Notorious B.I.G. Said "Mo Money, Mo Problems"
Notorious B.I.G. said “Mo Money, Mo Problems” and I agree. In the blogosphere, the bigger you get, the more bold you become and it leads to enemies whether you like it or not. Instead of talking dollars, let’s talk blogosphere “fame.” Greg Swann’s got a lot of that “fame” and because of his “mo fame,” he’s got “mo problems.” Greg and I don’t always agree, so I am not defending any particular viewpoint today. Rather, I wanted to share with you why Greg and I are friends.
(1) Before I was a BHB contributor, I decided to ask Greg any and all questions regarding blogging even if the questions made me look stupid. He never judged my ignorance, instead he quickly emailed me back an answer.
(2) There has been no restriction on what Greg has been willing to share with me. He’s given me access to the PHP code for parts of his site that I wanted to steal, he’s given me his Carnival judging algorithm, and he’s endlessly given me definitions to dorky blog words that I’ve had to learn over the past months.
(3) Greg is not inflammatory. His articles and comments are provocative, but he never cusses at anyone, he backs his theories up with his researched facts and is willing to take the heat when his arguments anger people. Currently, Greg has brought up the licensing bar and postulates that we should abolish it. I disagree with this- abolishment is not a solution; I’m waiting on a solution. Regardless, what I like about Greg is that if I email him saying, “hey, I disagree,” or “what’s the solution to the licensing issue?” he will write an article about such a topic instead of hiding behind an offline conversation.
(4) BHB publishing rules don’t exist. As an author, I’ve never been censored. I’ve also never used curse words or made ignorant personal attacks. Some people have been censored (and Greg emailed me the censored comments and his reasons for censoring) and I’m okay with that. Ponch (Kris and Steve’s troll) and Prime Minister (my troll) pick fights online and if they get out of hand (which they haven’t yet), they WILL be censored- that’s my right. I disagree that Greg arbitrarily blacklists- like I said, I’ve seen the conversations. Whether I would make the same choice to censor is not the point.
Greg didn’t ask me to (and would probably prefer that I didn’t) write my Top Four Reasons I’m Friends With Greg Swann, but sometimes someone with “mo money [and] mo problems” are busy and that’s when a friend should step in.
And if Athol asks me why I’m friends with him, I can make that my next article… 
June 15th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Brilliant. Great article on Respect. I’m suprised you didn’t break out the “ain’t nothin but a “G” thang baybay”
June 15th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Oh, well I did MEAN “ain’t nothin’ but a G thang”… that counts, right?
June 15th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
‘Greg Swann’s got a lot of that “fame” and because of his “mo fame,” he’s got “mo problems.”‘
Well, I must admit I’m usually laughing with you, but in this one instance I stepped over the line. Greg doesn’t have problems because he has fame. Hanan Levin, Joseph Ferrara, Jim Cronin, the late John Mudd — all these men are famous, yet collectively the four of them enjoy less than a fourth of Greg’s rich banquet of opprobrium.
And what’s up with “don’t talk about it, don’t talk about it, I don’t want to be in the middle, here’s another post.” Slow comment day?
June 15th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Nice, gotta love a post about BIG. I never would have guessed I’d see a picture of him on a post here but I’m glad I did. I just put a link up to your site on my blog.
Also, I’m jealous you get to live in Austin… it’s beautiful.
June 15th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Lockwood- you and your team (see John’s Active Rain article) of Johnnies should relax. I believe that GS has problems because he’s in the spotlight; if his blog was a small potato, no one would be crying about him. That’s what’s great about us Lockwood is that we won’t always be at the same Carnival (again, see AR article).
It’s not a slow comment day (the opposite actually), rather I had a cancelled appointment and found time to blog (on here and BHB). Didn’t you poop out 4 blogs today? You can come rain on my blog, you’re still my friend too
John- thanks for the props on using a BIGGIE reference (and for the link love)! Great mortgage site!
June 16th, 2007 at 1:51 am
Oh, I’m crying all right, but it’s not “boo hoo I don’t know Latin” crying, it’s more like the crying you might see me doing at a Keystone Cops marathon.
I wouldn’t mind the balling so much, but sometimes Ferrara stops by trying to make faces to see if I’ll spit Pepsi through my nose.
June 16th, 2007 at 2:37 am
John, don’t make me pull this car over…
June 16th, 2007 at 7:14 am
I suppose I have to ask…
…why, oh why are you friends with me?
As far as I can tell it’s honesty, humor and rakish sex appeal.
Incidentally I concur with John Lockwoods comment. Greg very obviously has many good points, but if you count up all the RE blog wars, there is always a familar face…
June 16th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
When I first met Greg at the Arizona AR bloggers event in January, I said he was my Howard Stern. I tuned in daily just to see what the hell he had said that I disagreed with.
It’s not bad for business, that is for certain.
Athol, if rakish sex appeal involves you spanking your arse again, I’ll have to pass.