In Memory of the Virginia Tech Tragedy
Apr 30th, 2007 by msdanielle
Update (4/30): I’ve removed the OneDayBlogSilence banner because I’ve just read John Chow’s post on their link baiting scheme, and I agree with him. I guess I didn’t think that a company would ever use this type of tragedy to gain PR for a future site. But I am leaving up the banner I created to spread awareness that memorial donations are being taken at VTU. Please send in your donations to help these grieving families. I’ll have my own day of respect for these victims and their families without “one day BS” because I don’t think we should be quiet about it. I’ve sent in my donation and I’m hoping it will go to good use in whichever way VTU sees fit.
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Yeah, the guy who’s running that site tried to get me in his little scheme, but I don’t think silence is the answer to the problem… the real way to pay homage to the Virginia Tech Tragedy is to talk about it!
yea i agree. i guess i’m just still a little naive
Just means it was good link bait
I still fail to see how that was linkbait when there aren’t any ads or any other clear (negative) intentions on that site. I guess I may be naive as well. Either way, I removed the link from my site but kept the banner.
[…] One blogger who read about the controversy immediately removed any trace of the onedayblogsilence.com on her blogs (links and trackbacks)–without looking at both sides. But I can’t blame her since some of the bloggers blogging against the onedayblogsilence.com are respected bloggers also and blogs about technology. […]
I felt conflicted about participating way before reading John Chow’s allegations yesterday. I didn’t remove my entry (just edited it with new info last night), but removed the backlink NOT because I believe there is unquestionable proof of guilt (YET), but because the ODBC event is now OVER… and the fact that I truly don’t believe that silence is the answer to raising awareness or solutions to problems such as gun control and the growing impact of mental illness on society. Donating money… as you’ve suggested is a more tangible action of showing how much you care about the victims and the issues… and so is using one’s blog to speak up about important issues.
I question kneejerk reactions (removing entries, backlinks, graphics, backlash) simply because: a) The motives of the many bloggers who participated… were NOBLE and commendable, even if I didn’t 100% agree with them.
b) John Chow is himself a professional linkbaiter. I always question contradictory allegations from pro linkbaiters before accepting stuff as truth. What’s his motive? Links to his entry?
hi fruityoaty! thanks for your comments
you know, i was even hesitant to post it, and in my naivete (sp?) figured, it couldn’t hurt. even if i left it up, it still wouldn’t really hurt anything. but i don’t think there’s anything wrong with knee-jerk reactions (to knee-jerk actions!) as long as you let your readers know why something was added or removed. as you did, i left my entry up… i applaud all bloggers who paid their respects, regardless of on what day, how they did it, or what was said (or not said). yes, JC is a link bait king but even he wouldn’t stoop to this level. there will never be proof from one day blog silence like “we did this to gain traffic and PR.” but it’s pretty obvious that now its over, that’s what they gained. in my personal opinion, the honorable thing to do would be to donate the url to VTU or some other charitable organization. but that won’t happen. essentially, the button, once it’s published, is a banner advertisement, complete with static html back links and branding. why do i have this view? because i’m an online marketer, it’s what i do. according to Yahoo today, they have 9,688 incoming links. today is may 1st, and the tragedy happened on april 16th. they received almost 10k back links in less than two weeks. JC could never achieve these numbers… was their plan brilliant? yes. evil? more so than the root himself…
on a side note, i’d have no problem at all if they linked the banner back to VTU’s memorial page, or some other charity relating to the tragedy, or didn’t link back to themselves at all! the message is the same without the back link. food for thought…
Well, one thing’s for sure… it got the blogosphere talking about VT and victims and injustice and such again. I almost felt attacked because I have the banner up… but controversy’s what I live for so I don’t mind
I found out about JC’s post through you but decided to keep the banner up and remove the linkback instead of getting rid of the whole thing. I won’t go on something just because JC said it. I think it would have looked nice if every blog out there participated… it sure would have gotten people thinking about things again. Oh well.
you felt attacked because people said you shouldn’t post it? we should be able to post whatever we feel is important to us. personally i agree with JC that it’s a link bait action, and my move wasn’t rash. i don’t think they made it clear that it’s not a link bait action. if it were the case, they 1. wouldn’t have included their own URL in the banner (”one day blog silence,” instead of onedayblogsilence.com), and 2. wouldn’t have included html for people to insert into their blogs that links back to their site. you’re still promoting their SITE by leaving the banner up that includes their url, which if it’s ok with you, is ok with me
it’s your blog and i respect your content. and yes, it would be nice if every concerned blogger voiced their support for the victims and their families, regardless of how or when… if you’re not concerned, then just don’t write about it… right?
Really sad tragedy. My heart goes to all those who died then.