Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Stephanie Pearl McPhee is Overrated – My Mean Post about the Yarn Harlot

I hate to disappoint an audience, but I have a few confessions to make.

I have no opinion of Stephanie Pearl McPhee.

I don’t even know what she looks like.

I don’t knit.

And I don’t have anything mean to say—or at least, not anything mean to say about the Yarn Harlot.

So what in the hell is this post about, you may ask?

It’s about some very interesting search traffic that I’ve seen on another blog over the past few days. Google searches and blog searches for phrases like “Yarn Harlot mean post” and “Stephanie Pearl McPhee is Overrated”.

I assume this is all detective work related to the Yarn Harlot's recent post about blogging etiquette. She advanced the apparently controversial view that bloggers shouldn't go around insulting people in public. I don't know to whom she was referring, and I don’t much care. As I said, I’m not a knitter. I probably wouldn't know the guilty blogger if her blog was pointed out to me, nor would I know the person this mystery post apparently insulted.

I’m fascinated, though, by the concerted effort to ferret out that post and get to the bottom of someone else’s business. It’s ironic, isn’t it, that the Yarn Harlot essentially pointed out that some things shouldn’t be aired in public—and although I know nothing of the circumstances, her point was absolutely valid in the abstract—and it…um…generated a lot of publicity.

So what search term brought you to this post? And what were you really looking for?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

my google alerts me of knitting news.
i wish this post had more substance- that would have at least made it worth my while to read it.

Tiffany said...

Precisely the response I was expecting--disappointment that there's not enough dirt (and anonymously, to boot!)

I'm sorry to see that I wasn't wrong.

Barb Matijevich said...

I am a Knitter. I love it. And this wole saga has made me vaguely ill --this feeding frenzy of people digging for the unsavory. Surely we don't need to dig among knitting blogs for that?

I'm a bit disheartened. But thanks for pointing all of this out.

--Barb

Anonymous said...

just trying to find out if anyone has anything nasty to say about the Harlot that she alluded to in her post. I don't blog or comment usually but I am a very curious person...Is't that sad...I should be paying bills, looking for a job, making super, cleaning, etc..

Cookie said...

That google search brought someone to my knitting blog and I thought I'd see who else was listed.

Be thankful you're not a knitter. Her fans are something else and seem to fail to realize that she has to sell books to support her family.

I'm sure those mad googlers are hoping to find something they can report back to her. *L*

Knit My Grits said...

You know, I am going to try to regurgitate my post about how the Yarn Harlot was wrong to do this BECAUSE of the crap it's generated. And the next time someone calls me the "n-word" because they "feel" I am attacking a "celebrity", I'm going to stand by my post instead of being afraid that the commenter will put a burning cross on my front lawn! Cookie is right! The Yarn Harlot is a "persona" - nothing more. She is NOT this all knowing, all healing Jesus figure! She has to support her family - she has to sell her books - she has to sell her blog. How best to accomplish that than by generating a witch hunt?

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