You’re blogging about blogging Jeff.
Better strap on your water skis, there’s a shark ahead.
Indeed. The opposite of love is not hate but apathy.
Yea, but if I don’t let you know that I think reading your blog is more painful then getting my eyes plucked out, how will I make myself feel better about myself?
I loved the Great Brain series. Thanks for the nostalgia.
It’s a shame, of course, that people feel the need to say “LOL fuckwit, you can’t program worth a cock” instead of “Hey Jeff, I’ve noticed a problem”, but, if nobody had criticised your recent encryption code sample, you’d still be happily encrypting your data (and conceivably ours too, at some point) in an insecure manner.
If only this were true. I’ve tried to ignore certain people, in person, but for some crazy reason they just keep coming back. Sometimes, people think that if you don’t say anything at all then it is better than saying something bad; so you are automatically considered the silent friend.
interestingly you given a already many links/refs to susan boyle and thats exactly what happened, when we try to ignore some one we come at them as aggressive which is again another form of linking them. I understand how the ignoring a kid works but to counter the stuff on the web its quite difficult because if you dont counter what happens that mis-perception keep spreading over and over. For example, if i start annoying someone on twitter along with my followers , now if he kept silence the word keep spreading and the reality is messed up. Thats exactly one of the reason companies have provided many slots to cater twitter like services. so its really N = NP lolz
I absolutely LOVED the Great Brain series growing up.
My fondest series to read when I was a kid, even outdoing the Encyclopedia Brown series.
The stick magnet is one of my favorite grifts, but I also loved the Great Brain At the Academy.
That’s where I learned how to make a key from a soap imprint. It hasn’t come in handy, but it’s a vivid memory from that book.
Susan who?
j/k 
The problem with your thesis is that you assume everyone seeks attention. Not everyone seeks attention… many do, but not everyone does. Sometimes things don’t go away if you ignore them. Sometimes they get worse. Think of politics. There are politicians you hate and there are laws you hate - ignoring both will make neither one go away. In politics silence means agreement. If the government makes a horrible law, but nobody protests against it, they’ll say “Looks like everyone is fine with it”. Politicians prefer to not get attention (unless its election time).
And remember: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight, and then you win.
So initial ignorance is the way to final success. Or see it the other way round: If they strongly argue with you, they are already fighting you and you are only one step away from winning
err, wow. Longer comment just eaten by crappy captcha system?
Bleh. Please disregard if this is a browser cache issue, but otherwise I am filled with nerd rage.
Who’s this Susan Boyle I keep hearing about?
Why did you changed the ‘Orange’ CAPTCHA?
Did you have any problems of spam?
Personally I think humor is a better approach than just ignoring what you don’t like. That, or a good deflection!
“I wish you’d give more attention to best coding practices in your blog, and by the way, my cat can eat a whole watermelon!”
There was a great “New Twilight Zone” (the refit from the 80s) where in a man was sentenced to a year of “not being” (or some such)… Got a bizarre wart thingy put on his head, and everyone ignored him.
Jeff,
You’re still in my RSS feed! Keep up the good work!
Ah, I was waiting for the Susan Boyle comments to some burning through…
And finally I am right…
IGNORANCE IS BLISS!!!
While I understand the concept you’re trying to articulate here I think you need to spend a bit more time thinking it through so you can express it in less casually cruel manner.
Ignoring a human being is never the correct solution to any problem or situation. And, while I honestly don’t think that’s what you meant, it is what you wrote.
Of course you’re trying to articulate a process which is the cornerstone of several major philosophies and religions, so it’s probably not a huge shock it’s hard to clarify in a single blog post
I just want the Orange back…
"And if WE COULD CONVINCE enough people to ignore her, she … disappears. Poof. Like magic."
A call to ACTION, then. That’s the thing, the perverse thing about this things. How can you act while ignoring the very things your action implies?
Ignoring people to disappearance works a treat, indeed, there’s only one thing (intermittently) flawed about it: it assumes enough people spontaneously (i.e. without exchanging “please ignore this very thing I’m pointing out here” messages) have/develop enough strength to do so.
Strange how that actually happens when you try to promote, say, a brilliant, yet very dull scientist, including by putting his geek-ish mug on a notorious magazine cover.
Also funny how this mass-ignoring thing fails to occur when we deal with facile, trivial, often “dirty” things, such as pop stars, footballers, socialites etc.
Seems the art of ignoring is either a by-product of intelligence and/or elevation, and it’s a defense mechanism, or an innate capacity of the more, shall we say, humble human, where it’s also a defense mechanism: against knowledge, preserving ignorance, promoting that proverbial simple happiness.