer you'll have in the future. It's up to the moderator to set the standards, and, hopefully uphold them himself.

Abusive Comments Trolls will cry "fascist douchebag!" no matter what you do, and trash you for "censoring" their tourettes-like scatological outbursts, but that's just their charming nature.  Rabid dogs foam at the mouth, skunks spray their stink, Comments Trolls scream "douchebag!" It's the circle of life.  Or something.    

I was sorry that afterwards, during the schmooze portion of the event, Adam felt the need to apologize that whenever he posts a link to my blog, it sets off a cacophony of abuse in the comments thread.  Well, he didn't actually apologize.  But he did seem apologetic.  Which could just be Adam.  He's probably an evil genius beneath that veneer of superhuman decency.  He said he just didn't understand the reaction. 

I guess neither of us really understands why some posts attract such violent (yet oddly impotent) protest from a small sect of Weekly Dig interns.  But I'm not going to play the victim.  Again, I figure these fierce (yet strangely ineffectual) outbursts come with the territory, and I'm all about interns. 

I hesitate to dwell too much on what motivates Comments Trolls.  Like I said: Circle of Life.  Truth is, when only 13% of the population is proficient in reading* ("can perform complex and challenging literacy activities") you're bound to get a lot of "ooga-ooga" thrown back in your face. 

Anyway, as far as I could tell, a good time was had by all at the Povo event.  And if the panel and the crowd was any indication, Boston bloggers are definitely getting better-looking and better-dressed in general, and less creepy on the whole, which can only be a good thing.  Comments Trolls be damned.
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*According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy