Comments on: Dwight Garner Ripping Off Blogosphere

By: Daniel Murphy, Esquire Hack and Blog Pilferer : Edward Champion’s Reluctant Habits

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 03:16:25 +0000

[...] who claimed that he “had never seen” Largeheartedboy before after he ripped off Book Notes for his “Living with Music” series, Murphy claims that “he has never visited” this website. I’m sure that Esquire has likewise “not [...]

By: Casey

Casey — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 22:12:44 +0000

Who are you? Got here from googling Garner. Not sure what you mean by “ripping off the blogosphere”. I thought that thing called “linking” was what it’s all about. I think this is another sad case of the dichotomously obsessed unknowns online blasting the “oldtimer printheads” whom they perceive to be toedipping naively into waters holding the voracious YOU, ready to eat them alive. My own dichotomous opinion? You exemplify the blogs that give blogs a bad name. Garner is in a position to bring readers to books and to great blogs. Doubt yours will be one of those.

By: Adam S.

Adam S. — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 21:58:05 +0000

In Garner’s defense he did call Largehearted Boy ‘righteous’.

But… how does someone in the book-blogosphere not know who Largehearted Boy is? That’s like asking “Who the fuck is Jessa Crispin?”

By: Tyrone Slothrop

Tyrone Slothrop — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 14:26:37 +0000

The most striking thing to me about the NYTBR's new blog was the complete absence of any indication that Dwight Garner reads books. He probably does, but perhaps the better header would be "A Blog About Other People Talking About Books."

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:17:38 +0000

I’m not generally inclined to defend the Times, but this is pretty silly. What exactly is so original about this idea that Garner necessarily MUST have ripped it off of Largehearted Boy? Seriously. For one thing, have you never seen the fairly regular NYT features in which musicians are asked to discuss playlists of what they’ve been listening to? The idea, such as it is, could easily have come from there. Why is it so hard to believe that he hadn’t seen Largehearted Boy before?

I don’t understand the need to go instantly on the attack like this. I suspect that has more to do with your “censored” comment than anything else, especially since another comment pointing out the similarity was not “censored”.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:36:24 +0000

Er, I mean comments.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:32:22 +0000

They are definitely screening posts. I just tried a lil experiment. Let you figure out which one is mine.

By: Gwenda

Gwenda — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:05:54 +0000

Large-hearted boy for president!

By: David Thayer

David Thayer — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:46:40 +0000

I think Ed has already influenced Ann Coulter. She’s so mellow now.

By: david

david — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:40:50 +0000

Thanks for the support, Ed, but I would have been happy if the NYT blog had just mentioned LHB as an influence on the series. To read the introduction to the post, you would think this was the first time an author ever had a music playlist posted online.

My next goal is to influence Fox News, Ann Coulter, and the Bush administration on foreign affairs.

By: DrMabuse

DrMabuse — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:38:24 +0000

You’re right, marydell. That was none other than John Freeman during his appearance on The Leonard Lopate Show:

http://www.edrants.com/?p=6025

By: marydell

marydell — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:30:50 +0000

Didn’t I read somewhere some print person saying something about blogs having some merit and that the newspapers should “borrow” from them for their own online endeavors? (Sorry for the lack of details, but I’m a blogger and not inclined to thoroughly researching topics like the professionals do.)

By: Max

Max — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:08:32 +0000

Eh, I don't find it to be that threatening. After all, Saunders made on appearance at The Millions back in Februrary 2006 (scroll down) and again briefly as part of our year end festivities. As Bat Segundo can attest, we can pull literary luminaries with the best of them. Plus, this seems like yet another example of the fallacies of the us vs. them mentality expressed in certain quarters. If we really believe that we are all participating in the same literary discourse, then, though he is late in arriving, we should welcome Mr. Garner to the party.

By: DrMabuse

DrMabuse — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:45:20 +0000

I don’t know, Max. This signals to me that the NYTBR considers blogs a competitive threat, and is now stealing the blogosphere’s ideas in a desperate attempt to leverage and “control” the media landscape, using their advantage as a brand name to recruit people like George Saunders, rather than working with us or recruiting us for opportunities in convergence.

By: Max

Max — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:30:08 +0000

Not to mention his “A Blog About Books” subtitle, which until very recently belonged to The Millions (though it has now been set aside). Still, there’s always room for another blog, and I’m pleased to see the NYT joining the crowd.