My Two Cents

When I first got to the Hall, I didn't know then what I know now.

Everyone is a college student, almost everyone is from the country, or interstate, or overseas.

But! That doesn't really mean you will be friends with everyone. In my experience, the third years hang with the third years, the Asian exchange students hang with the Asian exchange students, and the slutty freshers hang with the slutty freshers.

This doesn't mean the Hall is "like high school," it just means that people usually like to spend time with people they have things in common with.

The Hall is a great place to meet and spend time with people from all over the world, with all different interests and skills. But ultimately, the people you will become best friends with are the ones you share something with (whether it's your soccer skills, you guitar skills, or your drinking skills).

I feel like BlogHer will be similar.

There will be third years there as well, and it's not that they (and I say this from both points of view) don't like first years, but that they already have their BlogHer BFFs. It's not that they're not looking to meet people, they just need to do it less.

In my experience, if you go up to someone with a smile and an introduction, they will smile back and introduce themselves as well. (I am hoping the Aussie thing gives me an instant advantage, but if not, I'll cope.) I do not think that "famous" bloggers are going to decide they have to hang with me on the strength of a business card and a smile, but they will smile and say hi and say thank you when I tell them how much I love their writing. They might even come dance, because dancing is not confined to popularity levels.

I will be as excited to meet some famous bloggers as I will be to meet non-famous but no less awesome "normal" bloggers. Lots of excitement, seriously.

This may seem a weird time to write this post, given that I'm not even there yet. But I did read a disturbing amount of high-school-comparison blog posts last year, and there's that whole Fussy/Fussypants thing going on at the moment. (As far as I can work out, this is what's going on: Sweetney said something about the similarity between Fussy and Fussypants. A bajillion people commented and took sides and foresaw that it might divide BlogHer right down the middle.)

I seem to have a very strong opinion on this for someone who doesn't really know what's going, but here's my take:
- The original comment was on TWITTER. How inauthentic a source can you get? I'm sorry, I find it hard to take something said on Twitter very seriously.
- I'm even more sure that I don't want Twitter.
- People who are going to write about it, do not assume we know what you're talking about. Spell it out for me. Gossip is no good unless it's detailed.
- Speaking of which, this does feel like high school gossip. Did you hear what Sarah said about Jess to Chris? OMG, like, WTF.
- All those people commenting on it (and writing blog posts about it, ahem) have nothing to do with it. Yes, everybody is entitled to their opinion, that is why God invented blogs after all, but the players involved are big girls, they can "fight" their own "battles."

Most of all, guys, I am coming to BlogHer this year. That means it has to be the BlogHer of a lifetime. No fighting! I will be there, and nothing must mar the awesomeness of the occasion. Thank you.