Rejected by strangers

One of the little things that irks me about the blogosphere is invitation-only blogs.

I like blog surfing. I skip around, following link to link, pursuing different perspectives on an issue or lines of relationship across the planet. But then bang! I hit a wall. After the general cordiality of the previous pages I’ve been reading, it feels like hostility. I’ve been enjoying sharing people’s thoughts and aspirations, and then suddenly I’m denied access.

It’s like going to a big, open party and talking with lots of fascinating people, then meandering into the kitchen to see who’s there only to have the door slammed in your face.

Or perhaps its like going into your local library and browsing through the books, finding one that a friend has recommended and which looks interesting, only to find that the book has a lock on it and the librarian refuses to give you a key. You expect that sort of thing in a fascist dictatorship or under a communist regime, but not on the internet.

Or perhaps most accurately of all, it’s like high school all over again… only even more unfair.

Of course people have a right to privacy. But in pursuing that right in such a brusque fashion, they help to damage the free and open nature of the blogosphere. Personally, if I want to keep my identity a secret, I’d rather mind what I say and anonymize than turn away people who might be interested in what I have to say.