Untwisted Vortex makes Ed smile

Ed the Editor's personal blog corner

Sorry all, no sign of real life here yet as we live in transit between homes, but here is a little bit of prose to break the boredom, maybe.

I was looking through Technorati rankings to see who had mentioned the Pisstakers recently and I had to smile at a Untwisted Vortex' remarks about the Blog Interrogation I did of Matt eJabs. Let's just say it is really hard to please all the people all the time in this day and age! And after a few interesting, or is it alarming emails from folks who are uncomfortable with the very word, Pisstaker, I think I need to clarify what The Pisstakers ethos is!

The underlying motivation is to bring interesting info to the readers written in an easily digestible and light hearted way. And if there is an opportunity to take the piss, I am there! As wikipedia explains, pisstaking is just a slang way of saying ridiculing. What makes me smile is that the people who get offended by the term pisstaker probably love Dr Phil, and he says Pissed off regularly! It is funny to me that his is actually a far more aggressive and "crude" use of the word piss! but oh well!

So, following Mr Vortex' welcome exposé´ let's´take a quick look at the Blog Interrogation. In 5 quick questions, designed not to bore you and me to death, I want to get bloggers from all walks of life to reveal what their blog means to them, and what their attitudes are to blogging. It is supposed to be entertaining, educational and a quick fire opportunity for all concerned. Plus I get to be a smart ass summarizer. Apparently the interview with Matt and my summary did nothing to appeal to Untwisted Vortex sense of humor, which is fair enough.

But to be fair back, there was probably a good reason why he didn't fall on the floor clutching his aching funny bone. Matt got through the interrogation pretty much unscathed! And I repeat, I am a pisstaker, not a psychopathic cruel bastard.

If I ask someone a question that they answer honestly and with plenty of relevant detail, and they aren't necessarily a comedic writer or they aren't feeling in a pisstaking mood, it doesnt seem appropriate for me to say, "Hah, Matt, thanks for taking time out your life to answer those questions, but you are a lame-o for revealing you are not happy with x y z parts of your blog. Even a kid could have spotted those mistakes, der." That isn't taking the piss, that is a cheap shot. I am quite selective with cheap shots!

Also, not only does it get really boring if you rip into people for almost no reason all the time, like shock jocks with their "Are you a lesbian? lines, but really, it isn't the job of a pisstaker to ridicule for no reason. If there are gaping holes in logic or someone says one thing while obviously doing another, then watch out pisstaker on the loose. Taking the piss would have been appropriate had Matt said he wanted to write articles for Fox News because he needed to satisfy a calling to contribute to a balanced news program. That is when Ed sharpens his knife and jumps in there with the pisstaking!

Anyway, not wishing to make Matt feel uncomfortable (thanks for sticking up for me btw!) the interrogations have all been different and I think they have reflected the personality of the bloggers involved. Lord Likely for instance, creamed me with some of his answers and I had to dig deep to come back at him so that I wasn't totally humiliated myself - which was great. Larry had me smiling with his tongue-in-cheek hmmms, so I batted a few remarks back, and I probably revealed a few intellectual inadequacies of my own summarizing a philosophical blog.

There is a set of answers coming from Hari, who coincidentally found me via Untwisted Vortex, cheers! His responses raised my eyebrows a little, and as I am going to guess that he can probably give as good he takes, or is it the other way round? there are a few chinks in his armor which I am sure he won't mind me bringing to the attention of the readers.

So let's hope you guys keep the responses coming and if Untwisted Vortex wants to be under the spotlight and give me some shit, please, bring it on in spades!! I look forward to entering his good books as a pisstaker!

Enjoy the content.

If you ever miss a day without Ed, all the blogspots are here.