Whats so Wrong About Being a Blogger?

I am going to be opening a whole huge can of worms especially when you consider I just did a post about Fangoria.com’s regrettable but very likely temporary demise but I had to post the question. What is So Wrong about being a horror blogger? The question comes from the fact that apparently Fangoria according to their ex-writer James Zahn had no use or respect for sites like ours despite writers like James being a member of our community and clearly having some respect for what we do here as ... err.. bloggers?

Let’s clarify first off what HorrorMovies.ca is. This is not a blog, this is also not a magazine or a commercial horror website. I designed this site and built it from the ground up with help along the way from good friends. The goal? To build a community of like minded horror fans where we can discuss the genre, argue, debate and do so in a civil fashion.

Its a community with its goods it’s bad and its ups and downs. We post news, we post reviews but primarily we talk horror as a community. More importantly I try hard to give you all an outlet to write as well through reviews, morguespace and the boards. Everyone here is treated equally and everyone is welcome so long as you can act... frankly... not like an asshole. If you dont make it in our community its never a mystery why since our only real rule is RESPECT. We could have a whole other debate on why people who hate what we do feel the need to post death threats and other stupidity on our boards. Shouldn’t they just go read another horror site? But let’s not go there this time around.

The other thing that is important to note about our site is that we are not the holy grail of horror. There are literally hundreds of FANTASTIC horror blogs, magazines, communities and sites devoted to our genre and almost all of them are run by some really sharp and super nice people. We have never wanted to be the face of horror and never will be. Is the fact that we are not professional writers with aspirations of world domination somehow a threat to journalism?

From the day I opened this site I had one goal... to talk about horror and interact with people who know more about the genre then I do. That’s right you read that correctly. I do not and have never claimed to be the holy Jesuit of horror movies. Yes I love them and yes I am passionate to write about them but there are literally hundreds of members of our community who are older, wiser and know more about horror then I ever will. This is also the answer to the entire riddle of this site. It was created to give you all a home to talk about horror, share ideas and educate not just each other but me as well! I have learned more about the genre in the last 6 years from you guys and gals then I ever knew before.

Just because somebody writes about horror does not make them the Guardian of All Things that go Bump in the Night.... which again leads to does it make them a journalist or a blogger?

Last time I checked anybody who can put words to page is a writer but that does not make you a journalist, and it seems it instead makes us a blogger and I have to ask the question what’s the big deal? Why is it that SOME ‘real journalists’ and ‘real writers’ feel the need to tear down the bloggers and belittle what they do?

From mocking our exclusives as being utter bullshit ( when in fact they were true ) to posting on our site as a ‘commentor’ without being intelligent enough to use an email that doesn’t clearly point back to the publication you work for?

Why is it that some in the horror genre do not seem able to respect each other or leave well enough alone? Why is it that Journalists feel the need to murder not nurture bloggers? Is it because they are threatened by bloggers because I do not understand why they would be.

I am not a journalist. Goon is not a Journalist.. infact NOBODY who writes for this site is a journalist we are fans who love horror and love movies and want to share our five cents on them. Does this make a journalist better then us? Does it give them a right to come to our site and try to tear down what we do? I think not. I follow a pretty simple rule of respect. That is why you don’t see Goon and I ever responding to vile no matter how directly it may be thrown in our face.

Journalists are not bloggers and bloggers are clearly not journalists. In my view what we do best here is giving you the quick and dirty on the genre as it happens which leaves plenty of room for great magazines like Rue Morgue to do the hard hitting pieces. They have the money and the time to research, collaborate and develop the deep thinking and in depth pieces that we as fans can not do as frequently because we have 9 to 5 jobs and families that interfere.   Now before I upset a few people I should point out that there are many writers on this site who focus entirely on editorial and do a damn good job at it. Deadhorse13, PoppaScotch and MovieMaven to name a few focus entirely on writing editorial and entertain me as much as any magazine piece I have read.

So ask yourself... whats the difference between a blogger and a journalist and more importantly, does it even matter? Lets look at it in the simplest way possible. There were a thousand horror sites before HorrorMovies.ca and there have been a thousand since. All are good sites and at the end of the day I know you like me will read DreadCentral, SlashFilm, ComingSoon and hopefully HorrorMovies.ca regardless of if those sites have journalists and we do not. We are not the holy grail of horror but we do love the genre and we respect everyone within it... even if they don’t respect us.