In between user calls and my daily tasks, I checked out the recent posts on ping.sg and noticed that two of its members are now on a collision course over the matter of Nuffnang.

But what is so notable about that since flame wars are pretty common in Blogosphere? Some people just flame one another for the fun of it or to attract attention. The reason it was notable was because not too long ago, one of the bloggers involved in this little ‘disagreement of views’ actually posted a blog post titled ‘The Final Words On Nuffnang (Seriously)’ (see screen shot below).

When Endoh sent me the subject of the post on MSN Live Messenger, I recalled myself typing the following response: “Famous last words, he mean?”

Anyway, just in case there are meanings in the word Final that I did not originally know, I actually checked it up on Dictionary.com to make sure I ain’t mistaken.

I was thinking that anyone who said something like that would really appear stupid if he later continues talking about the same topic. You see a lot of people getting their feet in their mouths when they said ‘This is my absofxxkinglutely last post on this matter’ on the forum and then continue to respond later. And here was the blogger making two posts on the matter today:

So, was that really final or not?

My colleague actually turned around and gave me the dirty look when I said that out loud. I went through some of his postings and comments on the subject and I actually saw him accusing his opponent of deleting comments from the comments section which is actually funny because… wouldn’t that mean his blog has been hacked? How could that be?

* Darth Grievous trembles in fear and exclaims * All hail Harry, the 1337 hax0r! I am not worthy!

I am again wondering if I was prescient when I said in an earlier post that supporters of Nuffnang aren’t really helping at all. Personally speaking, the so-called final post should be more aptly named:

‘The Final Words On Nuffnang. Eh, until the really final one, that is (Seriously)’. LOL!

When something is the most talked about matter in blogosphere, you can’t help but follow some of the links. This is where I chanced upon Putraworks and from there I can’t help but read what has got Xiaxue Xiasuay gotta say about NuffNang.

Screen cap from Xiasuay’s article.

And then my friend Aldragon – who doesn’t have a blog but reads them – showed me this.

Screen cap: Larry Lim (“#1 SEO Consultant” in S’pore) responding to a comment on his blog

What is so funny… is the contradiction. Either Xiasuay was misrepresenting, or Larry – who obviously stands no dissent and contradiction to his own views – was talking through his arse.

But what really took the cake were these in the comments of this post on Putraworks.

Screen cap #1 from comments on Putraworks.

Screen cap #2 from comments on Putraworks.

Tsk tsk… Ming is still responding on blogs and not his corporate website. How shameful.

And looking at Josh’s comment reminds us of this old Sun Tzu strategem: “知己知彼，百战不贻… 不知彼不知己，每战必败”。Now perhaps that explains why Advertlets always seem to have an advantage… LOL

Over a large cup of iced peach tea at the Mos Burger in West Mall today, Malique asked, “So who are the customers? The advertisers, or the bloggers?”

Endoh believed that both are customers since a service is provided to both. I agree, because on one side providing a service to those looking for an avenue to advertise, and on the other a service to those who are willing to provide the space to advertise. On top of that, it is also my opinion that bloggers are more of a partner than a customer. In my opinion, any public row with your partner is detrimental to your business, whatever business it maybe.

The way the renewed assault is handled by Nuffnang flies in the face of convention. There is still no public statement from Nuffnang (that I know of) in response to all the negative publicity, considering that even Odex made the pathetic attempt of a one page statement on their corporate site in the face of the relentless assault by the general public and anime-lovers. The defeaning silence only infuriate the bloggers further, and make them even more vicious and vociferous in their criticisms.

What is even more puzzling was that subsequently the co-owner of Nuffnang went to several blogs to comment on them. Why address certain bloggers individually? Why not address all the concerns on the corporate website? After all, even Xiaxue Xiasuay respond to criticisms on her own blog, and not settle down into a battle of saliva in the comment section of another person’s blog! It is simply not effective at all, not to mention that even when I may have written about Nuffnang and read some of the blog posts, I do not diligently follow the comment section of those blogs as many a time the attempt to hold a proper discussion is futile. (That’s not mentioning, in the only time I met him, Perry Tong of the Workers’ Party mentioned something to the effect that it is a waste of time reading certain forums because none of these so-called ‘discussions’ carry without it degenerating into a ‘gathering of family members’, where one’s parents, siblings, ancestors of several generations are mentioned along with their privates after a short exchange.)

Even more interesting was when a lady friend of the co-owner vigorously defended Nuffnang on Techcrunch. Not only did it not help, it drew further criticisms and generated the exact opposite effect. In fact, to some it looks like an attempt to win sympathy with the statement that one stands up for their friends no matter what. I wonder, does one also pick up the fight of one’s friends without first considering if that may help them at all? Will charging headlong into the oncoming tide stop or turn it? It would certainly have been more effective that they sit down and plan a strategy to win the hearts and minds of the bloggers than just fighting them with nothing but blind loyalty and naked courage.

On top of that, the supporters of Nuffnang is not helping very much either when they constantly talk about how competitor Advertlets is capitalising on Nuffnang’s woes. Perhaps, some might even choose to believe that Advertlets might be the culprit behind the onslaught of negative publicity. But what is the point in that when even chess players would capitalise on an opponent’s mistakes to advance in the game? What more can we expect from business? Is it being dishonest or unscrupulous at all? Would it not be better to write positive stuff about Nuffnang to increase awareness or perhaps there is really nothing good to write about it?

It is my considered opinion that Nuffnang should not just be wary of Advertlets and this futile attempt to engage only certain bloggers must end. There are other businessmen who would fill the vacuum left by Nuffnang in a jiffy and if Nuffnang is not already now aware that vultures – i.e. new competitors – are already getting ready to be all over the dead body of Nuffnang when it happens, then perhaps someone should start stacking pillows high and consider a career as an employee and not an entrepreneur… or maybe just work for one’s own father and wait for his inheritance…

Like the storm Katrina, the storm around Nuffnang has once again gathered strength. I don’t use Nuffnang (or its rival Advertlets) and I have not considered using them since I came to know about them from numerous ping.sg gatherings and reading the posts from many bloggers – primarily endoh – on them. After all, traffic to my blog is pretty low everyday so I don’t expect much income either. In fact, if not on Cris’ recommendation, I wouldn’t even have Google Ads on my blog.

So why did I put ads on my blog at all, when my friends, the nice people at Biz-Era, gave me completely free hosting (coupled with 24×7 support) out of goodwill?

Well, it’s because I hope to generate some income from the blog to cover my domain registration charges. And every US$100 is about S$150 which goes in to cover several years of that. In other words it doesn’t matter if it takes me several years to generate that amount of income at all. I ain’t looking to make loads with my blog as if my life depends on it anyway.

But why just Google Ads? The reasons are simple:

In other words, some may consider Google stingy for the amount it pays for the ads served, and it might take a really long time to get paid. But hey, what the hell do you expect for giving the minimum amount of effort without any impact to the way you blog? I do find it exceedingly amusing and hilarious that some bloggers change their blogging style to get ads. But then, as long as I don’t end up reading the their mental masturbation, everyone is free to prostitute their blogs as source of constant income for all I cared.

不久以前在 DK 的部落格上看到了一群白人流氓欺负一名三轮车夫的短片。(本地的报章接着也报导了这件事。我看不久的将来这也会出现在外国的网站和部落格之上。)

继 Odex 事件之后，这群流氓的所作所为肯定是另一件能引起公愤的事。我和许多的朋友看了后都义愤填膺，而且很多网友看后也气炸了。如果我和友人在场的话肯定会把这几个英格兰人渣败类狠狠的揍他妈的一顿。操！’甘霖老母赶羚羊’，我们已经不是英帝国的殖民地了！

在片里他们不断的讲些尖酸刻薄的话来嘲笑那把那老人和三轮车的速度，最后还截了辆德士逃之夭夭。三个加起来几百磅重的人渣把老人家折腾了一番已经够狠了，不还老人家的车费那才最可耻可恨。有钱旅行没新币十元鬼才相信你啊！十元新币你们英镑才多少啊，’山林凉’!

过后回想，心里有些稀虚。我们老了，也会有如此的遭遇吗？随后和一些朋友聊起这事时谈到了退休年龄，公积金和年金的事，我们都在想平均 78 岁的我们能活到 85 岁拿我们的年金吗？拿公积金的日子是否已遥遥无期？我们就算长寿，但可否还仍然会如此健康？到时候是否就算我们想要工作，也会像三轮车夫一样想让车子跑快一点但就是力不从心？或者比较年轻的同事会否会嘲笑年迈的我们，觉得我们是个负累？

衰老和软弱的活着，是否比死亡更加可怕？